By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Environmentalists are calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to halt pipeline construction in Hope, B.C., after dead salmon were found at Trans Mountain’s worksite on the Coquihalla River last weekend.
Continue reading Dead salmon found at Trans Mountain construction site spark outcry from environmental groupBy Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
In the wake of a precedent-setting Indigenous Rights case in June 2021, B.C.’s ministry of energy did something rather unprecedented: it immediately cancelled summer auctions for new oil and gas tenures.
This sudden closure of oil and gas opportunities in response to the Blueberry decision — a B.C. Supreme Court ruling, which determined the province violated the Treaty Rights of Blueberry River First Nations by permitting and encouraging damaging industrial development — sent a shudder through the industry that continues to reverberate across the country today.
Documents released to The Narwhal through freedom of information legislation show petroleum and natural gas (PNG) lobbyists told public servants that B.C. could lose more than $90 million in annual revenue and up to 10,000 jobs as a result of the Blueberry decision. These stark warnings were then passed on to senior B.C. government officials, including Fazil Mihlar, deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.
Continue reading Document reveals influence of oil and gas lobbyists on B.C. officials after Indigenous Rights rulingBy Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
When B.C. Supreme Court Justice Emily Burke served her ruling on a long-fought case between Blueberry River First Nations and the province in late June, unequivocally determining the B.C. government breached the Nations’ Treaty Rights by permitting and encouraging widespread resource extraction, she noted B.C.’s regulatory regime for industrial development is broken.
Continue reading How the Blueberry ruling in B.C. is a gamechanger for the Site C dam, extractive industries and Indigenous RightsCarl Meyer, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
British Columbia recorded a liability of over half a billion dollars for the estimated cost of cleaning up contaminated sites in the province, including orphan oil and gas wells.
Continue reading half a billion tax-payer dollars to clean-up BC’s contaminated sitesBy Natalia Balcerzak, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
There are currently seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in various stages of proposal, planning and construction in B.C. To feed those facilities, B.C. is anticipating an explosion in the amount of fracking in the province’s northeast at the same time as it’s trying to get a handle on one of the gas industry’s worst climate offenders: methane emissions.
Continue reading Methane Emissions: One Of The Gas Industry’s Worst Climate Offenders
