Open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau re: Commitment to introduce legislated ban on oil tanker traffic on British Columbia’s north coast
An open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed by
Climate and Energy
Energy Forum Climate Leadership Consultation Submission - August 20, 2015
British Columbia has demonstrated to the world that it is possible to drive down carbon pollution while growing the economy. Policies like the carbon tax, clean electricity standard and renewable and low-carbon fuel requirements regulation have helped to drive this change. Unfortunately, British Columbia’s carbon pollution is starting to increase in nearly every sector and is projected to continue increasing without new climate policy, signalling that it’s time to reinvigorate the climate action plan.
Legal Backgrounder – What are the Northern Gateway Court Challenges About?
The eighteen legal challenges to the federal government’s approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers project are scheduled to be heard together in Vancouver this October, setting the stage for a historic legal battle to protect the environment and Aboriginal rights.Andrew Thompson Award 2014 Brochure
The Andrew Thompson award was established in 2002 by West Coast Environmental Law and the Thompson family as a legacy to Dr. Andrew Thompson, and was made possible through the generosity of the Thompson family. The award is given to an individual who has demonstrated a significant lifetime contribution to environmental protection and sustainability in British Columbia through the law.
Climate change litigation and the public right to a healthy atmosphere
The damages caused by, and the costs of adapting to, climate change are running into the billions of dollars per year in Canada alone. It is remarkable that a human caused activity that causes such widespread harm to legal rights and economic interests should not be seen as a major source of liability.
Payback Time? What the internationalization of climate litigation could mean for Canadian oil and gas companies
Payback Time?
Legal Backgrounder: First Nations Legal Challenges to Enbridge Pipelines and Tankers Project
In a wave of legal filings between July 11 and July 14, 2014 eight First Nations from Haida Gwaii to Yinka Dene territory west of Prince George have set in motion legal proceedings that, combined with 9 court cases filed earlier this year, have the potential to stop or significantly delay the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers project (the “Enbridge Project”). This publication provides details on the legal cases, and several events leading up to the legal cases.
Land Use Planning for Nature, Climate and Communities: Taking Stock and Moving Forward
In this report West Coast Environmental Law analyzes the resource management direction provided by twenty years of strategic land use planning in BC to address three related questions:
ENGO and WCEL Submissions to BC Carbon Tax Review
This publication is comprised of two separate documents relating to the 2012 BC Carbon Tax review.
The first document is the Joint Submission to the B.C. Ministry of Finance's Carbon Tax Review, submitted on behalf of 11 environmental and labour organizations in British Columbia. West Coast Environmental Law signed on to, but did not draft, this document.
West Coast Environmental Law also provided additional submission, expanding upon the Joint Submission, written by Andrew Gage.
Legal Backgrounder Coastal First Nations Declaration and Save the Fraser Declaration
In 2010, two unequivocal Indigenous-law based declarations were signed by First Nations, definitively banning tar sands crude oil tankers, pipelines and infrastructure from their territories. Nine First Nations peoples of the Central and North Pacific Coast and Haida Gwaii (the “Coastal First Nations”) signed the Coastal First Nations Declaration (March 2010), and sixty-one First Nations centred in the Fraser Watershed signed the Save the Fraser Declaration (December 2010). Signatories of the Save the Fraser Declaration have since grown to over 100.