The B.C. government tried to steer clear of controversy over liquefied natural gas exports, the Site C dam and fish farms in the Speech from the Throne Tuesday. The speech laid out the NDP’s “affordability” agenda and unveiled plans to revitalize the environment assessment process and address fugitive emissions in the oil and gas sector.

“As B.C. develops its abundant natural resources, we must do so in a way that meets our obligations to the environment, First Nations and the public interest,” read the speech, presented by Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to mark the start of a new legislative session.

“This year, government is taking important steps to restore public trust in B.C.’s environmental stewardship.”

Those steps include new efforts to meet B.C.’s climate action targets, increasing the carbon tax to position B.C. to meet the federally mandated price of $50 per tonne by 2022, investing in parks and protected areas and hiring more conservation officers.

More details about how the government plans to move forward with these priorities will come on Feb. 20 when the budget is unveiled.

“It’s time to get B.C. back on track,” the throne speech stated, noting B.C. “has fallen behind on its climate obligations” and that the previous BC Liberal government failed to achieve its own greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The NDP government also pledged to develop a cross-ministry framework to meet its stated commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Tsilhqot’in decision.

The rights and needs of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples “have been set aside for far too long,” said the throne speech.

“This government understands the enormous responsibility it has to Indigenous peoples in the wake of inaction by government after government.”

Site C dam a sore spot for Indigenous rights

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, called the government’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples “encouraging,” but said he has still not forgiven Premier John Horgan “and his inner circle” for “completely violating the rights of Treaty 8 people” by greenlighting the $10.7 billion Site C dam in December.

“I find it highly hypocritical that they can talk about the need to acknowledge the principles and intent of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and at the same time make such an egregious decision in complete violation of those same rights,” Grand Chief Phillip told DeSmog Canada.

“I’m finding it very hard to get beyond that colossal hypocrisy.”

Grand Chief Phillip also said he has heard scores of throne speeches during more than four decades of his involvement in B.C. political issues and that generally there is only a “passing reference” to Indigenous peoples.

“I’ve never heard a throne speech that has been so explicit in its acknowledgment of the responsibilities of the government of British Columbia to act on the rights enshrined in UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the multitude of court decisions” handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada and other levels of court, he said.

“But again they have to walk the walk. They completely and utterly failed in regard to the Site C dam decision. You only get one chance to do the right thing and in regard to Site C they completely blew it.”

Site C, the most expensive publicly funded project in B.C.’s history, was not mentioned in the 20-page speech. Nor were fish farms, which have been in the news recently over the discharge of contaminated bloodwater.

In January, West Moberly First Nations and Prophet River First Nation filed notices of civil action claiming that the Site C dam — along with two existing dams on the Peace River — infringes on rights guaranteed to them in Treaty 8, which promised they can continue their traditional way of life.

A third Treaty 8 nation, Blueberry River First Nations, has launched a civil lawsuit claiming that the cumulative impact of industrial development in their homeland, including the Site C dam, means they can no longer continue traditional practices guaranteed to them in the treaty.

The grand chief said an important first step to realizing commitments outlined in the throne speech would be for the B.C. government to bring forward legislation that “enshrines” the UN declaration in the government’s legislative agenda, “as opposed to simply paying lip service to it in the context of throne speeches.”

Premier John Horgan told press he would not be provoked into a trade war with Alberta. Photo: Chad Hipolito | The Canadian Press

Fracking, fugitive emissions on the agenda

The throne speech said little about the government’s plan to address fugitive emissions in the oil and gas sector, and from slash burning, noting only that “research is underway.” A recent investigation by registered professional biologist John Werring found that B.C. is vastly underreporting its “fugitive emissions” — emissions vented or leaked during the natural gas extraction process.

Environment Minister George Heyman told DeSmog Canada that the NDP will work with the Green caucus “on a variety of measures to deal with fugitive emissions.” He said the finance ministry is working on taxation measures and that the issue will also be considered by B.C.’s new climate solutions and clean growth advisory council.

Heyman said the government will be announcing a timeframe for revitalizing the environmental assessment process “in the coming weeks.”

The throne speech also reiterated that the potential of a diluted bitumen spill in B.C.’s coastal waters “poses a significant risk to our economy and our environment.”

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced a B.C. wine boycott last week after B.C. said it would set up an independent scientific advisory panel to look at how diluted bitumen can be safely transported and cleaned up, if spilled.

But the throne speech made no mention of an inter-provincial spat over the Kinder Morgan pipeline, in keeping with Horgan’s statement that he refuses to be provoked into a trade war with Alberta.

