VANCOUVER —The province hopes to start construction of the $8.8-billion Site C dam this summer, but that might be optimistic, say academic experts following the project.
It all depends on whether a court-ordered injunction is imposed in either of two cases in B.C. Supreme Court involving the controversial hydroelectric megaproject.
“I think the chances are that Site C will see the light of day, with perhaps some delays,” said Werner Antweiler, an associate professor specializing in energy economics at the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business.
The B.C. government has devised a unique solution to head off conflict between a First Nations community and the developers of a proposed a coal mine, using its Crown corporation BC Rail to buy and hold coal licences during talks with the Tahltan Nation on managing the resource.
Some fantastic news! Breathe deeply the spring air! Grin! Dance! After our first court loss, we have continued to gnaw-away against this obscene and destructive project, including working with other communities, opposing the Surrey permits, and working on our powerful second court case for later this year.
Assembled by Gene McGuckin (emcgthree@gmail.com), member of the Vancouver Ecosocialist Group (www.ecosocialistsvancouver.org) and of Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE) (www.brokepipelinewatch.ca)
A treaty signed 116 years ago promising First Nations the right to pursue traditional lives is a key part of a legal challenge to the B.C. government’s approval of the Site C dam.
The Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations, along with the McLeod Lake Indian Band, opened arguments in the Supreme Court of B.C. on Thursday, saying that if BC Hydro’s $8.8-billion dam goes ahead, it will have devastating impact on their ability to hunt, trap and fish, which is already compromised because of resource developments in the Peace River region.
Redacted entries in Mike Duffy’s diary suggest he was in regular undisclosed contact with pipeline giant Enbridge during the height of the federal government's scorching attacks on environmental activists and charities in 2012.
The suspended senator’s journal shows a flurry of conversations and emails with or about top-level Enbridge executives, then PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright and the Prime Minister between January and June of 2012, just as the National Energy Board started its hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.
Metro Vancouver is bracing for protests in regional parks such as Colony Farm and Surrey Bend after negotiating a deal with Kinder Morgan granting its crews access to plan the route of the proposed Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion.
Regional district staff outline the agreements in a briefing note that will be before Metro mayors at a meeting Friday.
Once again, local MP James Moore and his constituency office in Port Moody were targets of a petition, this time over last week’s oil spill near Vancouver.
On Friday, a group that included First Nations leaders and representatives from organizations like Leadnow and Council of Canadians, delivered a petition to Moore’s office on St. Johns Street calling on the federal government to reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station, reverse cuts to marine communications centres in B.C., and ban increased tanker traffic on the coast.
Many Vancouverites are quite rightly enraged by the sight of oil-soaked birds struggling to survive around English Bay.
First Nations worry about the impact of the M/V Marathassafuel spill on the fishery.
For environmentalists, the recent accident confirmed their worst fears about the dangers associated with the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline project. If approved, it will triple shipments of diluted bitumen from the Alberta oilsands to the Lower Mainland and bring a massive increase in tanker traffic to Burrard Inlet.
Several hundred people marched through Fort Langley Saturday to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline that runs through Langley.
Organized by groups including the Pipe Up Network and the Kwantlen First Nation, the march headed from the Kwantlen reserve to the Fort Langley Community Hall.
The march paused in the center of the Jacob Haldi Bridge that connects MacMillan Island to the village of Fort Langley. Above the Fraser River, Kwantlen members drummed and sang before the march continued.
