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UN climate science report shows new LNG terminals are a blueprint for climate disaster

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LNG Canada cannot proceed

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 21, 2018

New LNG terminals and meaningful climate action cannot coexist, says Sierra Club BC in a letter to Premier John Horgan, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman, and Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Michelle Mungall.

A soon-to-be-released report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that B.C.’s carbon pollution targets are too weak and robust implementation to ensure targets are met is essential. LNG Canada’s carbon footprint is so large it cannot fit in any credible climate action plan.

“The findings of the new IPCC report make it clear that B.C.’s weak targets, combined with LNG cheerleading, are a blueprint for climate hell, not climate stabilization,” said Jens Wieting, senior forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC. “Neither LNG Canada nor other LNG facilities can be allowed to proceed.”

The IPCC report concludes that avoiding catastrophic climate impacts requires “rapid and far-reaching” transitions to the world economy and net zero carbon pollution by mid-century. B.C.’s recently announced climate pollution targets are inadequate and do not come close to what the IPCC says is needed.

“This spring, Premier Horgan stated any new LNG plants must adhere to B.C.’s carbon pollution targets, yet those targets fall well short of what the IPCC says is needed,” said Jens Wieting, senior forest and climate campaigner with Sierra Club BC. “The numbers do not add up and rampant wildfires, turbocharged hurricanes, rising sea levels and lethal heatwaves at 1°C of global warming show that time is running out. People around the world are dying as a result of climate impacts. Here at home British Columbians are facing evacuations and the fear of fires. To willfully ignore the science and promote fossil fuel expansion is a new form of climate denial.”

Recent media reports suggest that a final investment decision for LNG Canada could be announced as early as the beginning of October. If built, it would massively increase BC’s emissions.

“The latest research makes clear that projects like LNG Canada are doomed to become a stranded asset, as governments globally move away from fossil fuels,” said Wieting. “The cost of renewable energy is dropping dramatically. It’s time for governments and investors to consider the climate facts and stop betting on climate breakdown.”

A special report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected on October 8, and a draft leaked in June 2018 showed some of the key findings. Comparing the impacts of 2°C warming compared to 1.5°C, the IPCC found significantly more severe climate impacts on health, sea level, droughts, floods and food production at 2°C compared to 1.5°C. The report also shows that on the current trajectory, the planet will warm by 1.5°C around 2040 and that halting the warming trend will require meeting net zero emissions.

The international community committed in 2015 in Paris to the long term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C. Current reduction pledges, however, will lead to at least 3°C of warming by 2100.

“This month, California set a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2045. We are calling on the B.C. government to follow this example and commit to climate action based on the latest science, including more aggressive carbon pollution targets and a robust climate test for new energy projects.”

Credible estimates of emissions from the LNG Canada facility by the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives range from 8.6 to 12 million tonnes. The project would consume the vast majority of B.C.’s remaining annual pollution budget by 2050 (13 million tonnes), even under the current weak reduction target.

This number does not include even higher emissions from burning exported LNG abroad. This would add another 68 million tonnes annually in other countries, exceeding all emissions from within B.C. today. B.C.’s fracking emissions from leaked methane are also much higher than currently reported. NASA recently attributed the global increase of the powerful greenhouse gas methane to the oil and gas industry.

B.C.’s current targets are a 40% reduction by 2030 and 80% by 2050, compared to 2007 levels. While many other countries have reduced their emissions, B.C.’s emissions have been increasing in four of the last five years and the province remains stuck where it started ten years ago. This summer, the province invited comments on three intentions papers on transportation, buildings and industry to inform B.C.’s next steps on climate action. The papers describe steps in the right direction but include no details regarding the degree to which different sectors must reduce emissions, and by when.

Sierra Club BC has written Premier John Horgan, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman, and Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Michelle Mungall to press for action to address these issues.

