By Theresa McManus, Freshet News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A climate activist is urging New Westminster city council to follow the lead of other cities and call for an independent assessment of B.C.’s gas industry.

Aggie Black, a member of the New Westminster Climate Action Hub and the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, said she is deeply concerned about the climate crisis and its impact on people’s health and the health-care system. 

“I am here to join my voice with hundreds of other health professionals who are calling for an accumulative independent health impact assessment of B.C.’s gas industry,” she told council at its May 11 meeting. “There is a large and growing body of peer-reviewed research that links fracking and LNG production to health harms for humans.”

Black, a registered nurse, said colleagues and friends, including physicians and nurses practising in northern B.C., have told her they have an increasing number of patients struggling with asthma, heart problems and other illnesses linked to polluted air.

“These illnesses will add additional strain to a health-care system that is already overburdened,” she said. “I am also joining my voice with members of the Health Officers Council of BC, which includes medical health officers across the province, who just voted in support of a similar health review of BC’s gas industry.”

In November 2025, the Health Officers Council of B.C. supported an independent, comprehensive health impacts assessment of the province’s gas industry, which would include cumulative impacts from fracking to export and combustion emissions.

This issue is of “immediate concern to New Westminster” because an expansion is proposed for the Tilbury liquified natural gas facility in Delta, which is in same air shed as New Westminster, Black said.

“Our neighbouring city councils in Squamish, Terrace, Hazelton and Dawson Creek have now all joined the call for an independent accumulative health impact assessment of the gas industry,” she said. “I hope our city will be next on this list in speaking up for the health of our citizens and calling for this assessment. And we need that before there is any further expansion of the industry in B.C.”

Coun. Tasha Henderson said she’s read documents about this issue and would be happy to submit a motion for council’s consideration calling for an accumulative health impact assessment of the gas industry.

“I think the point of this to have something independently assessed so that we can assure citizens in New West that this industry is safe,” Black told council.

In October 2021, council approved a motion to support the cities of Richmond and Vancouver in opposing the continued expansion of LNG at the Tilbury facility.

According to the BC government’s website, FortisBC is proposing to expand its existing LNG facility on Tilbury Island in Delta. The proposed project includes construction and operation of a new LNG storage tank with a working volume of up to 142,400 cubic metres, new liquefaction facilities with capacity of up to 7,700 tonnes per day of LNG production, natural gas receiving facilities, and supporting infrastructure.

On April 29, the B.C. government announced the FortisBC Tilbury LNG, Phase 2 project was one of 17 new major projects added to the list of priority projects in its Look West strategy. Those projects include mining and pipeline initiatives in British Columbia.

“To continue accelerating economic growth, the Government of B.C. is adding 17 new major projects to the list of priority projects, nearly double the previous number, as another step toward becoming a more independent economy that’s less reliant on a single trading partner,” said a news release from Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth.

Launched in November 2025, the news release said Look West is designed to deliver major projects, strengthen B.C.’s and Canada’s economic security in the face of economic threats, and create jobs and opportunities for people to train for careers in the skilled trades.

Links of Interest:

• Health professionals’ organizations make third call for health assessment of British Columbia’s LNG industry since September – press release
• Doctors & Nurses agree: BC Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a Health Hazard

Top image credit: The City Hall Lawn – Photo by Dennis Sylvester Hurd via Flickr (Public Domain)

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