Our 2009/2010 Priorities
The 2009/2010 legislative session saw some key successes and big gains for our environmental priorities which was great to see. But there were also some key environmental opportunities that government left on the table.
Protecting BC’s At-Risk Species - start the conversation
A success! OFC members welcomed the announcement in the August, 2009 Throne Speech that a Species at Risk Task Force was to be established to “suggest a new defining vision with an overarching measurable outcome that British Columbians can work together to achieve within the next decade.” While our goal remains the enactment of a stand-alone law to protect the more than 1600 species-at-risk and their habitat, by establishing the Task Force in June, 2010, government met OFC’s 2009/10 objective to get the conversation started. We will be monitoring the progress of the Task Force as it maps out the steps to achieve world-class species and ecosystem protection in BC.
Protecting BC's Flathead River Valley - start with a no-staking reserve
A big success! Our 2009/10 goal was to avert immediate threats to the area and to the adjacent Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site with a no-staking reserve to prevent destructive mining and oil & gas development. In the February 2010 Throne Speech, government announced that ”mining, oil and gas development and coalbed gas extraction will not be permitted in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley.” OFC members applauded the announcement as a strong and necessary first step towards protection of this ecological gem in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. OFC will continue to advocate for its permanent protection as a National Park and adjoining Wildlife Management Area.
World-leading Land Use Planning: the Atlin-Taku
This government-to-government land use planning process was to be completed by the end of March, 2010, but is still on-going. Draft maps and text recently released indicate that it has the potential to be among the high conservation land use planning outcomes in BC, but there remain crucial gaps to fill to protect the internationally-significant fisheries values of the Taku River watershed and other high conservation value areas in the southern part of the plan area. Particularly in the face of a changing climate and declining salmon populations elsewhere in BC, the Atlin-Taku region needs world leading protection if the region is to remain a buttress for salmon and biodiversity. OFC will continue to monitor this process until its completion in the next few months.
Enhancing the Carbon Tax
We saw no movement on this issue from government, though OFC members were pleased to see the Opposition drop their attack on the carbon tax. Some emissions from natural gas processing and other industrial processes still aren’t subject to the carbon tax. This loophole was highlighted by the Government's approval of EnCana’s Cabin Gas Plant in early 2010. The project will increase BC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2.2 million tonnes at full capacity, and almost three-quarters of those emissions will be exempted from the carbon tax. OFC will continue to press government to close this loophole for industrial polluters and take other measures to strengthen the carbon tax in 2011.
Energy Retrofits: Ramping Up!
In our efforts to get BC to set a nation-leading goal to retrofit the province’s building stock within 20 years – about 100,000 building annually – we discovered really great work is happening within several ministries on a variety of creative policies that would move us in that direction. Many of them involve low or no cost to provincial coffers, and all would generate significant private investment and thousands of jobs. Yet we didn’t see the political appetite from government to turn those ideas into approved policies. We applauded the additional $35 million for the successful LiveSmart program in the 2010 budget, but were disappointed to see no new policies to encourage retrofits or a bold goal established that would be the impetus to turn good ideas into change on the ground.
Protecting Nature in Light of Climate Change
This will remain a priority until the end of the current electoral term in 2013, as we recognize it will be a significant and complex piece of work to design a new legal and policy framework that will enable a science-based and interconnected climate conservation network for BC. However, in the past year government had the opportunity to recognize the pre-eminent value of conserving forests as a tool to reduce BC’s greenhouse gas emissions from logging in their articulation of priorities for forest carbon offset projects. Instead, government opted to prioritize only projects that provide neither immediate carbon reductions nor co-benefits for biodiversity or species.