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Sierra Club BC’s letter: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/SCBC_Letter_LNG_Climate.pdf

Graph: BC’s climate goals vs. LNG proposals: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/BC-Climate-Goals-VS-LNG-Proposals_SCBC.jpg

For more information: https://thenarwhal.ca/b-c-s-climate-action-must-address-three-elephants-in-the-room/

 

Media contact:

Jens Wieting
Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
(604) 354-5312
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca

Ken Farquharson: Spotlight on a founding member

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Sierra Club BC member Ken Farquharson has been with us from the very beginning. Ken got involved in working to defend Cypress Bowl and the Skagit Valley from development in the 1960s. He was part of the successful effort to include the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park. In 1969, he helped co-found the Sierra Club of BC.

Manager of Donor Engagement Elisabeth Hazell sat down with Ken to listen to some of these stories. The transcript is below. Ken now lives in Metchosin, a suburb of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

 

Elisabeth:      How did you get involved with Sierra Club BC?

Ken:                Well, I came to BC first in 1959 because I very much enjoy the outdoors. I’d grown up in East Africa and had enjoyed the coast and some of the backcountry of East Africa, and the wildlife. When I was at school in Scotland, I hiked the hills, I was very much for the outdoors. And BC offered me something larger scale, something broader, more interesting, which is what brought me here. When I first saw the forest on the coast, I was living in Vancouver; I was just astounded at their majesty. And in 1965, I was living in West Vancouver and the proposal came forward have a private ski development in the Cypress Bowl. And as we watched what was happening it was clear the logging plans did not match what had been agreed by the municipality and the province. So we started the protest against the developer at that time…. So that was my first introduction to arguments over resources in relation to the environment. And that experience made me wonder and it made me question decisions that are being made by government.

Ken working on the Cypress Bowl issue in 1968.

And then in 1968, a friend of mine told me of the notice that had been given to cabin holders in the Skagit saying they were about to be displaced because of this deal that had been made between the province and the city of Seattle. So at that time we got hold of the agreement that had been made and it was so one-sided, that we felt we had to take a run against this.  Many of us, I was with the BC mountaineering club at that time, we knew the Skagit well, we’d go in there, we enjoyed the peaks in the country around there. So, in 1968, we took another run at the government. And if you told me then it would take until 1983, to resolve it…(laughs). I’m not sure I would have been so eager to start.  However, eventually, the government conceded that the deal was crazy and the settlement was made with Seattle.

So those two experiences really began to make me think that we needed a conservation organization in BC that was prepared to be much more aggressive. We’d had environmental organizations here who were very gentlemanly in their dealing with provincial government, they tended to be senior academics and others and they would go to cabinet ministers, make a nice presentation about the environment in particular areas, desirability of a park and so forth, but they were never prepared to challenge. This is the time when the Sierra Club was having very strong challenges to US decisions on the Colorado forestry, in Washington and Oregon and other places so they were also people living in Vancouver such as Jim [Bowman?], Terry Simmons, and others who were from the US. Who are very familiar with the Sierra Club structure and who had joined into the arguments over the Skagit. So bringing all those pieces together, we decided to set up a Chapter of the Sierra Club in BC. So that was the history.

Elisabeth:      Are any of those folks still around?

Ken:                Terry Simmons is around. Bill Darnell was another. I believe he lives in Kelowna. Terry is connected with SFU, I don’t know whether he’s still got any direct connections in it or not. Jim Bowman is dead. Katy Madsen was another, but she’s now passed.

Katy Madsen, another co-founder of Sierra Club BC.

Elisabeth:      Yes. We just did an event with her art. So her family is still involved. So what are your hopes today for the province of BC?

