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Ecojustice, Sierra Club BC in court over environmental assessment exemption for unlawfully-built dams

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CORRECTION: Sierra Club BC and Ecojustice appeared in court for the scheduled hearing, per the release below. The Court has postponed the hearing until October.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 29, 2019

VANCOUVER – Ecojustice and Sierra Club BC are in court this week to challenge the British Columbia government’s decision to exempt two Petronas Canada dams from environmental assessments — after the company had already gone ahead and built the dams unlawfully.

The Town Dam and Lily Dam are located north of Fort St. John, B.C. Both dams store water used in fracking operations, making them a key part of a network of infrastructure linked to LNG development in the province.

On behalf of Sierra Club BC, Ecojustice lawyers will appear in the British Columbia Supreme Court from July 29 to July 31. There, they will argue the province’s decision to exempt the dams from environmental assessment is not only extraordinary, but is not an option available to the province under the law.

Representatives from Ecojustice and Sierra Club BC released the following statements at the start of the hearing.

Olivia French, lawyer, Ecojustice:

“The B.C. government’s decision to exempt two Petronas Canada dams from environmental assessment raises serious questions about its ability to safely regulate energy projects while ramping up LNG development in northern B.C.

“Petronas Canada acted with flagrant disregard for the province’s environmental laws when it built the Lily and Town dams without first receiving the required legal approvals.

“The province’s decision to exempt the dams from environmental assessment sets a dangerous precedent — and suggests the government is not only unwilling to punish companies that break the law, but may actually reward them by facilitating a less rigorous review processes.”

Hannah Askew, executive director, Sierra Club BC:

“If this retroactive exemption is allowed to stand, British Columbia’s reputation for lax enforcement of environmental regulations will only get worse.

“It’s irresponsible and unacceptable for the B.C. government to let oil and gas corporations such as Petronas Canada knowingly break the law with no consequences.

“In an era when carbon pollution from oil and gas companies is threatening our communities with extreme weather like flooding and wildfires, we need stronger laws and better enforcement to put the health and safety of our communities ahead of corporate profit.”

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About:

Ecojustice, Canada’s largest environmental law charity, goes to court and uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment for all.

Sierra Club BC works to defend B.C.’s wild places and species, within the urgent context of climate change.

For media inquiries

Olivia French, lawyer | Ecojustice
Please contact Catharine Tunnacliffe, 1 800 926 7744 ext. 277, ctunnacliffe@ecojustice.ca

Tim Pearson, communications director | Sierra Club BC
250-896-1556, tim@sierraclub.bc.ca

 

 

Featured photo: Lily Dam, Ben Parfitt

Report links steep increases in domestic hydro bills to province’s reckless handouts to LNG companies and Kinder Morgan

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March 27, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VICTORIA—British Columbians will face alarming increases in hydro rates for decades to come because of the B.C. government’s reckless gamble on liquefied fracked gas and the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tankers project, says a new report from Sierra Club BC.

The report, Hydro Bill Madness: The BC Government Goes For Broke With Your Money, shows how BC government subsidies to the LNG industry, offered in an attempt to lure companies to BC despite adverse market conditions, come at great expense to BC taxpayers and BC Hydro ratepayers. Power subsidies to even just two or three of the proposed LNG plants could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per year, on top of royalty and tax cuts, the cost of building the Site C dam, and energy subsidies to other industrial users like Kinder Morgan.

“Why is our government expecting British Columbians to pay a handout to international corporations each time we pay our hydro bill?” said Sierra Club BC campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon. “In their desperation to secure a deal, they are making terrible deals with serious consequences for all BC residents.”

The report points out that Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, if built, would be powered with subsidized energy at a cost to ratepayers of at least $540 million over twenty years.

“When the BC government approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tankers they implied the $25-50 million per year from the company would somehow make up for long-term job losses and economic impacts of oil spills,” said Vernon. “What they failed to mention is that BC is giving $27 million per year to Kinder Morgan, in the form of subsidized energy.”

