Category Archives: Energy

Energy, Indigenous Nations

16 First Nations sign equity agreements for Coastal GasLink

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If the Coastal GasLink pipeline is completed, 16 B.C. First Nations will have a combined 10 per cent ownership stake in the project.

All 20 First Nations with existing benefit agreements along the pipeline route were offered the opportunity to become business partners through equity ownership, according to TC Energy Corp.’s announcement on March 9.

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Energy

Solar Panels on Quadra Elementary School

It has been a month since the Quadra ICAN Energy Efficiency Team achieved its goal of having 14 solar panels installed on the roof of Quadra Elementary School. 

According to Mike Gall, one of the participants in this project, they will only supply about 5% of the school’s needs – but that is not their purpose. 

This solar array is meant to be an educational tool. Students and the general public, will soon be able to go online and monitor the performance of the solar panels that a typical house on Quadra or Cortes Island would need. 

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Energy

Politicians and lobby groups using crisis in Ukraine to push pro-oil message is ‘crass opportunism’: Elizabeth May

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canadian politicians and lobbyists are using the crisis in Ukraine to advocate for more fossil fuel expansion in a move of “crass opportunism,” said Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the House of Commons and social media have reverberated with claims from politicians and fossil fuel industry representatives that Canadian oil and gas is needed to replace the 40 per cent Europe imports from Russia.

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Energy

Document reveals influence of oil and gas lobbyists on B.C. officials after Indigenous Rights ruling

By 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.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations

Small West Coast First Nation fuels economic growth with clean energy

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Klahoose Nation is charged up over a new clean energy project that both protects the environment and fuels economic development. 

A new micro-hydroelectric project at the Klahoose Wilderness Resort on B.C.’s isolated Central Coast will eliminate diesel fuel use at the off-grid, eco-tourist destination, removing 38 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, said Bruno Pereira. 

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