The past few weeks have seen a couple of important developments in the U.S. court cases brought against fossil fuel companies for the costs of climate change.
First, on May 15th and April 24th, the U.S. Supreme Court refused applications by fossil fuel companies to halt climate lawsuits filed against them by state and local governments. This means these cases, which are aimed at recovering climate costs, will continue.
Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa — Alberta’s superior court today dismissed attempts by former Premier Jason Kenney and the Alberta government to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought forward by five environmental groups. Environmental Defence, West Coast Environmental Law, Dogwood Initiative, Stand.earth and the Wilderness Committee are suing former Premier Jason Kenney and the Alberta government for lying about the findings of his Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns.
From the point of view of Justice Church of the BC Supreme Court, it was probably pretty clear that the protesters blocking construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline across Northern BC were breaking the law.
Last month, I published an op-ed marking the one-year anniversary of Trans Mountain’s last cost update (Feb. 18, 2022), when the price tag of the expansion ballooned to $21.4 billion. At the time, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised that no more public money would be spent on the embattled pipeline and tanker project.
On March 7, 2023 the Town of Gibsons Council heard from a delegation of its residents who are concerned about the costs of climate change. Dawn Allen and Alaya Boisvert, supported by friends and neighbours, spoke passionately about the ways that climate change is already harming Gibsons.
This post is the latest in a series looking at corporations that break the law in BC – specifically environmental laws – often with a long history of non-compliance. Our focus today is West Fraser Mills Ltd. (West Fraser), which the Environmental Compliance BC Twitter account recently drew to our attention.
xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) & səl̓ilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territories / VANCOUVER, BC
This op-ed originally appeared in the National Observer on February 27th, 2023.
Feb. 18, 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of Trans Mountain’s last construction cost update, when the price tag of the expansion project (TMX) ballooned to $21.4 billion — nearly triple the cost projected when Canada bought the embattled pipeline in 2018.
Martine Panzica (she/her/hers) is the Climate Communications Specialist at West Coast Environmental Law.
Martine holds a BA in Global Politics from Carleton University, and a MA in International Development from Dalhousie University. Prior to her time at West Coast, Martine has worked in communications and editing with Lion’s Roar Magazine, the Atlantic Council of International Cooperation (ACIC), and Dalhousie University.
At the end of November, BC’s Minister of Environment issued its 2022 Climate Change Accountability Report, boasting in a press release about “progress made in key areas.” The BC media entirely failed to cover it – which is disappointing, because, as Minister Heyman pointed out in the press release, the report is intended to be “a cornerstone of our tra