Will it soon be payback time for fossil fuel companies?
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 22 October 2014 00:00
- Written by editor
In this issue: Dear PAOV,
In this issue: Take action immediately to protect marine species and ecosystems from fish farm dumping and vote for the 2014 People’s Choice for the Andrew Thompson Award.
Also read on about how legal challenges – both against the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tankers proposal and against large-scale GHG producers throughout Canada – should have the fossil fuel industry seriously spooked this Halloween. In addition we are sharing our newly released 2014 Impact Report, where we highlight our work over the last year to protect the environment through law. And we are hiring!
Will it soon be payback time for fossil fuel companies?
Canadian oil and gas companies could be liable for billions of dollars of damages for their contribution to climate change, according a joint study by West Coast Environmental Law and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Payback Time? examines the possibility that lawsuits filed outside Canada could change the legal landscape for climate damages litigation.
- Click here to read what transnational litigation might mean for fossil fuel companies.
- Authors Andrew Gage and Michael Byers summarized Payback Time? in an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail. Click here to read it.
- Click here to read or download Payback Time? – What the internationalization of climate litigation could mean for Canadian oil and gas companies.
New aquaculture regulations put wild fish at risk
The Canadian government has quietly unveiled new regulations that would drastically reduce federal oversight of the dumping by fish farms of aquatic drugs, pesticides, and fish food and waste into wild fish habitat. These regulations, which remove the requirement for fish farms to obtain federal permits before depositing those substances into waters frequented by fish, constitute a further erosion of environmental legal protection of fish habitat.
- Click here to read our submissions to DFO on how the federal government needs to strengthen, not weaken, its regulation of activities that put wild fish at risk.
- The deadline for commenting on the proposed regulations is October 22nd. Don’t wait – take action now!
Significant step forward for barrage of legal proceedings against Enbridge
Despite the arguments of Northern Gateway that the cases should not be heard, on September 26 a large number of First Nations and organizations celebrated an important step forward when all of their cases challenging the federal approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers proposal were given the green light to go ahead in the Federal Court of Appeal.
- Check out our take on how these decisions have set the stage for a formidable legal offensive against Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal, further reducing the chances that the project will ever see the light of day.
Andrew Thompson Award 2014 - People’s Choice voting open until October 31st
Who do you think has worked most effectively to protect BC’s environment and build a sustainable future using the nexus between aboriginal and environmental law? We’ve received many excellent nominations from across the province which the selection committee has narrowed to a list of 5 – and now we want you to help us select a people’s choice for the Andrew Thompson Award. Will the winner be Grand Chief Robert Pasco, Ardith Wal’petko We’dalx Walkem? Glen Williams? Chief Roger William? or Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson?
- Click here to read about the finalists and to cast your vote! You can vote once per day – and don’t forget to spread the word and get others voting.
- Click here for more information about the Andrew Thompson Award.
What’s new at West Coast
- Check out our 2014 Impact Report, where we share highlights of our work over the last year to protect the environment through law.
- West Coast is growing! We are hiring for two new positions: Executive Assistant, and Communications and Engagement Specialist. r0
