British Columbia

The B.C. government has been careful to consult aboriginal communities about the development of the liquefied natural gas industry, but one group says there has been scant attention paid to First Nations when it comes to drilling activities that could damage the environment. The Treaty 8 First Nations in northeastern British Columbia have blasted the provincial government, saying it is giving short shrift to their concerns related to natural gas drilling and processing. Eight aboriginal leaders signed the letter of complaint, and representatives delivered the letter to B.C.

On this the first day of BC’s much ballyhooed International LNG conference, it is worth noting, comparing and contrasting BC’s LNG “model” and that of competing Nations around the world in the natural gas industry.

While Canada slashes budgets for research, education and public broadcasting, there is one part of our economy that enjoys remarkable support from the Canadian taxpayer: the energy sector.

Vancouver Rabbi David Mivasair cites an ancient midrash, or biblical commentary, to explain why he opposes thermal coal exports through B.C.'s Texada Island in a new letter. Roughly two thousand years ago, the author of Ecclesiastes Rabba imagined God's words to Adam after placing him in the Garden of Eden. "Behold my creation how lovely and wonderful it is," reads the Jewish text. "Make sure that you do not spoil or destroy my world, for if you damage it there is no one to repair it after you."

For Immediate Release

As dawn broke one day last summer, I approached a quiet White Rock railway crossing beside the beach. The only sounds at this early hour were a seagull's cries and the fluttering of sheets of paper taped to a post waving like small flags in the quiet before a battle: a judge's injunction. Shortly, the first of several coal-laden trains were scheduled to lumber north across the U.S. border, headed as they do each day to the Westshore coal terminal at Roberts bank near Tsawwassen, and on to Asian buyers.

Environmental groups in British Columbia are fully mobilized in the fight against Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan's TransMountain oil sand pipeline proposals. But it might surprise many here to learn that just across the B.C.-Washington border, plans to move an older and even dirtier kind of fossil fuel are the focus of heated environmental concern, economic lobbying, and rising controversy over Canada’s role. That product is coal -- and active plans would see millions of tons of the black stuff shipped through the Salish Sea from U.S. mines to Asian buyers.

In the Kispiox Valley 650 km north of Vancouver -- where “No LNG” lawn signs seem to be everywhere -- rancher Gene Allen had strong words for TransCanada pipeline contractors.

After persistently prodding the National Energy Board, pipeline critic David Ellis finally got a report on Kinder Morgan's two oil spills along the Trans Mountain pipeline route. The spills happened last June, and had temporarily shut the pipeline down for investigation. What he saw on page two of Kinder Morgan's Engineering Assessment floored him.