Northern Gateway’s President, John Carruthers, now accepts that the start date for the Enbridge Pipeline and Tankers Project – which Enbridge had expected in 2018 – is “fast evaporating”, due to the need to meet with First Nations. That’s a remarkable admission, coming from someone whose project depends upon maintaining the charade that this project is alive and well, and not dead at all.
Last April (2011) we wrote about media coverage from Quebec’s La Presse about the fact that senior Canadian government officials had about 30 times more meetings with the oil and gas industry than they did with environmental organizations
Last Tuesday’s English Language election leadership debates are over. Disappointingly, there was hardly a mention of environmental issues (there was more discussion of Facebook than Climate Change). Quite the contrast from the 2008 Election debates, when environment was a major issue. That’s an argument right there for including Elizabeth May in the leadership debates: the media Consortium
Many of us feel some pressure, or even guilt, about our environmental footprint and our role in creating climate change. West Coast's Anjali Appadurai breaks down this common narrative and points to the need to hold Big Oil accountable for the much bigger part it has played in creating and perpetuating the climate crisis.
West Coast was interested to read in the Globe and Mail last week that Statistics Canada has been forced, in order to meet its budget, to cut five surveys, some of which are intended to gather what sounds like critical environmental information. But the story raises so many unanswered questions.
Kinder Morgan’s proposal to expand its oil pipeline from Alberta’s Tarsands to Burnaby will dramatically increase the number of oil tankers passing through the Salish Sea, and increase the likelihood of a spill. But if and when there is a spill, the insurance funds available - $1.34 Billion – will be far short of the estimated $10.8 Billion costs of clean up and financial impacts.
Discussions of climate change tend to be predicated upon some far-off future. When reading about sea level rise, feedback loops, or other ramifications of global climate change, I often find myself honing in on timelines. I’m comforted by the hope that the dystopian future will be after I’m dead. Or so I like to think.
On June 18, the West Coast Environmental Law Association hosted a telephone town hall on what the rolling back of Canada's environmental laws means for oil tankers and the health and security of BC's coast.
Fresh out of bed the first morning after the election, Stephen Harper met with the press and said:
The phrase “do as I say, not as I do” comes to mind. Despite the Province of BC’s tough talk about its conditions for oil pipelines, in ongoing litigation regarding the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers proposal (“Northern Gateway”), BC is fighting to leave its decision-making responsibility in the hands of the federal government.