We’re most of the way through the Spring 2011 sitting of BC’s Legislature – the first under Premier Christy Clark and Opposition Leader Adrian Dix.  What have our elected officials been doing for the environment?

Actually, given how short the sitting, there’s been a surprising number of environment-related laws introduced.

• The Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2011, Bill 7, has 2 environmental nuggets hidden in it.  First, and most significantly, amendments to the Clean Energy Act could (if implemented through regulations) require BC Hydro and other electricity providers to give loans to individuals to pay for energy efficiency work on their residences, including both homeowners and tenants.  The loans would then be repaid over time from the savings on the home’s electricity bills.  This concept – known as On-Bill Financing – has been introduced in many places, and can give home owners the funds they need to retrofit their houses.  This change gets a thumbs up from West Coast.  Here’s a positive story in the Times Colonist and an endorsement from our friends at the Pembina Institute. 
• The second change buried in Bill 7 amends section 6.1 of the Ministry of Environment Act to allow the Ministry of Environment to publish information about people who are late in paying their fines under environmental statutes.  This sounds good, and resulted in a very positive story in the Times Colonist, but in actual fact the government has had the power to publish the names and identities of environmental violators for a number of years, but has generally not done so for individuals (and has provided few details about corporate violators beyond what they were charged with).  The new amendments simply mean that in addition to the identity of the violator, and what they did, the government may now also disclose “the date [the fine] was due and the outstanding amount.”  While we applaud the use of any tool that gets environmental offenders to pay up (or better yet, to not offend in the first place), we’d like to see the government use its existing powers to shame polluters and other violators, rather than introducing new legislation.  By itself this change is certainly not going to halt the ongoing and dramatic decline in environmental enforcement in this province.  However, if this change means that the government is preparing to begin using its powers, this is a good thing. 
• Bill 13 – the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2011 (unoriginal title, we know, but in keeping with Parliamentary convention) – includes a provision taking land out of the Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Park/Anhluut'ukwsim Laxmihl Angwinga'asanskwhl Nisga'a to make way for the controversial Northwest Transmission Line, as was recently reported in the Tyee. 
• Bill 13 also gives BC Hydro an extra 12 months to develop its integrated resource plan (IRP), mandated under the Clean Energy Act (extending the deadline from 18 to 30 months).  While we were cautiously optimistic about the IRP when the Clean Energy Act was first unveiled, we are currently concerned about the direction that planning process is taking.  If the extension allows BC Hydro to better consult First Nations and the public, this amendment might be a good thing.
• The third environmental bill currently being considered by the Legislature is a Private Members bill from the Opposition New Democratic Party – the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act, 2011, Bill M203.  Private Members bills usually have limited chance of becoming law (and, in fact, as the NDP points out, the government has failed to support earlier versions of this Bill), but the day before the NDP introduced this new version, Premier Christy Clark stated publicly that she supported the goal of banning cosmetic pesticides and expressed an openness to considering the NDP’s Bill.   Clark has suggested that a bi-partisan committee look at the issue – which environmentalists (including West Coast) worry will result in further delays.  The government has already had extensive public consultations on this issue, with approximately 88% of respondents supporting a ban on cosmetic pesticides.  We would like to see Premier Clark support the NDP Bill and move forward with banning cosmetic pesticides. 
• Although not legislation, Independent MLAs Bob Simpson and Vicki Huntington raised the issue of Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking, calling on the Premier to set up a Special Committee of the Legislature to investigate the risks of this industrial process (here’s our past Environmental Law Alert on Fracking and the risks posed for British Columbia’s environment).  Simpson and Huntington’s proposal has been debated in the Legislature. 

The current legislative sitting is scheduled to end in early June.  So far only Bill 7 has been passed.  What you think of the above legislative changes, and about the Simpson/Huntington call for an investigation into fracking?  Let us know in the comments below.

By Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer

Update - June 1st - Shortly after I posted this Alert, the NDP announced that it has introduced an Endangered Species Bill in the BC Legislature.  At present the Bill is not yet up on the BC Legislature website, so I can't comment on it directly, but it's great that the Legislature is considering this important issue as well.  While this private members bill will almost certainly not be passed, the issue could be an embarrassing one for the provincial government, which campaigned last provincial election on a promise to "expand strategies to protect species at risk"; a "Species at Risk Task Force" was struck in August 2009 to examine the issue was supposed to deliver its report by December 2010, but to date Species at Risk still lack any significant legal protection in BC.  Update June 6th - Here's the link to Bill M 211 of 2011, the NDP's Species at Risk Protection Act, 2011.  The session ended last week without either of the NDP bills being passed, but the Legislature did appoint a Special Committee to examine Cosmetic Pesticide legislation.  Arguably an unnecessary delay, but at least some action on this important subject. 

Photo by Brandon Godfrey, under a Creative Commons Licence.