Ken:                 I think BC is an incredible place in that outside maybe the Communist world where there’s no hardly a place in this world where the crown holds such a variety of resources: from forestry, minerals, scenery, recreation capability, fish, wildlife, all these things. I still think that the management of those resources is absolutely the most important thing that our provincial government could do and to manage these for generations for the future. And so it has been great sadness to me to see the downgrading of this environment, the forest service, the arch branch, all the elements with increasing the element of privatization. In particular, I am aghast at the onset that logging companies can hire their own environmental consultants, put their own stamp on it and say, “That’s just fine.” To my mind that has gone way beyond what is acceptable in terms of responsibility. In fact I’d classify it as irresponsible management.

Elisabeth:      So you would hope that we find a way to manage our resources more sustainably.

Ken:                Yes. That is a prime objective. Then secondly, you come into the urban sections. And are we working effectively in our urban and in our suburban areas? Are we going to black tar the Fraser Valley from the sea to Hope?  So there are oceans and then finally, you have the issues that I spent a lot of my life working on which is hydroelectricity. And I think we have slipped very badly in specifically our electricity policy in this province. I’d like to see us already making the transition to renewables other than hydro because the impacts of large hydro are incredibly destructive as we’ve seen with Mica, Arrow, the Peace and now with Site C. And I cannot understand given the enormous batteries that we have in these huge hydro plants why we cannot be adjusting so that these now provide the backup to the solar, the wind and the other renewable elements. I do not see that we have to build any more on that sort of scale. Having said that, I should explain to you I worked on the Arrow Dam. I worked at the Mica Dam. So I know them well.

Elisabeth:      So it’s not just conjecture, you’ve got direct experience.

Ken:                Yeah.

Elisabeth:      So for someone else who might be considering making a bequest to Sierra Club BC, why would you recommend us as an organization to invest their legacy in?

Ken:                I think first of all, the club has now been able to show that it has been able to achieve continuity. I think 50 years is a significant time. And it has not done that focusing solely on one person or one spokesman, there have been transitions to show that it has lasting continuity in terms of its management. Secondly, I think that they are prepared to invest in more than just rhetoric in that with people like Jens and others they’re putting a certain degree of science into the background arguments. And I think that is key particularly when government is no longer providing or even attempting to provide that sort of science. So those are my two main arguments. And then thirdly, I would argue that as we’re actually closely associated with the west and there’s many of our issues such as the Columbia Treaty, energy transfer across borders, forestry across borders that there is strength still in having the link with the US in terms of achieving results. I’m not sure it has helped us in forestry but the time may come.

Elisabeth:      Do you have anything you think you’d like to add as a sort of message to our supporters?

Ken:                Well, I think there is one thing and that is that the club as I see it today, remember, I went back to Bretton from ’85 to ’96, which is a time of quite a lot of changes in the Sierra Club locally because when I left in ’85 we were largely based in Vancouver, the main center of activity was. The time I came back, the main center of activity had switched to the Island. But there are some advantages in that, there are some losses in that, but I think what the club has done is to keep its focus on a certain number of projects at one time and not get too scattered. And I think that’s important too. I think to be successful you have to keep that focus and devote what resources you have to getting the results. I mean it’s Site C at this point, story not over, but it’s been a heartache. But I can remember, it must be four years ago listening to Caitlyn Vernon at Cattle Point talking about Kinder Morgan. So the work continues.

Elisabeth:     Yes, we’re fortunate we have some really exceptional and talented individuals working for the club right now.

Environmental Educator Kirsten Dallimore looks out over the Peace Valley near the proposed Site C dam site.

Ken:                And you have to remember, all the important transition in ’85 when I left. There was no paid employee. I guess all the club records were erased. So there were just some file boxes left under somebody’s desk. And we scurried around to see if there was enough money to pay for someone to talk to a minister. It was a completely different scale of operation and to see it now where I don’t know what the total paid staff is but I’m sure it’s over 12.

Elisabeth:      I think it’s closer to 15 at this point.

Ken:                I mean it’s astounding because, yes, some have to be involved in the fundraising side such as yourself, and I appreciate that but it does mean that there are people who are focused. I mean, I was a conservationist while trying to earn a living and some of these arguments with the government over the Skagit were not exactly in my employers’ best interest. Remember, BC Hydro is what I worked for.

