Tuesday, January 20, 2015 A number of people have recently contacted us about a legal controversy that has emerged in Squamish concerning FortisBC and its plans to drill five boreholes in the ecologically vulnerable Squamish River Estuary. FortisBC, which wants to build a pipeline for natural gas to supply to
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Demand justice for Lemon Creek
Thursday, January 15, 2015 We need your help to get justice for Lemon Creek and the residents of the Slocan Valley. Please take a moment to ask the Canadian Department of Justice to pursue charges against the BC Government and Executive Flight Centre for their role in the August 2013
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Top Environmental Law Alerts of 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014 It’s been a busy year – with West Coast sounding the alarm on some major changes to BC’s laws and analyzing and commenting on other legal issues related to the future of our communities and planet. Thanks to the magic of Google Analytics we’re able to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: West Coast and NWI Launch North Coast Community Dialogue Session Series on LNG and Cumulative Impacts Management
Thursday, December 18, 2014 On December 11, West Coast Environmental Law, along with the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research (NWI), co-hosted the first of a series of community dialogue sessions on LNG and cumulative impacts management. We held the opening session in Prince Rupert last week and were moved by
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Lost in translation on Burnaby Mountain
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 It’s a bit over twenty years since I was arrested, along with 300 other people who stood on the Kennedy Lake Road on August 9th, 1993, in Clayoquot Sound. So the recent protests on Burnaby Mountain, with over 120 people arrested for protesting Kinder Morgan’s pipeline
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: RISING to the challenge and protecting our communities and our coastlines
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 RISE, a recent competition organized by Simon Fraser University, asked entrants to come up with a visionary solution to make the greater Vancouver area more resilient to sea level rise. West Coast Environmental Law teamed up with DG Blair from the BC Stewardship Centre and Cathy
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Site C legal challenges expose flaws in federal and BC environmental assessment processes
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Four legal challenges to last month’s approvals of BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam demonstrate the risks associated with the erosion of legal mechanisms for meaningful public participation, transparency and accountability in environmental assessments under British Columbian and Canadian federal law. The federal and provincial decisions
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Happy 40th birthday, West Coast Environmental Law
Monday, November 17, 2014 This year, West Coast Environmental Law is proud to celebrate our 40th anniversary and the many accomplishments the organization has achieved over the past four decades. WCEL turns 40 This year, West Coast Environmental Law is proud to celebrate our 40th anniversary and the many accomplishments
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Field Notes: Coal exports in the BC Supreme Court
Friday, November 14, 2014 On the morning of October 27, I was excited not to have to go into the office, but not for the reasons one might think. As an articled student for WCEL, I look forward to going to the office because everyone there is so inspirational and
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Leading Haida Lawyer and Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Joint Winners of 2014 Andrew Thompson Award
Friday, November 14, 2014 The winners of the 2014 Andrew Thompson award were announced at our 40th anniversary celebration last week. The award was established in 2002 by West Coast Environmental Law and the Thompson family, as a legacy to the late Dr. Andrew Thompson, one of BC’s foremost environmental
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Hey, Suncor: your greenhouse gases are showing!
Thursday, November 13, 2014 We’re gratified that Suncor – one of Canada’s largest oil sands companies – has taken the time to read – and publicly disagree with – our recent report, Payback Time, cleverly downplaygin Payback Time as just one of several efforts to single out someone as responsible
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Canada-China Free Trade Agreement is not the end of environmental law
Monday, November 3, 2014 Since FIPPA was ratified we’ve received several inquiries asking what the ratification means for the environment. While the FIPPA provisions are certainly alarming, we do not think anything is to be gained by over-stating the problems associated with the FIPPA as they relate to the field
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Taking the law into her own hands after Lemon Creek jet-fuel spill
Friday, October 31, 2014 After months of pressing the province and the federal government to charge Executive Flight Services for spilling 35,000 litres of jet fuel into Lemon Creek, killing fish and prompting an evacuation, Slocan Valley resident Marilyn Burgoon took the law into her own hands. She walked into
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Climate victims and the demand for climate compensation
Wednesday, October 29, 2014 Even if you don’t agree that liability for climate damages is imminent (and for many it is a novel concept), we know beyond a reasonable doubt that human caused climate change is occurring and that greenhouse gas emissions are killing people and wildlife, destroying property, and
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: British Columbians go to court to protect the environment
Monday, October 27, 2014 Over the next 2 months five cases funded by our Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund will be in courts in 3 cities, addressing disputes involving 5 different communities. We’ve written about most of these court challenges on these pages over the past year or so. West Coast
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Union Get Green Light to Proceed With a Barrage of Court Cases against Enbridge Northern Gateway Proposal
Monday, October 20, 2014 Earlier this month, a large number of First Nations and organizations celebrated an important step forward when all of their cases challenging the federal approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers proposal were given the green light to proceed by the Federal Court of
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: What transnational climate litigation might mean for fossil fuel companies and their investors
Thursday, October 9, 2014 I’m pleased to announce the release of a major new report – Payback Time? – What the internationalization of climate litigation could mean for Canadian oil and gas companies. While we, and others, have written about climate damages litigation in Canada, Payback Time emphasizes that what
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Desmond Tutu raises climate compensation ahead of UN Climate Summit
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 Last week Nobel Peace Prize winner, and one of the spiritual leaders of our time, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on governments to make fossil fuel companies pay for the climate damages that their product is causing. Although international negotiations are beginning to look at this issue,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Field Notes from the Totem Pole Journey
Friday, September 19, 2014 WCEL is honoured to have partnered with Lummi Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation to help deliver a 21 foot western red cedar totem pole carved by master carver Jewell James and the Lummi House of Tears Carvers to the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in recognition of, and
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Enbridge Pipeline & Tankers Project: Dead or resting?
Thursday, September 18, 2014 Northern Gateway’s President, John Carruthers, now accepts that the start date for the Enbridge Pipeline and Tankers Project – which Enbridge had expected in 2018 – is “fast evaporating”, due to the need to meet with First Nations. That’s a remarkable admission, coming from someone whose
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