By Roy L Hales
A healthy forest, on the west coast of British Columbia, has some trees that are a thousand to two thousand years old. Many different species of plants and flowers are closer to the ground. There is a variety of wildlife, and fish in the streams. This is disappearing from British Columbia and Sierra Club BC is calling on BC to protect endangered coastal rainforests.
Continue reading Calling On BC To Protect Endangered Coastal Rainforests
By Roy L Hales
British Columbia’s regulatory accounts have been receiving a lot of attention lately. Business Vancouver compared them to a shell game, in which expenses are deferred to the future so that the government can report “profits.” Vaughn Palmer writes that the province has “cumulative long-term obligations amount to $102 billion, with Hydro accounting for the bulk of them.” The item that really caught my eye was $50 billion for electricity BC does not need.
Continue reading $50 Billion For Electricity BC Does Not NeedBy Roy L Hales
Most of the great forests that once covered the West Coast are gone. Though there is still an extensive canopy, the trees are scraggly compared to the stumps and historical photographs left from decades ago. The clear cutting in British Columbia is so extensive that, since 2003, the forests have been emitting rather than storing carbon. Some call for a more environmentally sensitive industry and an example of Cortes Islands quest for sustainable logging is about a mile from my home.
Continue reading Cortes Island’s Quest For Sustainable LoggingThough Justin Trudeau promised to fix Canada’s broken environmental assessment process during the last election, yesterday his government gave another signal this may not happen. Catherine McKenna, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced “that the proposed Woodfibre LNG Project, located near Squamish, British Columbia, is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Critics point to flaws in the analysis of impacts to herring stocks and the province’s rising emissions, suggesting McKenna Made the wrong call on Woodfibre LNG
By Roy L Hales
One of the smartest things Premier Christy Clark’s government has done was ask Matt Horne, of the Pembina Institute, to join BC’s Climate Leadership Team last year. The credibility they gained from that single act opened the door to new possibilities. Unfortunately that door appears to have shut . Premier Clark chose to ignore the suggestions made by her Climate Leadership Team. Yesterday Horne has released a statement that the proposed LNG facility on Lelu Island could become Canada’s largest carbon polluter.
Continue reading Lelu Island Could Become Canada’s Largest Carbon Polluter