Elisabeth:     Thank you for being so committed. It’s because we’ve had a number of people who have stayed with us through this long period of time that we are where we are today with over 1500 members and with over 35,000 people who we can call upon to write and call and mobilize when there’s an issue that we need to talk about publicly and we’re growing. So that’s exciting and positive.

Ken:                Thank you.

 

Have you considered leaving a bequest to Sierra Club BC? It can be as simple as adding a sentence to your will. Find out more at sierraclub.bc.ca/legacy-giving.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Sierra Club BC hails Trans Mountain decision

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 30, 2018

VICTORIA – Sierra Club BC hailed today’s decision of the Federal Court of Appeal on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as a major victory.

Reaction from Sierra Club BC conservation and climate campaigner Mark Worthing:

“It’s time for Prime Minister Trudeau to walk away from this pipeline and tankers project. Today’s decision should be a lesson to politicians: your days of being servants to multinationals and fossil fuel corporations are coming to an end. We will no longer wait for climate justice.

“If the Trudeau government takes its commitment to reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples seriously, then these rigged and superficial approaches must become a thing of the past. Indigenous peoples have the right to free prior and informed consent.

“The decision making processes have been rigged for too long. It’s time for a more modern, democratic process that subjects projects like this to much closer scrutiny, especially of the many environmental, social and economic dangers they pose.
“Fossil fuel infrastructure must be subject to a robust and thorough climate test that considers their impact on emissions and whether there are less carbon-intensive alternatives.”

Reaction from Sierra Club BC campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon:

“Today’s court ruling is a victory for orca whales, for our climate, for Indigenous peoples defending their title and rights, and for the rights of all of us to defend the land and waters we love and call home.

“We are thrilled that the courts have overturned federal approval of this dangerous pipeline and tankers project that would have put so much at risk.

“Climate leaders don’t build pipelines. It’s time for Trudeau to walk away from this dinosaur fossil fuel project and focus on building a clean energy economy instead. We can create more jobs by investing in renewable energy.”

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Media contact:

Mark Worthing
Conservation and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
(250) 889-3575
mark@sierraclub.bc.ca

Sierra Club BC is turning 50 – and we want YOU to be involved!

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Be a part of our history and help us celebrate 50 years! 

Sierra Club BC marks our 50th anniversary in 2019. We’re really excited to celebrate this milestone, and we’re starting to make plans. We want your input!

You’re invited to join our volunteer 50th anniversary committee to help ensure the next 50 years are a big success.

In particular, we need help with:

Nonprofit Fund Development (fundraising)
Grant Writing
Corporate Partnerships / Sponsorship
Event Coordination
Public Relations

We seek to include diverse voices on the committee and we encourage women, people of Indigenous ancestry, people of colour, LGBTQQIP2SA individuals and members of other diverse communities to join. While we’re based in Victoria, you don’t have to be.

Experience is welcome but not necessary – this is an opportunity for mentorship.

Learn more and apply now!

We’ll be keeping all of our supporters up to date as details for our celebration are confirmed. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.

With proportional representation, all votes would count—no matter where you live

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August 2018

The following is a guest blog from Maria Dobrinskaya, who is spokeswoman for the Make Every Voter Count Society, the official proponent for the “Yes” side in B.C.’s upcoming referendum on Proportional Representation. Here at Sierra Club BC we are encouraging British Columbians to vote yes to ProRep for a whole host of reasons, including the fact that ProRep is good for the environment. We thank Maria for sharing her perspective with us. You can read our earlier blog posts on ProRep here and here. To find out more, visit voteprbc.ca.

 

As the saying goes, the best defence is a strong offence.

So it’s hardly surprising supporters of the status quo continue to spend most of their time attacking proportional representation. There’s very little to be proud of when it comes to defending BC’s first-past-the-post electoral system.

