B.C. will soon decide the fate of four projects with big climate and biodiversity impacts
B.C. Premier David Eby’s newly appointed cabinet is about to decide the fate of a handful of proposed projects, each of which comes with a slew of implications to biodiversity and climate.
In the lead up to the United Nations conference, Canada was criticized for allegedly putting its forest industry ahead of conservation after a leaked letter from the Canadian ambassador to the European Union asked the EU to put the brakes on proposed regulation on deforestation-free products. Here’s what you need to know about four projects B.C. is about to green-light or kibosh — each with huge potential impacts on endangered species and ecosystems. An open-pit coal mine called the Sukunka project, proposed by Swiss multinational resource company Glencore, would annually extract up to as much as six million tonnes of metallurgical coal — that is, coal burned to make steel.
“While the Environmental Assessment Act does require the ministers to make a decision within 45 calendar days, the act also allows this deadline to be retroactively extended so that ministers are able to take the time they need to thoroughly review the materials, seek additional information or carry out additional consultation,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “We are not able to provide an estimate of the timeline for decision at this time.
“For both the Sukunka project and Tilbury Marine Jetty project, the ministers are carefully reviewing the final assessment reports and supporting materials from the Environmental Assessment Office before making decisions on whether or not the projects should be approved to proceed,” the spokesperson wrote.
It’s unclear whether struggling salmon populations can survive more development in an already heavily impacted environment. Any additional declines in a keystone species like salmon has a ripple effect throughout the broader ecosystem. Chinook salmon are an important food source for endangered orcas. The orcas will also face additional threats if the project is approved.
Cedar LNG would receive 400 to 500 million cubic feet of gas from the contentious Coastal GasLink pipeline daily, according to a project description. The facility would then cool the gas to -162 C, reducing it to around 0.2 per cent of its original volume for transport overseas. That works out to three to four million tonnes of LNG annually.
Powered by turbines fed via a reservoir on the far side of a mountain range, the aluminum smelter’s operations have had major impacts on salmon and endangered white sturgeon in the Nechako River. Rio Tinto’s hydroelectric generation produces more power than it needs for the smelter, selling the surplus to BC Hydro. Two First Nations downstream of the Kenney dam have been fighting in the courts for years to have some of the excess sent back into the river system.
The expansion would require building an artificial island in the Fraser River estuary and any unavoidable impacts to sensitive habitat would have to be offset by repairing or restoring other impacted areas in the watershed.