British Columbia

Area water managers say Oceanside residents may be looking at earlier and higher water restrictions this spring.

The Vancouver Island snowpack is at about seven per cent of normal and rainfall at about 50 per cent.

Mike Squire, manager of the Arrowsmith and Englishman River water services, said Tuesday the levels are "definitely worrisome."

"The next few months will be telling," he said.

Many of us think of B.C.’s forests as important carbon sinks, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and helping mitigate climate change. However, according to new provincial data quietly released on a government website, B.C. forests are now approaching a full decade as a carbon source rather than a carbon sink.

Although British Columbia is covered by some of the most productive carbon-storing forest ecosystems on the planet, B.C. forests have been releasing more carbon than they sequester since 2003.

This month, provincial MLAs are preparing for the upcoming legislative session, in which they will debate rules for carbon pollution and taxes for liquefied natural gas (LNG) development. The connection between LNG development and carbon pollution is significant. And just how the government chooses to manage both issues will have serious long-term implications, for the province and the country. Last year, Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman was asked on CBC's Early Edition what B.C.'s LNG plans could mean for the province's climate targets.

“It was a good starting point because I saw Enbridge coming…like, four or five years ago,” Williams said about his involvement in New Brunswick. “I was talking about it with people, and people were, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s not going to go through; that’s not going to go through.’ But now they’ve got the green light.…It’s only a matter of time.”

Concerns are being raised about reports that former Conservative MP Chuck Strahl, who now oversees Canada's spy agency, is lobbying for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

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Strahl - who is also director and chair of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, which is dedicated to building Canada's conservative movement - couldn't be reached for comment on the matter Monday by The Vancouver Sun.

Strahl faced conflict of interest allegations this week from the NDP after the Vancouver Observer reported he registered on Dec. 6, 2013, to lobby the British Columbia government on behalf of Enbridge, which is behind the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline project to move Alberta tar sands oil to the B.C. coast.

Resource development projects offer First Nations “an unprecedented opportunity” to gain economic benefits and resolve social issues in their communities, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during an informal discussion at the Vancouver Board of Trade Monday. Harper, in response to questions from board of trade CEO Iain Black, vowed that his government would not approve pipeline projects “unless they meet the highest standards of environmental protection.” Ottawa will also live up to its constitutional obligation to consult with First Nations on resource development, he said.

On Monday (December 16), six “anti-capitalist” Santas from the activist group Rising Tide delivered coal to the private offices of “naughty” Port Metro Vancouver. PMV is reviewing the permit application and consultation process for the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks coal port development. This project would see the delivery of at least four million tonnes of coal by train, and then open barge to Texada Island, to be loaded onto ships and sold to Asia.

The fossil fuel industry offensive in British Columbia and across Canada is proceeding relentlessly. This is a report from some of the key fronts of the fossil fuel wars. On December 16, Kinder Morgan company made its official application to the National Energy Board for approval to build a $5.4-billion tar sands pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver harbour. The new line will use the path of its existing Trans Mountain Pipeline for part of the route, but it will diverge from that significantly in places, including in the final leg of the line into metropolitan Vancouver.