Climate and Energy

We and our allies have emphasized the many and real environmental risks of the Enbridge Pipelines and Tankers Project, the wall of opposition of First Nations, the lack of social licence among British Columbians.  The National Energy Board Joint Review Panel, in its recent report recommending that the project be allowed to proceed, had to concede, even after downplaying and low-balling those impacts, that there would be a negative impact of the project on BC’s environment.  But the JRP Panel nonetheless argued that what the panel saw as the economic benefits of the project would trump all o

[Updated 7 August 2013]

We can’t eat crude.

Recently, I was invited to participate in a trip to the tar sands, and to Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta for meetings with people affected by tar sands development, along with representatives from other environmental organizations. We had been asked to come so that we could brief people on legal questions in relation to oil exploration and oil infrastructure, but also so that we would have the opportunity to witness what’s happening in the tar sands first hand. (Story continues below photo).

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, and formerly Governor of the Bank of Canada, does know something about financial risk.  And when he was asked to speak to Lloyd’s of London, an established institution in the insurance world the brings together 96 insurance syndicates, he chose to talk about the financial risks of climate change. 

Amid all the ocean stories dominating the headlines last week, like the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation’s decision to turn down a billion  dollar offer from an LNG proponent whose liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is  located in a hotspot of salmon biodiversity where they traditionally fish, to the court decision on aquaculture, to news of 

It’s a bit over twenty years since I was arrested, along with 300 other people who stood on the Kennedy Lake Road on August 9th, 1993, in Clayoquot Sound.  So the recent protests on Burnaby Mountain, with over 120 people arrested for protesting Kinder Morgan’s pipeline exploration activities in a regional park, brought back memories.  Although Kinder Morgan decided not to proceed with contempt proceedings  against the Burnaby protesters (after admitting that it provided incorrect GPS co-ordinates when it initially sought the court order they were said to have violated) , I think the lessons

Several days spent at the end of September at UBCM, the annual gathering of local government officials from around the province was a perfect opportunity for West Coast Environmental Law to connect directly with some of the individuals working on the frontlines to make their communities great pl

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference held each year in Eugene Oregon is, perhaps, the Mecca of environmental lawyers.  It brings together literally thousands of lawyers, law students, community activists, and others to discuss whether and how the law can be used to protect the environment.  This year – the 30th Conference – West Coast Environmental Law had a good contingent: Lawyers Josh Paterson and Andrew Gage, and Interns Nicole Petersen and Julia Martignoni.