Energy

Photo: Kevin Washbrook of Votors Taking Action on Climate Change

Up to 120 LNG tankers a year could ply the south arm of the Fraser River after a U.S. company secured a licence to export LNG from a facility on Tilbury Island in Delta.

The National Energy Board of Canada approved the plan on May 7.

Five trillion US dollars annually – that’s how much is being lavished in various forms of subsidies on the global fossil fuel industry, according to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). US$10 million a minute – more than the health budgets of every country on earth combined.

We’re told that there’s not enough money for decent health care, education or welfare. But the equivalent of 6.5 percent of global GDP is being poured into an industry that’s driving the world to social and environmental catastrophe.

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A group of more than 100 leading scientists from both Canada and the United States called for a moratorium on new oil sands development at a June 10 telephone press conference.

The scientists laid out 10 reasons why continued expansion of the oil sands is incompatible with keeping climate change at a level that does not cause widespread harm.

Almost six months after the B.C. government approved construction of the Site C dam, BC Hydro is still waiting for the province to issue the dozens of permits needed before shovels can touch the ground.

The permits have been held up because the province needs to conduct “meaningful consultation” with the Treaty 8 Tribal Association on the hydroelectric project.

Last week, I held a press conference with Harold Steves, former NDP MLA and a founder of the Agricultural Land Reserve, speaking out against the B.C. Liberal Site C dam. This project is not only a human-rights violation—depriving people of the right to food and water—but breaks Treaty 8 itself and, if constructed, will also be a contravention of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

From the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, what unfolded in B.C. last week must have looked strange.

While the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation was voting against a $1.1 billion offer of cash and land to support Petronas’ $11 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG (PNW) project in Prince Rupert, some members were reportedly giving a tentative thumbs-up to the Eagle Spirit Energy refined oil pipeline proposal.

VANCOUVER —The province hopes to start construction of the $8.8-billion Site C dam this summer, but that might be optimistic, say academic experts following the project.

It all depends on whether a court-ordered injunction is imposed in either of two cases in B.C. Supreme Court involving the controversial hydroelectric megaproject.

“I think the chances are that Site C will see the light of day, with perhaps some delays,” said Werner Antweiler, an associate professor specializing in energy economics at the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business.

(Ottawa, ON) – Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde today stated strong disapproval for the decision by the Government of British Columbia to go forward with the construction of BC Hydro’s Site C Dam project.  “The dam does not make sense legally, environmentally or economically.”  The dam would flood the Peace River Valley from Fort St.

Despite the B.C. government’s announcement that the $8.8-billion Site C dam is going ahead, First Nations and land owners in the Peace River Valley say the battle against it is still on and will spark opposition to other resource projects.

“It’s far from being a done deal. This fight is just getting started,” Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nation said Wednesday.

“We were shocked,” he said of the band’s reaction to Premier Christy Clark’s announcement on Site C, Tuesday. “It was basically a spit in the face.”

VICTORIA — For Premier Christy Clark, the decision to proceed with building Site C is one that will bear fruit over the next 100 years.

“Long after this announcement today is over, long after my working days in this job are over, I believe that the people of our province will continue to prosper and continue to create wealth and opportunity,” she declared Tuesday.

For Energy Minister Bill Bennett, the giant hydroelectric dam on the Peace River “will be the last of its kind,” here or anywhere else.