Ben Parfitt
Ben Parfitt is a Victoria-based journalist and has written on water, energy, forestry and climate issues for many years. He is also a long-time analyst with the B.C. Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He is the author of a book of essays, Forest Follies: Adventures and Misadventures in the Great Canadian Forest. He is also coauthor of Forestopia: A Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy (with Michael M’Gonigle), and Sturgeon Reach: Shifting Currents at the Heart of the Fraser (with Terry Glavin). His writing has appeared in numerous B.C. newspapers, magazines and on-line publications as well as national media outlets. He has received awards for his writing work from the Canadian Association of Investigative Journalists and the Jack Webster Foundation among others. When not writing, he likes to bike and hike and listen to records.
Stories by Ben Parfitt
B.C.’s vanishing hazardous waste database
How the B.C. government quietly stopped producing critical data tracking the movement of dangerous chemicals,...
Leaked document shows B.C. Oil and Gas Commission undermining efforts to save threatened caribou
This piece also appeared on Policy Note, for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. On...
B.C. Government Suppressed Details About Potentially Dangerous, Unregulated Fracking Dams
Early last spring, provincial civil servants cut off virtually all communication about what the government...
‘Time Bombs’: 92 Fracking Dams Quietly Built Without Permits, B.C. Government Docs Reveal
This piece originally appeared on Policy Note, by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The...
B.C. Finds Gas Industry Built Numerous Unauthorized Fracking Dams Without Engineering Plans
Originally published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. More than half of nearly 50...
Fracking Company Ordered to Drain Two Unauthorized Dams in B.C.’s Northeast
This article was originally published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The provincial government...
A Dam Big Problem: Fracking Companies Build Dozens of Unauthorized Dams in B.C.’s Northeast
A subsidiary of Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned petro giant courted by the B.C. government, has...
Fracking, Earthquakes and Hydro Dams? Don’t Worry, We Have an Understanding.
By Ben Parfitt for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Efforts by BC Hydro to...
Big Dams and a Big Fracking Problem in B.C.’s Energy-rich Peace River Region
By Ben Parfitt for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Senior BC Hydro officials have...