RE: UBCIC Calls for Two-Year Moratorium on Construction of Proposed Site C Dam and Referral to BC Utilities Commission
Dear Premier Clark, Minister Bennett, and Minister Polak:
We are writing to support the urgent request by Treaty 8 First Nations for a two-year moratorium on construction of the proposed Site C Dam until the end of 2017, and that the proposed project be referred to the BC Utilities Commission for review and consultation.
Bill 30 was introduced into the BC Legislature on July 13, 2015. An explanatory note in the Bill reports that it "authorizes the Minister of Finance to enter into LNG project agreements to indemnify persons from costs incurred as a result of specified legislative or program changes."
Babes in the woods. Sitting ducks. Easy prey. Fish in a barrel.
All idioms that apply to those who dare to outbluff Big Oil, convinced that they are too shrewd to get burned and too gifted to get taken. The industry lives for such hapless victims.
Record warm ocean temperatures combined with low, unusually warm rivers pose a double threat to B.C. salmon, prompting officials to curtail some fisheries.
The reduced fisheries are part of a cautious approach to ensure that a healthy number of salmon return to river spawning grounds.
Ocean scientist Ian Perry said two unusual weather factors have dealt simultaneous blows to B.C. salmon numbers; Higher than normal ocean temperatures and warmer and lower river levels.
Temperatures are soaring, the province is on fire and Premier Christy Clark has called a rare summer sitting of the legislature.
One hopes our government would call an emergency sitting to address the health and economic crisis facing B.C. communities as a result of climate change-induced water shortages and wildfire.
Photo: Demonstrators took to the land and sea last week to protest the prospect of an LNG plant near Squamish. (Photo by Tim Turner.)
When Christy Clark ran for election in 2013, she promised that developing B.C.’s liquefied natural gas industry would help pay off provincial debt, and in time, generate 100,000 jobs and $1 trillion in economic activity.
Last month, her government announced a rare summer recall of the legislature to pass a law that would enable the province’s first LNG project, a special session that began today.
As British Columbians face increasing water use restrictions due to a heat wave, forest fires and drought, the province must answer why it is charging bottled water companies only $2.25 per million litres taken from B.C. sources.
Or why companies using huge amounts of water for hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" to extract oil and natural gas also pay just $2.25 a million litres.
The Project Development Agreement between the BC Government and the (Petronas-led) Pacific North West LNG LP was released to the public on July 6 at: http://ow.ly/PfXxd .
VICTORIA — The B.C. Liberals released details Monday of their proposal to compensate liquefied natural gas developers on a-dollar-for-dollar basis if future changes in provincial taxes and regulations specifically target the LNG sector.