There’s simply no way to sugar-coat it: BC’s first-past-the-post system is fundamentally unfair. On election night, the winning party almost always ends up with all the power after capturing less than half the vote.

In fact, 17 of the last 18 BC elections using first-past-the-post have resulted in a party with less than 50 per cent of the vote holding a majority of the legislature’s seats. Effectively, our province is nearly always run by—and in the interests of—a minority of voters.

Not surprisingly, a majority of British Columbians don’t feel their votes count for much.

Graphic courtesy of BC Youth for PR

Their vote has little or no impact on the outcome of the election, and they have limited influence on their local MLA between elections. Taken together, this creates a toxic environment for our democracy.

Just look at the experience that all too many have when they cast a ballot on election day.

Many voters live in a constituency where, no matter what, the same party almost always wins. In these so-called safe seats, a vote for anyone else feels futile — even wasteful.

Even for those voting for the leading party in a safe seat, it won’t really matter. The outcome is a foregone conclusion and their vote has no impact.

In either scenario, voters have little incentive to head to the polls. But the wasted-vote problem doesn’t end there.

Whole regions of our province today are filled with safe seats. And hundreds of thousands of citizens know their votes don’t matter.

Most of the Island, Metro Vancouver, the northwest and the Kootenays elected NDP MLAs last May, leaving more than 200,000 BC Liberal voters in these regions without an MLA who reflects their values. The same can be said for more than 100,000 NDP voters in the Cariboo, Okanagan, the eastern Fraser Valley and most of the north.

With proportional representation, all votes would count, no matter where you live. And election results under this more fair system would rebalance the political landscape across our province.

Graphic courtesy of VotePRBC

The Island and Metro Vancouver would see more BC Liberal MLAs elected to the legislature. The Okanagan would send New Democrats to Victoria for the first time in many years. The Greens would finally secure seats on the mainland. And even the BC Conservatives, who are currently polling in the mid-teens in the Interior, would likely win seats there.

Bottom line, voters in all regions of the province would elect MLAs from both the government and opposition parties.

Safe seats also encourage MLAs to take local voters for granted. The nearly 60 MLAs in safe seats across BC worry little about winning re-election. Barring some freak event, they always do.

Shielded from real competition and local accountability, these MLAs have little incentive to speak out about a local issue if it goes against the party line. After all, in our first-past-the-post system, MLAs’ primary loyalty is to their leader and party, especially for those serving in the governing caucus.

Consider this: Out of more than 8,000 individual votes cast in our last legislature, only five went against party lines. So much for independent thinking.

But with proportional voting, the number of safe seats would shrink significantly. Voters would have more power at the ballot box. And MLAs pried free of their safe seats could no longer take election day for granted.

It also means, when choosing between speaking up for local concerns or following party orders, MLAs will feel motivated and supported by a proportional electoral system because it is highly responsive to voters.

Yet as long as the first-past-the-post system remains in place, the majority of British Columbians’ votes won’t count. And that’s not only bad news for citizens, it also means that politics as usual will continue in Victoria.

No wonder almost every other OECD country has ditched first past the post and embraced proportional representation. It’s time BC did the same.

Maria Dobrinskaya is the spokeswoman for the Make Every Voter Count Society’s Vote PR B.C. campaign, BC director at the Broadbent Institute and the former co-chair of Vision Vancouver.

Sierra Club BC welcomes environmental lawyer Hannah Askew as new Executive Director

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 5, 2018

VICTORIA, BC—The board of directors of Sierra Club BC is pleased to announce the hiring of environmental lawyer Hannah Askew as the organization’s Executive Director.

“2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of Sierra Club BC’s founding and we are excited to welcome Hannah as we transition into our second half century,” said board chair Jackie Larkin. “Hannah’s vision and experience at the intersection of settler and Indigenous law and in community-building will be a huge asset.

“Environmental justice will be at the core of our work as we confront the climate crisis and the cumulative impacts of reckless resource exploitation on species, ecosystems and communities.”

