Another nail in BC’s LNG coffin — But this one has a twist!
Imagine the joy in the BC Liberal back rooms when on May 19, Fortis announced that a small, yet important, 20-year agreement had been reached “to deliver 800,000 metric tons of LNG annually to Hawaiian Electric from Fortis BC’s Tilbury LNG facility in Delta, British Columbia, starting in 2021“.
Richard Coleman, BC’s minister of natural gas was obviously thrilled with the news. But were the BC Liberals celebrating too early? As has been so common with this government, the answer is yes.
On July 19 Fortis quietly announced that the deal had collapsed when a merger between Hawaii Electric and Florida-based NextEra Energy Resouces fell through. The significance of this announcement was not lost on Gordon Hoekstra of the Vancouver Sun who penned a story shortly after thereafter.
But what’s the real reason for the collapse of the deal? It’s quite simple. Hawaii presently supplies 23% of its electricity from renewables. They are committed to obtain 100% of their electricity from renewables by 2045 and it made no sense in 2016 to invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure.
This is but the latest example demonstrating how BC is being left behind. As I have detailed numerous times before on this site, the BC Liberal quest for an LNG windfall is reckless. It is inconsistent with its claim to be leader on climate policy and it is out of step with the rest of the world in the journey to decarbonize our energy systems.
Unfortunately it gets even worse. As BC goes all in on LNG, doubling down on the way, we have killed our once vibrant clean energy sector. BC taxpayers are building Site C for a non existent LNG industry. BC taxpayers will construct what will inevitably be an outrageously expensive Massey Bridge (instead of widening the existing tunnel) so that LNG supertankers can head down the river to Fortis’ Tilbury facility.
British Columbians deserve better.
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2 Comments
..WE must not falter until you have agreed to, and take action
toward, being the Premier of British Columbia. This is of profound
significance. This evening there was, yet another, intelligent
and powerful and significant interview on the CBC with Wendy Mesley
and Dr Jane Goodall. One would have to agree she is one of the
most significant personages in out past and present and future.
Her words were ” politics is not comprised of politicians, but of
soul-full beings who are totally dedicated and devoted to the
common good. ” Will be your faithful servant in this your life’s
purpose.
Will forward to you a letter I wrote to Bruch Mason , activist
on /from Vancouver and Gabriola Island ; freelance writer and
author of Our Clinic.
Myrle McIntosh , White Rock BC
Duh! This is almost all I have to say. How can our ostensibly intelligent government exhibit such outrageous stupidity. In this days of decision about the very survivability of humanity we seem to have such shortsighted focus on an election cycle. Give me a break.