Energy

We saw the delegates hugging each other as they walked out of the COP21 climate change talks in Paris back in December — but we had no idea what the agreement they reached meant for Canada.

Now we do. And it turns out Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was quite right to be anxious about the future of our fossil fuel industry and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley may have been quite wrong in her assertion that Alberta will prosper — if she was talking about the oil and gas industry, at any rate.

Secrecy surrounding proposed land transfers raises concerns about transparency of process

BC Hydro has been quietly offering to transfer thousands of hectares of Crown land to First Nations in compensation for the $9-billion Site C dam.

For Immediate Release

MEDIA ADVISORY

February 19th, 2016

David Suzuki and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip Support Site C Opposition at Injunction Hearing

Site C protest campers in court Monday

Lawyer hired by defendants a veteran of Burnaby Mountain pipeline injunctions

Members of a protest camp who have blocked Site C dam construction for 50 days will have a hearing on an injunction to remove them Feb. 22.

It's the first time BC Hydro and Rocky Mountain Fort campers have been in court since the camp was established Dec. 31.

Former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen says BC Hydro’s claim that a one-year delay in Site C dam construction will add $420 million to the project’s $8.8 billion cost is “effectively illusionary” and based on “fundamentally flawed” analysis.
 

For immediate release                                                                                                      

February 17, 2016

Site C Dam construction must be halted until B.C.’s Auditor General completes much-needed independent review, wide array of groups say

VICTORIA –First Nations, labour, environmental and legal organizations are calling on the B.C. and federal governments to suspend construction of the Site C dam pending completion and full consideration of an independent review by B.C.’s Auditor General.

All over the country, the Kochs and utilities have been blocking solar initiatives — but nowhere more so than in Florida

After decades of false starts, solar power in America is finally poised for its breakthrough moment. The price of solar panels has dropped by more than 80 percent since President Obama took office, and the industry is beginning to compete with coal and natural gas on economics alone.

February 11, 2016

Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

There’s nothing clean about the Site C dam:

Canadian organizations condemn Peace River hydroelectric mega-project for human rights violations

Dear Prime Minister,

The campaign to get the University of British Columbia to stop investing in fossil fuel companies will push forward even after the board committee voted against divesting, organizers say.

UBC's finance committee on Wednesday rejected a student and faculty-supported proposal to divest its $1.46-billion endowment fund of fossil fuel investments. About $85 million of that is invested in the energy sector.

"The campaign is not going to stop until they divest," said Alex Hemingway, a UBC PhD student and divestment coordinator.