Following the throne speech, Horgan reiterated to the media that the risk of transporting raw or diluted bitumen through B.C.’s inland waters and along the coast is “a risk too great” for British Columbians.

“We will continue our discussions with the federal government any anyone else who wants to talk to us about how we can ensure that British Columbia’s environment and economy are not affected by any movement of this product through our territory.”

Nor did the speech from the throne mention Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), an issue over which B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver has threatened to bring down the government.

“We cannot pretend that a market exists when a market doesn’t exist,” Weaver told the media following the throne speech. “For year after year after year I’ve been saying it is folly for us to try to chase a falling star.”

“They [the NDP] were cautious. I think they did the right thing. And I think that people are sick and tired of being promised unicorns.”

On a recent Asian trade mission, Horgan met with Korean, Japanese and Chinese partners in LNG Canada, a Shell-backed project near Kitimat that is in the planning stages.

Weaver pointed out that B.C. will not be able to meet its climate targets if any major LNG project goes ahead, telling Desmog Canada in a previous interview that, “I am not standing by and watching us give away the farm yet again to land an industry we’re not competitive in. That’s my line in the sand.”

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It might not have packed quite the same visual punch as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s behaviour in the House of Commons on Wednesday, but the Saskatchewan government’s throne speech —  delivered just the day prior — may be remembered for being equally as bizarre.

Specifically, because of the implicit rejection of climate change science, which was described as “some misguided dogma that has no basis in reality.”

The throne speech, delivered by Lieutenant Governor Vaughn Solomon Schofield, pointed to “oil and gas, coal and uranium, livestock and grains” as allegedly victimized sectors.

“They look at those jobs like they are somehow harming the country and the world,” she read. “To those people, my government has a message. You are wrong. You could not be more wrong.”

Premier Wall Continues to Push Back Against National Climate Action

Such assertions fly in the face of climate change science, which overwhelmingly suggests that fossil fuel extraction, production and usage is at the heart of the ongoing increase in average global temperatures.

Making the throne speech even more peculiar was the fact the provincial government currently states on its website that it “acknowledges the science-based reality of climate change.”  

Premier Brad Wall hasn’t made that government position especially apparent in recent months, consistently opposing calls for provincial and national climate change action. Such hostility has become especially notable given Alberta — a province that has historically been rather resistant to meaningful environmental policies — implemented its own climate change action plan in November.

While Wall attended the Paris Climate Change Conference in November, he was notably absent from the widely circulated photo of the country’s premiers and prime minister. Wall said he attended the international climate gathering to promote clean coal and carbon capture and storage.

In March, Wall said in response to the idea of a national carbon tax: “We just don't think a tax right now when the national economy is facing challenges — a tax that would cost consumers more, cost more at the pumps, potentially cost jobs — is not the right thing, right now.”

Saskatchewan Government Dubs #Climate Change ‘Misguided Dogma’ in Throne Speech https://t.co/OukaVJAlcs pic.twitter.com/JirvqBlBlZ

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) May 19, 2016

Saskatchewan Has Highest Per-Capita Emissions Record in Canada

Saskatchewan sports the highest per-capita emissions of any province: at last count, the province accounts for 10.3 per cent of the country’s emissions despite only boasting three per cent of its people. Between 1990 and 2013, its total emissions increased by 66 per cent, compared to Alberta (the second highest in the category) which increased by 53 per cent.

The oil, gas and mining sector accounts for 34 per cent of the province’s emissions, with the electricity sector chipping in an additional 21 per cent (close to half of the province’s power is generated by burning coal).

This is all in spite of a 2020 target of cutting emissions by 20 per cent below 2006 levels as articulated in the unimplemented Management and Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Act of 2009.

There are plenty of opportunities for the province: agree to put a price on carbon, invest in renewables and public transit, limit the future growth of resource development. Instead, the government has put all its eggs in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) basket, specifically in the form of the maligned SaskPower Boundary Dam project.

In October 2015, it was reported that Boundary Dam features "serious design issues" and was performing well below expectations. Despite that, Wall has refused to critique the project and has continued to point to it as an example of Saskatchewan’s work on the climate change file.

Former Saskatoon Resident Starts Petition to Demand Wall ‘Stop Denying Climate Change’

Jason Mogus — principal strategist at Communicopia and digital director for the Tar Sands Solutions Network — started a petition on Lead Now in response to the climate change denial featured in the throne speech.

Born in Saskatoon, Mogus says he didn’t expect to hear that kind of rhetoric from the Saskatchewan government and that the divisive nature of it sets up “this great battle that they’re these victims of this global conspiracy to steal their jobs.”

