West Coast Environmental Law reacts to federal marine safety announcement
VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories – West Coast Environmental Law Association issued the following statement in response to the federal government’s announcement today regarding new marine safety initiatives:
Federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau says the sinking of the tugboat Nathan E. Stewart shows that oil spill response resources on Canada’s West Coast are inadequate.
In a meeting with the leaders of the Heiltsuk Nation on Sunday, Mr. Garneau also promised he will deliver a promised ban on oil tanker traffic off British Columbia’s North Coast by the end of the year. In fact, an announcement on spill response is expected as early as Monday.
The ministerial panel appointed by the federal government to review the National Energy Board’s appraisal of the Trans Mountain pipeline proposal concluded its report last week without any recommendations.
Instead, the panel posed six troubling questions for the cabinet to consider before it rules on the controversial pipeline next month.
Ottawa had not wanted any recommendations from the panel, but rather sought a broad report that would allow the government to make its own unencumbered decision.
High rain and wind warnings have prompted the Tseshaht First Nation to declared a state of emergency for the First Nation’s reserve on Friday, Nov. 4. The declaration was announced at 3 p.m. by Tseshaht emergency preparedness committee chair Hugh Braker.
Environment Canada estimates 100 to 150mm of rain will fall on the western slopes of inland Vancouver Island this weekend. Forecasts are for steady rain until Wednesday.
A three-person ministerial panel set up as a kind of complaints desk for the Trans Mountain pipeline project has submitted its final report to the Canadian government.
Federal ministers will find plenty of grievances about the pipeline and the National Energy Board (NEB) regulatory process that approved it in the 60-page report.
(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, B.C. – November 6, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs completely rejects and repudiates the federal Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr's recent asinine statement that Canada only needs to consult and accommodate the concerns, interests and rights of First Nations regarding the approval of proposed resource development projects such as Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion project or Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipelines project.
Nov 4, 2016 - British Columbia’s efforts to launch a liquefied natural gas industry were given a boost Friday after Woodfibre LNG said it will proceed with its $1.6−billion project in the Lower Mainland, the first proposed LNG development to go ahead in the province.
[Webpage editor's note: Sharing energy infastructure for greater efficiency of supply is good, but not as part of expanding environmentally-destructive projects (like Site C) in order to power other environmentally destructive projects (like the tar sands).]
Nov 5, 2016 - The Trudeau government has sent a “quite positive” signal that it is prepared to help finance a new transmission link to ship clean B.C. hydroelectric power to Alberta, according to provincial energy minister Bill Bennett.
