Tag Archives: My Sea to Sky

Cost of Climate Change, Energy

Ottawa warned public funding for LNG and fossil fuel projects could trigger Charter challenges

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A BC citizens’ group and its lawyers are warning Ottawa it could face Charter challenges if it uses public money to support new or expanded fossil fuel projects, including major LNG developments in British Columbia.

Ecojustice lawyers, acting for Citizens for My Sea to Sky, recently sent a legal letter to federal ministers and Crown corporations, including the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Export Development Canada. The letter says new subsidies or financing for projects such as Ksi Lisims LNG, LNG Canada Phase 2 or a new oil pipeline, could violate Canadians’ constitutional rights — on the basis that public financing for these projects would worsen the climate crisis and increase risks to Canadians’ Charter-protected rights, including the right to life, security of the person and equality. 

“The subsidies drive the project; the project [drives] the emissions; the emissions drive the harms and the risk of harms,” said Ecojustice lawyer Charlie Hatt.

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Energy

BC comes under fire after cutting fees on LNG, pipeline projects

By Sonal Gupta, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

BC’s energy regulator is weakening oversight at a time when it should be making it stronger, according to environmentalists, Indigenous leaders and public‑health experts in the province.

The BC Energy Regulator (BCER), a Crown corporation funded largely by the companies it oversees, recently lowered levies for LNG Canada, Woodfibre LNG and the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The fees are collected “to meet [BCER’s] regulatory obligations and recover expenses,” the regulator says on its website.

LNG Canada’s annual levy fell from $900,000 to $600,000, Woodfibre’s from $2.5 million to $1.4 million and Coastal GasLink’s per‑kilometre charge dropped from $1,700 to $420.

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