Prior to coming to Sierra Club BC, Askew worked as a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. Her work focused on cumulative industrial impacts, advocating for proactive and inclusive planning processes for the land and water. She has also been deeply involved in learning from Indigenous nations about their systems of law and governance.

“The opportunity to guide the work of British Columbia’s oldest environmental non-profit is a huge honour and responsibility,” said Askew. “As we experience accelerating climate impacts and increasing species and ecosystem collapse, our social institutions are being undermined and vulnerable communities suffer the worst consequences.

“We need to try new approaches and inclusive alliances that offer solutions and hope, while respecting and upholding Indigenous law and governance. I’m excited to work with the incredible team at Sierra Club BC to build on the organization’s impactful history, while adapting our approach to today’s unique challenges.”

Askew is deeply familiar with Sierra Club BC’s history, priorities and practice, having served for three years on its board of directors.

Askew holds Master of Arts degrees in history and anthropology from the University of Toronto and McGill University, as well as a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.  She was born on Anishinaabe territory into a family of English and Scottish descent.

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Editors: Photos of Hannah Askew are available upon request.

Contact:

Hannah Askew | Executive Director | Sierra Club BC
(604) 880-6286
hannah@sierraclub.bc.ca

 

Attachment:

Endorsements

“Hannah has years of successful experience working with community-based environmental organizations. She has also worked closely with Indigenous communities for many years, including my own First Nation. She is always respectful, open and engaged. Her ability to listen and respond with clarity is a real strength. She builds skill and confidence in others, and raises everyone’s vision through her work. It is a privilege to work with her.

“Hannah is deeply committed to sustaining the beauty of the world around us. She also brings out the best in people she works with. Her detailed legal knowledge, combined with her administrative gifts, will be a significant part of Sierra Club BC’s bright future.”

–John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law
University of Victoria

“Hannah brings invaluable experience and skills to Sierra Club BC developed through her engagement with Indigenous law and communities over the years. She is a thoughtful, creative, and collaborative leader.”

–Val Napoleon, Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Justice and Governance
University of Victoria

“Hannah is one of the smartest and most effective people that I’ve ever worked with. She brings a wealth of experience working for communities and First Nations across BC and Canada to achieve greater respect for land, water and air in law.

“Hannah’s energy, wisdom, sensitivity and passion make her an excellent leader for Sierra Club BC. She listens, she collaborates, she inspires and she leads. I’ve seen the transformative power of her leadership first hand. I think she will be an incredible leader not only for Sierra Club BC, but a public leader in BC on the Club’s issues.”

–Josh Paterson, Executive Director
BC Civil Liberties Association

 

Attachment:

Hannah Askew: Biography

Hannah is the Executive Director of Sierra Club BC. She loves plants, animals, trees, water and rocks, and is passionate about ensuring healthy wild spaces for present and future generations.

Hannah is a lawyer and practiced public interest environmental law prior to joining Sierra Club BC. Her work focused on addressing the cumulative impacts of industrial development on ecosystems, and advocating for proactive and inclusive planning processes for the land and water. As a part of this work, she traveled to communities across northern BC to hear from people from all walks of life about the impact of industrial activity on their lives and about their hopes for the future of their communities.

Over the past ten years of her career, Hannah has also been deeply involved in learning from Indigenous communities about their systems of law and governance. She worked as a researcher on Anishinaabe and Coast Salish legal orders for the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the University of Victoria, and taught as an instructor in the Aboriginal Justice Studies Program at the Native Education College. She also researched Tsilhqot’in and Ktunaxa law as part of the RELAW project (“Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water”). The knowledge received from Indigenous colleagues and mentors has been transformative for Hannah and influences every aspect of her work.

Hannah holds Master of Arts degrees in history and anthropology from the University of Toronto and McGill University, as well as a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. She was born on Anishinaabe territory into a family of English and Scottish descent.

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