October’s Environmental News Digest

What we’re reading

• In 2019, Shell Canada, a subsidiary of one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, paid the British Columbia government zero dollars in royalty payments despite producing 175 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Learn more about B.C.’s big natural gas giveaway via The Tyee.
• LNG Canada’s massive expansion in Kitimat, B.C., is a go. Read what that means via The Narwhal. We also break it down in this Instagram post.
• A federal judge rejected the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s injunction to stop Burrard Inlet dredging. The dredging will cause irreparable harm to the environment and cultural values, particularly with the heightened risk of a worst-case-scenario oil spill. Read about it in North Shore News.
• The state of Washington is urging Canada not to fast-track the West Coast oil pipeline, saying shared waters are too valuable to expedite a project that could lead to a catastrophic oil spill. Read it in The Tyee.
• The B.C. government’s “Working Forest Landscape Model” aims to support the province’s goal of an annual timber harvest of 45 million cubic metres, while reducing industry red tape, such as cutting permits. Shockingly, there is no mention of conservation, just the main goal of logging. Read more about it here.
• “A forest cannot be defined only by the timber that can be taken from it. Our forests hold water, provide habitat, sustain our foods and medicines, and carry generations of syilx knowledge and responsibility. Decisions about how these lands will be managed must begin with the health of the land and the involvement of the title holders whose territories are being affected,” says Councillor Jordan Coble, Chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance Natural Resources Committee in response to the B.C. government’s “Working Forest Landscape Model” proposal. Read more here.
• Good news — the Canadian government was dealt an early blow in climate litigation. A federal court refused to strike down a climate lawsuit brought by Canadian youth. Read more via the CBC.
• Will B.C.’s Land Zoning Plan Protect More Forests? Doesn’t seem that way. Forest ecologist Andy MacKinnon worries that if the zoning plan prioritizes logging, land placed in the proposed conservation and protection zone might be focused in extremely steep terrain or alpine areas where forests have little or no commercial value. Read more in The Tyee.