MEDIA RELEASE: Vancouver Climate Group Launches Carbon Pricing Petitions

VANCOUVER CLIMATE GROUP LAUNCHES CARBON PRICING PETITIONS
LNG is a bridge to climate disaster. Premiers please help us fight global warming.

Media Release: Thursday, September 29, 2016,
Contact: Cathy Orlando, cathy@citizensclimatelobby.org 705-929-4043

Vancouver BC: Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Canada is unequivocally disappointed by the federal government’s decision to approve the Petronas Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Lelu Island on the northern coast of British Columbia.  The terminal will compress both conventional and fracked gas and ship it to Asia.  When built it will be one of the single largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Canada. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency described the climate impacts of the Petronas LNG terminal as “high in magnitude, continuous, irreversible and global in extent”. We call on the government to enact a strong and predictably rising national carbon price and save our climate now.

LNG is the not a transition fuel between coal and renewable energy it is touted to be. It is a bridge fuel to climate disaster. Cornell University professor Robert Howarth, concluded in his May 15, 2014 paper in Energy Science and Engineering: “Using these new, best available data and a 20-year time period for comparing the warming potential of methane to carbon dioxide, the conclusion stands that both shale gas and conventional natural gas have a larger GHG footprint than do coal or oil, for any possible use of natural gas.”

Many people are concerned about the costs of renewable energy. The fact is climate action will save the global economy trillions of dollars compared to climate inaction according to a 2015 Citigroup report.  A 2015 study from Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University determined that Canada could convert to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and save money. Overall, Canadians on average can expect a savings of $163 a year in energy costs and almost $9,000 a year in climate and health costs. This transition to 100% renewable would also mean avoiding 9600 annual pollution deaths and saving $108 billion in annual health costs.

“Canada needs a full-cost pricing of fossil-based fuels so that we can begin in earnest a global transition away from all fossil fuels, including LNG, and do our fair share to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”, say Cathy Orlando, National Director of CCL Canada.

CCL is heartened by the Honourable Catherine McKenna’s resolve for a national price on carbon pollution and the Honourable Mary Polak’s intention to hike the BC carbon tax if there is a national matching carbon price. For this to happen the premiers of Canada must unite. To help create political will, CCL Vancouver launched two petitions, one for British Columbia and another one for the rest of Canada, calling on our Premiers to enact a strong national price on carbon.

“BC was once a climate leader with its revenue neutral carbon tax, but it’s now a climate slacker,” says Jay van de Wint, who created the petitions. “Special interests are getting their way, and we want our leaders to know this isn’t acceptable. The benefits of seriously tackling climate change far outweigh the huge risks of climate inaction.”