Time to stop blaming “foreign funded” environmentalists for the oil industry’s woes
Big Oil’s problem isn’t international philanthropy – it’s a changing market in the face of climate change
Climate and Energy
Environmental lawyers applaud Victoria’s recommendation of a lawsuit against fossil fuel companies
VICTORIA, Territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations – A resolution passed by Victoria Council late last night (8-1) challenges BC municipalities to work together on a class action lawsuit against global fossil fuel companies for a share of BC climate costs. Lawyers at West Coast Environmental Law endorse the idea of a lawsuit to recover climate costs and encourage other local governments to work with Victoria to make it a reality.
The Victoria Council resolution:
The Unist’ot’en stand-off: How Canada’s “prove-it” mentality undermines reconciliation
The world watched last week as an armed RCMP force entered Wet’suwet’en territory without their consent and arrested 14 people. The RCMP were enforcing an interim injunction obtained by Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. (a subsidiary of TransCanada Pipelines) to prevent interference with work regarding its planned natural gas pipeline crossing Wet’suwet’en territory.
Why hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate costs?
Our Climate Law in our Hands campaign recently attracted national attention when Alberta’s oil and gas industry took offence at a letter by Whistler sent to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL). Since then we’ve received a barrage of tweets, posts, comments and emails on the campaign, ranging from the supportive to the hostile.
2018 - A Year In Review Story...
As 2018 comes to a close, the West Coast team wanted to share our victories and milestones with our “Year in Review”
Most Canadians want Big Oil to pay for climate costs — Industry is gaslighting Whistler
A large majority of Canadians believe that fossil fuel companies should pay a fair share of the costs of climate change, rather than leaving all of the costs of wildfires, floods and rising sea-levels to taxpayers. But you wouldn’t know it from the howls of outrage, ridicule and indignation that has been piled on the resort municipality of Whistler over the past week for suggesting just that.
CleanBC plan is a road map to new economy, climate leadership
VANCOUVER, COAST SALISH TERRITORIES - Lawyers at West Coast Environmental Law applaud the BC Government’s CleanBC plan as an important step towards reducing the province’s greenhouse gas pollution while moving to attract environmentally-minded businesses and investment. The Vancouver-based environmental law organization said that they were endorsing the plan because it commits to putting in place accountability and planning tools that will help ensure that the government completes and builds upon the plan.
Open Letter on Accountability and the Pan-Canadian Framework
West Coast Environmental Law joins 33 environmental, justice and community organizations to urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister Catherine McKenna to institute a robust approach to climate accountability to ensure we do not miss our targets.
True climate accountability is achievable and these steps would need to include:
Join Quebec youth in talking about how climate change harms our rights
Earlier this week the Quebec organization, Environnement Jeunesse (ENJEU), announced it was filing a class action lawsuit against the Canadian government for a failure to protect youth from climate change. The first line of the court documents provocatively asks:
What is the purpose of a government if not to protect the lives and safety of its citizens?
Anti-Bill C-69 rhetoric is not just misleading, it’s irresponsible
There has been a rash of complaints lately about efforts to strengthen and streamline federal decision-making on projects that affect the environment through Bill C-69. They originate from a small but organized group based in Alberta, primarily connected to the oil and gas industry.
Most of the critiques are misleading, and many are blatantly false.