British Columbia

20/08/16
Author: 
Brian Morton

This year’s Fraser River sockeye run is the lowest in more than 120 years, and the Watershed Watch Salmon Society says it all has to do with climate change.

“The salmon are suffering because of the changing environment of which we, as British Columbians, have some responsibility for,” said WWSS fisheries adviser Greg Taylor of the fishery, which ended Aug. 12.

“There ‘s a great link between (Premier) Christy Clark’s inaction on climate change and river temperatures that are lethal to salmon.”

20/08/16
Author: 
Gordon Hoekstra

August 19, 2016 - The B.C. Liberal government has put off the heavy lifting on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to a later date, under a new plan released today.

The much-anticipated update to a 2008 plan created under then-premier Gordon Campbell recommits the province to achieving an 80 per cent reduction over 2007 levels by 2050.

19/08/16
Author: 
Elizabeth McSheffrey
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, flanked by Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Melanie Mark, presents against the Trans Mountain expansion during a panel consultation in Vancouver, B.C. on Thurs. Aug. 18, 2016. Photo by Elizabeth McSheffrey.
  • Only three First Nations speakers turn up for federal Indigenous pipeline consultation in Vancouver, B.C.

  • We don't trust the process, says UBCIC Grand Chief Stewart Phillip

  • "I attended three consultations and the consensus is clear. The people do not consent to pipelines in our backyards," says Melanie Mark, first Indigenous women elected as an MLA in B.C.

17/08/16
Author: 
Gordon Hoekstra

Internal documents show B.C. Hydro officials have had concerns since at least 2009 that earthquakes triggered by fracking are a potential risk to its Peace River dams.

August 16, 2016 - The electricity-generating dams in northeastern B.C. include one of the largest earth dams in the world, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, as well as the smaller Peace Canyon Dam, and the $9-billion Site-C dam, which is under construction.

The Crown agency has not discussed the issue publicly.

13/08/16
Author: 
Business in Vancouver

Northeastern B.C. sits on an ocean of natural gas. But so do Montana, North Dakota and New York State, so the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian gas.

That’s why the B.C. government put so much energy into opening up new markets for B.C. gas in Asia in its bid to to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

But one by one, LNG proposals have been falling like dominoes as companies have shelved or deferred projects.

12/08/16
Author: 
Kai Nagata
Ministerial panel on KM pipeline August 2016

Oil tanker approval would betray written commitment by Liberals.

Sitting in a Burnaby hotel ballroom this week across from three sheepish federal pipeline panelists, I couldn’t help but remember a conversation I had with Justin Trudeau one year ago. “All I want to know,” I asked at a campaign stop, “is does your NEB overhaul apply to Kinder Morgan?”

12/08/16
Author: 
Gene McGuckin

[Editor's note:  Following is one of the many great presentations made to the Ministerial Panel in Burnaby on August 9, 10, and 11.  In general the presentations were intelligent, very well researched, and presented with great passion. I was there for most of the day on Wednesday and most of the afternoon/evening on Thursday and I heard no presentations that supported the expansion but many that agreed with Gene that the panel was a sham!]

Presentation – Ministerial Panel – Aug. 10, 2016 – Burnaby, BC

03/08/16
Author: 
Kai Nafata

Review panel member says her past  with Kinder Morgan is no big deal.

July 19, 2016 - Imagine in the middle of a murder trial, it turned out one of the jurors was friends with the accused. The judge would have to call a mistrial and start over.

02/08/16
Author: 
Stewart Phillip and Devon Page
A worker uses a small boat to move logs on the Douglas Channel at dusk in Kitimat, B.C. Douglas Channel is the proposed termination point for an for an oil pipeline from Alberta as part of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

In June, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the federal government’s approval of the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, which would ship diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands through the Great Bear Rainforest to the British Columbia coast.

30/07/16
Author: 
Charlie Smith
Justin Trudeau played up his warm and fuzzy environmental credentials before the election, but it looks like he's alienating many conservationists with his government's support for the Site C dam.

North America has a serious problem with climate change. And the effects are being felt now.

It's apparent in the California drought, atmospheric rivers that have caused massive flooding in Toronto and Calgary, and the lengthening forest-fire season.

This year, parts of Fort McMurray burned down in early May. In May! Not July or August.

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