If you've read the federal government's June 17 press release about Enbridge's pipelines and tankers proposal (AKA Northern Gateway), you might be wondering what it all means. Here's our quick take on it. The presentation below takes about 7 minutes and you can start by pressing the play button in the bottom left corner of the frame.
This week is a good time to think about climate science, and especially how governments listen to, and act on, the recommendations of climate experts. It’s a good time to think about climate experts here in Canada, because one year ago the Canadian government got rid of the main expert agency responsible for advising it on environmental issues, including climate change. And in Australia the Climate Change Commission, a similar expert government advisory body, issued a major report that highlights that tackling climate change means leaving 80% of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. Two di
According to Barbara Yaffe’s most recent column in the Vancouver Sun, “Knocking oilsands bolsters Northern Gateway”, the actions of environmental groups, in exposing the environmental impacts of the Alberta tar sands, are making it more ‘imperative’ that Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Project proceed as the U.S. becomes increasingly unwilling to buy tar sands oil.
At the end of the summer, West Coast and our allies in the campaign to achieve a legislative tanker ban on BC’s North Coast decided that it would be a great idea to meet to discuss strategy and next steps on the coastal waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. In this way we could travel the proposed tanker route and see first-hand (some of us for the first time) the communities, coastline and culture that the proposed Enbridge project, and the resulting oil tanker traffic, would put at risk of disaster, and meet people whose livel
Over the past few weeks, the campaign for a legislated tanker ban seems to have taken on a life of its own. Today (December 14, 2010), Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray (Liberal) introduced legislation that, if passed, would ban crude oil tankers from the waters of Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance, and Queen Charlotte Sound. These are the dangerous and sensitive waters between Haida Gwaii and the mainland, and between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the marine border with Alaska.
We have predicted that governments would begin enacting new laws to address the liability of fossil fuel companies for their role in causing climate change. And now we can see a first example of such legislation being debated in California, albeit on a narrow scale, through the proposed Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act.
Following hot on the heels of the controversial Park Amendment Act (Bill 4), the BC government has introduced another bill that would open up some of the province’s most publicly valuable lands – in this case, its farmlands – to industrial development.
On December 2nd 61 First Nations with territory in the Fraser River watershed spoke up against Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline – the Save the Fraser Gathering of Nations Declaration. The same day the Nations published a full page ad in the Globe and Mail.
[Update: 7 October 2016 - We received a response from Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, today acknowledging our open letter and confirming that "Ensuring transparency and accountability for planning and implementing climate actions is a priority for the Government of Canada." We appreciate Minister McKenna's response.