The handouts don’t stop there: the report questions the need for the multi-billion dollar Site C earth-fill dam project, which is intended to supply below-cost energy to fracking and LNG export facilities that may never get built, and will contribute to escalating hydro rates over the dam’s 70-year payback period.

“The BC government is building an expensive dam we don’t need in order to offer subsidies to fracking and LNG companies, with BC hydro ratepayers footing the bill for generations to come,” said Vernon.

Sierra Club BC’s report notes that alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal create more enduring employment while providing a more flexible and cost effective avenue for addressing BC’s future energy needs.

“Our government is single-mindedly pursuing LNG export against all odds and at any cost, but we can choose a different future for this province and our Hydro bills. We have better, cheaper and cleaner energy options, like solar and wind. It’s not too late to stop the Site C dam,” said Vernon.

“British Columbians need to make their voices heard on these issues in the upcoming election, because they are the ones who will be paying the price for these bad decisions.”

Report: Hydro Bill Madness: The BC Government Goes For Broke With Your Money

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Media contact:
Caitlyn Vernon
Campaigns Director
Sierra Club BC
250-896-3500
caitlyn@sierraclub.bc.ca

Hydro Bill Madness

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March 2017

Did you know that as a BC Hydro ratepayer you are subsidizing projects like the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tankers proposal and LNG Canada?

Wait, what? Why?

The BC government is offering handouts to the LNG industry in an attempt to lure companies to BC in adverse market conditions, and it’s us the taxpayers and hydro ratepayers who will be footing the bill. Watch this video to find out how your rising BC Hydro bill pays for handouts to international corporations.

This is a bad deal for BC. Not only would Kinder Morgan and LNG development destroy our climate and put our water at risk, not only would the $9-17 billion Site C dam flood some of the best agricultural land in BC and trample on First Nations treaty rights, but it’s you and me who are going to have to pay for it, for generations to come.

British Columbians need to know just how bad a deal we are being sold. Let’s get the word out.

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Facebooktwittermail Thanks to Corrina Keeling for producing this video!

These alarming increases in our hydro rates are because the BC government made a reckless gamble on liquefied fracked gas, against all odd and seemingly at any cost.

We’ve outlined how this is happening in a new report, Hydro Bill Madness: The BC Government Goes for Broke With Your Money.

The report shows the BC government is offering subsidies to LNG and fracking companies in the form of tax cuts, royalty credits, and below-cost power. Taxpayers and BC Hydro ratepayers could be left with the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

And because fracking and LNG require a lot of power, the BC government decided to build the Site C earth-fill dam, an expensive dam that is not needed for current electricity demands and that will contribute to escalating hydro rates for over 70 years.

It all adds up to a very big bill that British Columbians will have to pay, and it doesn’t end there. Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, if built, would be powered with subsidized energy at a cost to ratepayers of $27 million per year.

Each time you pay your hydro bill you’re giving a handout to international corporations.

It doesn’t need to be this way. Alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal create more enduring employment while providing a more flexible and cost effective avenue for addressing BC’s future energy needs.

We can choose a different future for our province and our hydro bills.

What can you do?

  • Share the video
  • Read and share the report
  • Ask your candidates where they stand on these issues and vote in the upcoming election on May 9.
  • Volunteer with Sierra Club BC to help more people learn about the environmental and economic impacts of LNG, fracking, Kinder Morgan and the Site C dam.
  • Donate to Sierra Club BC

Federal Approval of Petronas: A betrayal of salmon and climate

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October 3, 2016

For months, we have been asking whether Prime Minister Trudeau would side with B.C.’s wild salmon and a liveable climate, or with foreign multinationals who just see B.C. as a place to exploit for profit.

Sadly, his choice became clear last week, with the federal government’s announcement that it has approved the Petronas fracked gas plant at Lelu Island.

