xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver)
Today, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and the West Coast Environmental Law Association asked Attorney General Niki Sharma to confirm whether the BC government will work to recover healthcare costs from global and BC fossil fuel companies.
Premier David Eby has recently instructed the Attorney General to “protect British Columbians from unfair healthcare costs and ensure accountability for wrongdoers by identifying opportunities to recover expenses.” The manufacturers of products including tobacco, opioids and PFAS – known as “forever chemicals” – are facing legal action by the BC government to recover costs for the harm produced by these products.
Medical and scientific studies show that producing and burning fossil fuels have significant human health implications, especially for communities near fracking and liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure. These communities face higher risks of disease and mortality, with Indigenous and rural populations being disproportionately affected.
“The health and climate costs of fossil fuel use and development, including expanding gas and LNG, are falling more and more heavily on everyday people – and driving up healthcare costs,” says Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law.
“The fossil fuel industry’s long track record of misinformation and lobbying against real climate solutions is parallel to the deception of Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, and other industries that BC is already suing for increased healthcare costs. We’re asking the Attorney General to clarify that the global fossil fuel industry will be identified as a ‘wrongdoer’ accountable for its fair share of BC’s increased healthcare costs.”
Climate change and climate-related events, which are worsened by producing and burning fossil fuels, have a direct impact and immense impact on healthcare costs. A few examples include:
- The government of Canada estimates the annual medical costs associated with wildfire smoke between 2013 and 2018 was “$410 million to $1.8 billion for short-term health effects [and] $4.3 billion to $19 billion for long-term health effects.”
- Recent Harvard research found that fossil fuel air pollution in Canada leads to an estimated 34,000 premature deaths per year.
- The direct healthcare costs associated with the 2021 heat dome are estimated at more than $12 million; more than 600 people were killed, and an estimated 5,000 or more were seriously injured.
- BC’s Interior Health Authority had to close 19 hospitals, clinics and other sites, evacuating 880 patients and 700 staff, at a cost of almost $3 million in 2017 due to wildfires.
- The BC government had 2023-2024 year-end expenses that were $3.5 billion higher than budgeted due in part to the need to “respond to climate emergencies.”
Climate disasters will keep intensifying as made-in-BC emissions continue to climb, with the public costs already outpacing revenue from LNG. Gas royalties in BC in 2024 were estimated at $684 million, much less than the Province spent fighting wildfires in 2023.
“To date, rather than seeking to recover health care costs from fossil fuel companies, BC has instead announced plans to fast-track fossil fuel development, like LNG, which is already having negative effects on health and healthcare access,” says Dr. Melissa Lem, President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
“The BC government gives billions of public dollars in subsidies to support the polluting and largely foreign-owned LNG industry, undercutting public and climate health and taking funds away from issues that people in BC care about most, like healthcare, at a time when emergency room closures are becoming more commonplace.”
The impacts of climate change and fossil fuel dependency has also put upward pressure on living costs: insurance rates are rising as are domestic energy and food prices, while healthcare access and health outcomes are worsening. The common thread is producing and burning fossil fuels like LNG.
“Today on World Health Day, the World Health Organization is drawing attention to maternal and newborn health. We know there are higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes in communities in the province where there is fracking to produce gas,” says Dr. Lem, adding that local harms are also driving physicians and practices away from fracking communities in northeast BC, exacerbating emergency room closures and issues with access to care.
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Note to the Media
CAPE and WCEL have co-authored a blog post on their call for Attorney General Sharma to pursue costs recovery for healthcare costs from fossil fuel companies, which is available here and here.
About CAPE
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is a physician-directed non-profit organization working to secure human health by protecting the planet. Since its founding in 1994, CAPE’s work has achieved substantial policy victories in collaboration with many partners in the environmental and health movements. From coast to coast to coast, the organization operates throughout the country with regional committees active in most provinces and all territories.
About WCEL
West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) is a non-profit group of environmental law strategists, analysts and communicators harnessing the power of law to solve complex environmental challenges. Since 1974, WCEL has worked to transform environmental decision-making and strengthen legal protection for the environment through collaborative legal strategies that bridge Canadian and Indigenous law.
Media Contacts
Reykia Fick
Communications Director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)
647-762-9168, media@cape.ca
Alexis Stoymenoff
Communications Director, West Coast Environmental Law
604-684-7378 ext. 228, astoymenoff@wcel.org