Organizations delivered petitions to the Prime Minister’s Office today, asking that the federal government follow through on its COP26 promise to implement a strong, ambitious cap on oil and gas emissions.
Our work to oppose the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX) is grounded in upholding Indigenous rights, fighting climate change, and preventing the devastating local impacts of an oil spill. Since 2014, we have also focused on analyzing and critiquing the economic arguments presented by Trans Mountain’s owners, Kinder Morgan and the Canadian government, because they are supposed to justify the harms.
In summer / fall 2022, the federal government invited input on its discussion paper regarding a proposed cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector. This submission to Environment & Climate Change Canada outlines West Coast Environmental Law's recommendations for securing a fair, effective and robust oil and gas emissions cap.
Vancouver, BC, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territories – West Coast Environmental Law released a new report today that shows how Ottawa’s lack of transparency, unusual corporate structure, and accounting wizardry is creating the illusion that Trans Mountain is commercially viable.
In February 2022, the federal government announced that the cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (TMX) had soared to $21,400,000,000, and Canadians were told “the government will spend no additional public money on the project” and “the project remains commercially viable.” New analysis by economist Robyn Allan disproves both claims and shows how the federal government is hiding Trans Mountain’s compromised viability.
We outline some key myths about a federal oil and gas emissions cap, along with the facts.
In July, Canada released a discussion paper outlining options and considerations for establishing a cap on oil and gas sector emissions, as part of its strategy for reaching its 2030 reductions target and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The discussion paper follows an announcement by Prime Minister Trudeau at the 26th United Nations climate summit in 2021 that Canada would impose a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector.
In the wake of the November 2021 flooding, communities (both local governments and First Nations) have been under pressure to develop recovery plans with varying levels of capacity and resources and with little to no opportunity for collaboration.
Vancouver’s ‘Sue Big Oil’ decision last month generated some loud controversy. The motion was passed in a 6-5 decision, with councillors agreeing to allocate $1 per resident towards a future class action lawsuit by local governments against major fossil fuel companies for the costs of climate change.
VANCOUVER/Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territories – A new poll released today by the Sue Big Oil campaign finds that 69% of British Columbians support their local government working with other local governments to sue the world’s most polluting oil companies for a share of the costs of climate change. Less than 20% opposed taking this action.