This is terrible news for salmon populations on the Skeena River. The plant is slated to be built right next to the river’s estuary, a nursery for hundreds of millions of juvenile salmon. Canada’s second largest salmon run may have just had its death warrant signed by the federal government.

The approval of Petronas is also very bad news for the climate. The Petronas fracked gas plant is a carbon bomb that will make it impossible for B.C. to meet its already weak climate targets. This plant alone would be responsible for an astonishing 11.5 to 14.0 megatonnes of climate pollution per year, equivalent to five times the official reported emissions for all of B.C. As the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has noted, the climate impacts of the plant would be “high in magnitude, continuous, irreversible and global in extent.”

Simply put, expanding the extraction of fracked gas is incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5 to 2⁰C.

Canadians who voted for action on climate change want real commitments and real action, not just empty promises of sunny ways. Placing conditions on the approval won’t add up to concrete action against climate change. Instead, the conditions are a rubber stamp on new fossil fuel infrastructure that feigns a rigorous approval process.

It has been almost one year since Canadians elected a government with a mandate to take real action on climate change, but it is increasingly difficult to distinguish the Trudeau government’s climate change action from those of the Harper government. The federal government has now adopted the woefully inadequate Harper-era emissions targets—a slap in the face to all Canadians who wanted to see bold action.

We need to safeguard our environment while pushing our economy into transition toward a post-carbon future of green jobs. Now is the time for transition to renewables, not the time for building more climate-polluting projects.

This decision is not the end of the story. Petronas says it will review the project to see if it’s financially viable before deciding whether or not to proceed. And First Nations are considering legal challenges.

Sierra Club BC will continue to highlight the dangers posed by Petronas, its incompatibility with decreasing global demand for fossil fuels, and the benefits of the alternatives. We’ll also continue to push for both the federal and provincial governments to include a rigorous climate test in all future environmental assessments, so this kind of climate-killing approval can never happen in the future. In the process, we will help build the case for Petronas to walk away.

Please donate today to help us continue our work on climate solutions.

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Statement: Today’s Petronas approval a betrayal of salmon and climate

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 27, 2016

Sierra Club BC released the following statement from campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon in response to the announcement by the federal government that it has approved the Petronas fracked gas plant:

“Today is a terrible day for anyone who cares about salmon and the future of our climate.

“The math is simple: we can’t keep expanding fossil fuel extraction and expect to pass on a livable world to our children and generations yet unborn.

“Canada’s second largest salmon run, on the Skeena River, may have had its death warrant signed today, through a reckless disregard for the dangers the Petronas fracked gas plant poses to hundreds of millions of juvenile salmon in the Skeena estuary.

“The Trudeau government’s lofty rhetoric on climate has been proven nothing more than sunny ways talking points.

“Actions speak louder than words. This government’s actions have betrayed its own promises and all the Canadians who voted for action on climate change.

“The Petronas fracked gas plant will make it impossible for B.C. to meet its weak climate targets.

“190 conditions don’t change the math: it’s not possible to be a climate leader and build new fossil fuel infrastructure like the Petronas fracked gas plant.

“As the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has noted, the climate impacts would be ‘high in magnitude, continuous, irreversible and global in extent.’

“The harsh reality is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the Trudeau government’s actions on climate from those of the Harper government.

“Harper-era emissions targets—pathetically inadequate as they were—have now been formally adopted by the Trudeau government. Now Petronas has been given the green light, with every indication that Kinder Morgan may be approved next.

“Canadians were looking to Trudeau to take bold action to safeguard our environment and push our economy into transition toward a post-carbon, green-jobs future. Now is the time for transition to renewables, not the time for building new, climate polluting projects.

“Today’s announcement is a betrayal of the promise of change upon which this government was elected. And it is a shameful betrayal of our future and of future generations.”

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Contact:

Tim Pearson
Director of Communications
250-896-1556
tim@sierraclub.bc.ca

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