Things are heating up in the battle to stop Kinder Morgan. At time of writing, dozens of water protectors have been arrested for violating a court injunction issued last week. Here is a recap of how we got here.

As neighbouring US jurisdictions like Washington State move to ban fish farming on the Pacific coast and ‘Namgis First Nation files a lawsuit against Fisheries and Oceans Canada for current fish farm practices, West Coast staff members Maxine Matilpi and Stephanie Hewson reflect on the environmental impacts and ongoing Indigenous opposition to open ne

On February 8, the federal government unveiled Bill C-69, which would introduce a new law governing environmental assessments (EA), replace the maligned National Energy Board with a new Canadian Energy Regulator, and amend the Navigation Protection Act to introduce some additional protections (including by renaming it the Canadian Navigable Waters Act).

On January 30th, 2018, the BC government decided to drop the private prosecution launched by Bev Sellars into the Mount Polley disaster. Through her private prosecution, Bev, a grandmother and former chief of the Xat’sull First Nation, gave the provincial government a second chance to show that BC can enforce its own environmental laws.

Plastics permeate all aspects of our daily lives. Now plastic pollution plagues the planet. Marine plastic debris is pervasive, persistent, and has grave consequences for marine ecosystems.   

Consider these facts:

“Politicians grant the permits, but communities grant permission.” – Justin Trudeau

It has been over two years since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued mandates to a handful of cabinet ministers to review, modernize and strengthen four important environmental laws.

Shocking video footage released this week by BC photographer Tavish Campbell and replayed by media across the country shows a disturbing torrent of bloody wastewater from fish farm processing plants pumping directly into the ocean. The video captures the bloodwater streaming into the sea from two sites: the first near Brown’s Bay on Vancouver Island, next to a wild salmon migration route in Discovery Passage, and the second, into fish habitat in the Tofino harbour.

When Randy Saugstad realized that clearcut logging by forestry giant Tolko was probably going to affect the water he uses to raise cattle on his ranch, he went to the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. “We know,” they told him. “But we don’t have the power to stop them logging.”