“People from Saskatchewan understand the changes that are happening to the land,” he says. “They’re probably more connected to land than most Canadians are. They don’t all live in big cities. They understand the droughts, they understand the changes in winters, they understand fires and weather disasters. I know they’re better than this.”

Mogus suggests the open-ended nature of Trudeau’s climate change strategy — allowing each province to come up with their own version, whether it be a carbon tax, cap-and-trade or regulations — means that Wall has a lot of power to “hold back the entire nation, which is going to hold back the entire world.”

It appears to be true: Saskatchewan currently serves as the lone province with over one million residents to resist substantial climate change action.

Given the need to implement a national policy, such obstinance could result in watered down federal legislation or frameworks. But Mogus maintains optimism the tide can still turn despite the tone of the throne speech.

“I’m confident that people will rise above their personal issues and fears and concerns and smaller views. Saskatchewan brought us Medicare,” he says. “This is a community and caring issue. And I am confident that once they see beyond the rhetoric, Saskatchewan people will do the right thing, which is join with the rest of the world and to take climate action to save lives.”

Image: Brad Wall/Flickr

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The B.C. government’s claim that LNG exports offer the “greatest single step British Columbia can take to fight climate change” is inaccurate in the absence of stronger global climate policies according to a new report released today by the Pembina Institute and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.

Natural gas does have a role to play in a world that avoids two degrees Celsius in global warming, but only if strong emissions reduction policies are put in place in the jurisdictions that produce and consume the gas, says the report, LNG and Climate Change: The Global Context authored by Matt Horne and Josha MacNab.

“Natural gas is often described as a bridge fuel. The question is, how long should that bridge be?” says MacNab, B.C. regional director for the Pembina Institute, a national non-profit focused on transitioning Canada to a clean energy future.

“Our research suggests it must be very short if we’re going to be able to get off the bridge in time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

If strong climate policies were put in place to avoid reaching more than two degrees of warming, the burning of natural gas would peak by 2030 and drop below current levels by mid century, according to the report.

Under that scenario, energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear would increase significantly while the use of fossil fuels drops.

“It’s climate policy that will determine coal use, not the availability of natural gas,” MacNab says. “It’s not simply a question of LNG and coal swapping out for each other.”

The B.C. government’s claim, which was made during the February 2014 throne speech, is premised on two assumptions.

The first is that natural gas is cleaner than coal. On that point, MacNab said that in most cases natural gas is 10 to 40 per cent cleaner than coal assuming that methane is safely managed. However, the Pembina Institute report also notes that there “remains material uncertainty” about the life cycle emissions of natural gas that requires additional research.

The second assumption the B.C. government makes is that LNG will replace coal.

“In a world with weak climate policy, natural gas will not reduce coal use,” says Horne, B.C. associate regional director for the Pembina Institute. “Without a global push for low carbon energy sources and efficiency, LNG will likely worsen rather than ease global warming.”

The institute’s findings are in line with a report published last week in Nature, which found that cheap abundant natural gas will actually delay any efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

B.C. Needs to Put Emissions Reduction Policies Before LNG Strategy

To draw its conclusions, the Pembina Institute report compares the role of natural gas under two different scenarios: one in which global warming is limited to two degrees Celsius and one that stays on the business as usual path. The comparison yields two very different roles for natural gas — either as part of an energy mix that helps avoid dangerous climate change or as part of an energy mix that accelerates the world down the path to dangerous climate change.

“Instead of leading with LNG and natural gas strategies, jurisdictions — B.C. included — need to lead with emissions reduction policies,” the report says.

To avoid more than two degrees of warming and keep atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases below 450 parts per million, the International Energy Agency says policies need to include economy-wide carbon pricing, the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, emissions standards on power plants and a renewable transportation fuel standard.

The Pembina Institute makes three recommendations to the B.C. government to increase the chances that B.C.’s LNG industry can be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem, including applying an evidence-based approach in assessing energy exports, strengthening domestic efforts to reduce emissions from natural gas and LNG development and playing a more proactive role on climate change and methane management globally.

If strong climate change policy was enacted on a global level, natural gas use would peak by 2030 — just 15 years from now. What does that mean in terms of B.C.’s plans to build an LNG industry?

“We would encourage the B.C. government to be thinking about that in terms of the long-term sustainability of the industry,” MacNab says. “B.C. ought to be careful in hitching its economic wagon to a resource that will decline in a carbon-constrained world."

Photo: Christy Clark at LNG Canada announcement via Province of British Columbia on Flickr

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