Image by Unsplash. The Province of British Columbia has missed its own deadline to complete the CleanBC plan, another in a long string of broken promises on climate action. The government had promised to unveil additional climate actions to meet its 2030 target by December 5, 2020. Despite Premier Horgan’s repeated assurances that Liquefied Natural Gas…
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Seismic survey threatens endangered whales
Image by Rachael Merrett. As the oceans become quieter amidst the global pandemic, an application for seismic surveys off the West Coast of Vancouver Island threatens the recovery of endangered Southern Resident killer whales. This week, in response, a coalition of conservation groups has written to the federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans to inform her…
Read more »GSA responds to TMX decision by the Federal Court of Appeal
Photo credit: Carla Hunt. Today, the Federal Court of Appeal released its decision regarding six challenges made by the Coldwater Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribes, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation regarding consultation with Indigenous communities affected by the Trans Mountain project following the project’s second approval by the federal government last June. In response,…
Read more »Emergency Management laws in B.C. must address climate costs, say organizations and academics
B.C. is not doing enough to investigate, prepare for, and protect taxpayers from the looming costs of climate change, say 25 B.C.-based organizations and four leading academics. In a submission to the B.C. government’s consultation on emergency management legislation, the groups are calling on the Province to better incorporate the increasing financial costs expected to prepare for, respond to and…
Read more »B.C. strengthens Climate Accountability Act
Increased accountability measures, but targets don’t align with the best climate science
Today the B.C. government has introduced significant changes to the Climate Change Accountability Act, an important series of reforms to the way we fight climate change in B.C. “B.C. is establishing strong planning and reporting requirements for its actions to fight climate change,” said Andrew Radzik, Georgia Strait Alliance’s Energy Campaigner. “These will demonstrate in detail what is being done…
Read more »Vancouver votes to demand accountability from global fossil fuel companies
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. Today, Vancouver City Council voted 7-4 to take a series of actions demanding that global fossil fuel companies share in the climate change costs incurred by the City. Vancouver becomes the 24th community in B.C. to take such action to ensure that their costs are shared with international fossil fuel…
Read more »Federal govt chooses Trans Mountain over climate action, orcas, coastal communities
Image by TheoRivierenlaan from Pixabay. In response to today’s decision by the federal government to approve the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Georgia Strait Alliance’s Executive Director Christianne Wilhelmson said: “Today’s decision isn’t surprising, unfortunately. Federal approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion prioritizes fossil fuel products, which we know are destabilizing our climate as…
Read more »Georgia Strait Alliance responds to B.C. Court of Appeal decision on the transport of heavy oils
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay. Today, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that the Province does not have the jurisdiction to regulate the transport of heavy oils through its territory. The provincial government had argued that it should be allowed to use its environmental laws to restrict the transport of bitumen via pipeline, however,…
Read more »New legislation to prop up LNG industry is 5 x the budget of provincial climate plan
photo: alexlmx / stock.adobe.com In a counter-productive move, the Province of BC increases subsidies to the fossil fuel industry in what amounts to five times more than the investment in the new CleanBC climate plan. In response to legislation passed this week that provides these subsidies to the LNG industry in British Columbia, in the form…
Read more »Twenty local governments ask 20 fossil fuel companies to pay a share of local climate costs
BC environmental organizations are celebrating that 20 communities have now voted to send letters to 20 fossil fuel companies. The groups say BC local governments increasingly see clearly their costs associated with climate change, and the need for global fossil fuel giants like Chevron and Shell to pay a share of those costs.The City of Courtenay, on northern Vancouver Island,…
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