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- Published on Thursday, 06 October 2016 10:15
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Top 5 Questions Christy Clark is Dodging by Cancelling the Fall Sitting
Christy Clark doesn’t like Victoria. At least, she said as much in an interview with the National Post: “I try never to go over there. Because it’s sick. It’s a sick culture. All they can think about is government…”
Maybe that’s why Clark pulled the plug on this fall’s legislative session. As a bonus, that means her political opponents won’t get the opportunity to ask her any questions… well, not in the legislature at least.
Unfortunately for the powers that be, we rang up a few folks. Here are their top five questions for Clark.
1) What the @#$& is B.C. actually doing on climate change? Read more.
Hydro Reservoirs Produce Way More Emissions Than We Thought: Study
Hydropower is usually touted as clean energy, but a new study has found man-made reservoirs are producing far more greenhouse gases than previously believed, with most of those emissions in the form of methane, a potent climate-warming gas.
Researchers found that reservoirs are producing 1.3 per cent of all greenhouse gases produced by humans, or, to put the figure in context, more than all greenhouse gases produced in Canada annually.
“We weren’t super-surprised at the magnitude of the emissions, but one thing we were surprised to see is the per area rate of methane emissions. They are 25 per cent higher than previously thought,” Washington State University researcher Bridget Deemer, lead author of the study, published in the journal BioScience, told DeSmog Canada. Read more.
Climate Change Stickers Designed for Gas Pumps Get Makeover from Canada's Petroleum Industry
It was supposed to be a national first. Perhaps even a global first.
But the implementation of a bylaw requiring all gas stations in North Vancouver to apply warning stickers on their fuel pumps about the relationship between driving and catastrophic climate change has been co-opted and undermined by an industry supergroup called Smart Fuelling, says Robert Shirkey, founder of the non-profit Our Horizons.
The label designs, released by the municipality on September 20, no longer feature the tobacco-like warnings that feature “disclosures of risk” such as species extinctions and ocean acidification that Our Horizons had been pushing for since early 2013. Read more.
Canada’s New Carbon Price: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Canadians could be forgiven for being a bit confused about how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doing on climate change these days.
First he approved one of the largest sources of carbon pollution in the country — the Pacific Northwest LNG export terminal in B.C.
Then his government announced it would stick with Harper-era emissions targets.
Now Trudeau has announced the creation of a pan-Canadian carbon-pricing framework, which means our country will have a carbon tax nation-wide for the first time ever. So are we hurtling toward overshooting our climate targets or are we finally getting on track? Read more.
Did Trudeau Race to Approve the LNG Project that Petronas Wants to Sell?
The Trudeau government’s rushed approval of the Petronas-led Pacific Northwest LNG project — during sunset at a gated Coast Guard station near the Vancouver airport — struck some opposition MPs, and the Vancouver press corp, as oddly rushed.
Now comes word, in a bombshell Reuters news report, that Petronas may be looking to sell the Pacific Northwest LNG project, according to “three people familiar with the matter.” The B.C. government tried to throw water on the speculation, saying it sought assurances from Petronas and that the proponent doesn't have plans to sell the LNG project.
However, the revelations have led some to speculate the Trudeau government knew about Petronas’ plans to sell and raced out west in a hurried attempt to save the project from collapse. Others have questioned if the provincial and federal governments knowingly approved a project destined for failure, and if so, why? Read more.
The 40-Year-Old Federal Salmon Study That Should Have Killed Pacific Northwest LNG
The report is dated July 17, 1973, and stamped by the Department of the Environment. Scientists had undertaken a study of fish in the Skeena estuary due to proposals to build a super port in the Prince Rupert area.
The federal government wanted to know: “What destructive consequences could be imparted on the fisheries resource by superport construction?”
So the scientists set out to find out which areas of the Skeena estuary — home to Canada’s second largest wild salmon run — are most important for fish.
They found Flora Bank, one of the largest eelgrass beds in B.C., is “of high biological significance as a fish (especially juvenile salmon) rearing habitat,” and advised “construction of a superport at the Kitson Island — Flora Bank site would destroy much of this critical salmon habitat.”r0
