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September 2012

Responsible fiscal leaders agree: we need a price on carbon

25 September, 2012

If you’ve been watching Parliament in the past week or two you may have just heard mention of the phrase “carbon tax.”  We’d be delighted if this meant that there was an intelligent debate going on in Parliament about how to address climate change, but unfortunately it’s only a baseless attempt by the ruling Conservative party to associate the opposition New Democrats with a policy that the NDP has (unfortunately) never supported. However, the attacks have resulted in some interesting discussion about the idea of a carbon tax on the blogosphere - and are an opportunity to say: responsible fiscal leaders agree that we need a price on carbon.

If you’ve been watching Parliament in the past week or two you may have just heard mention of the phrase “carbon tax.”  We’d be delighted if this meant that there was an intelligent debate going on in Parliament about how to address climate change, but unfortunately it’s only a baseless attempt by the ruling Conservative party to associate the opposition New Democrats with a policy that the NDP has (unfortunately) never supported. 

New Prosperity News – Comment by September 28th!

24 September, 2012

On September 14th, the federal Review Panel conducting the New Prosperity environmental assessment released three documents. Two describe the approach that the Panel proposes to use for “Confidentiality” and for the panel’s Hearing Procedures, respectively, and invites the public to comment on these procedures.

The third is the application form for anyone interested in participating in the Panel’s hearings as an “interested party.”

For all of these documents the deadline (for comments or for applying to be an interested party) is this Friday, SEPTEMBER 28th, 2012. The draft documents and the application form can be found here, and below we list their key points and our key concerns with each.

It has been some time since we updated our readers on where things are at with Taseko Mine Ltd.’s New Prosperity gold-copper mine proposal and the

Douglas Channel Islands: Enbridge erases, Lori Waters replaces

17 September, 2012

One Sunday morning, Lori Waters received an intriguing link to the “Route Safety” animation videos for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. As one of many British Columbians opposed to the pipeline and to any lifting of the tanker ban along our coast, she watched Enbridge’s animations with interest.  But as a scientific illustrator and animator, she created a series of illustrations demonstrating why Enbridge's animations were wrong.  And they went viral.  Lori (in a guest post) tells us the story.

Thank you to Lori Waters for the following guest environmental law alert post. 

One Sunday morning, I received an intriguing link to the “Route Safety” animation videos for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. As one of many British Columbians opposed to the pipeline  and to any lifting of the tanker ban along our coast, I watched Enbridge’s animations with interest.

Evidence suggests carbon tax is good economic policy

13 September, 2012

West Coast Environmental Law recently submitted our recommendations on improving BC’s carbon tax to the BC Carbon Tax Review Committee, including recommendations to make the application of the tax more comprehensive.  But the BC Jobs and Investment Board (BCJIB) thinks the tax should be scrapped.  But the BCJIB report provides no basis for these recommendations - and the fact is that the carbon tax has resulted in reductions in greenhouse gas emissions without harming BC's economy. 

West Coast Environmental Law recently submitted our recommendations on improving BC’s carbon tax to the BC Carbon Tax Review Committee, including recommendations to make the application of the tax more comprehensive, and on October 18th I’ll be making a similar presentation to the BC Budget Consultations in Victoria.