Several recent reports on the tremors add to concerns about the mega-project’s stability.
Building the Site C dam in northeastern British Columbia is proving more difficult than officials predicted due to unstable ground on the northern bank. Adding to concerns: myriad earthquakes.
For nearly a decade, The Tyee has reported on a rising number of earthquakes caused by the hydraulic fracturing of shale formations in the region. Now, new studies put the number of such tremors in recent years in the many thousands, raising more worries about the future of the mega-project.
Researchers warn the shaking could become strong enough to crumble critical infrastructure such as roads, high-rise buildings — and dams.
B.C.’s regulatory practices try to limit fracking after small earthquakes have been triggered. But that’s “not sufficient to protect critical or vulnerable infrastructure that have unacceptable failure consequences,” noted seismic hazard expert Gail Atkinson in the May 7 issue of Nature Reviews.
No one can yet predict frack-triggered quakes before they happen, and “hazard forecasting” remains a “critical area of research.”
Another study, released this week by researcher Ben Parfitt at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, took data from federal earthquake catalogues to show how many tremors the fracking industry is producing near the Site C dam.
The numbers are staggering. Between 2017 and 2018 alone, the industry triggered 6,551 earthquakes greater than 0.8 magnitude in the region near the troubled mega-project with a price estimate of $12 billion and rising.
between a Wet’suwet’en First Nation and Coastal GasLink along with financial documents obtained by Yellowhead Institute provide reinforcement to Yellowhead’s assessment of the ways these private contracts can dramatically undermine First Nation rights and jurisdiction.
The Impact and Benefit Agreement (IBA) and other documents were drafted in 2016, two years before the first payments were made to the First Nation. Because official agreements are not available to the public due to confidentiality clauses, these documents provide a valuable record of Coastal GasLink’s negotiating objectives.
AN INJUNCTION IS AN EQUITABLE REMEDY. THE EXERCISE OF THE EQUITABLE JURISDICTION IS NOT TO BE RESTRICTED BY THE STRAITJACKET OF RIGID RULES BUT IS TO BE BASED ON BROAD PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE AND CONVENIENCE, EQUITY REGARDING THE SUBSTANCE AND NOT MERELY THE FACADE OR THE SHADOW. IT MOVES WITH TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES. (1991 BC JUSTICE J.A. NORRIS)
A. TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE CHANGED SINCE 1991 AFTER UN CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT (UNCED)
(i) in 1992, Canada signed and in 1993, ratified the legally binding UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
whose objective is
article 2, the ultimate objective the UNFCCC convention and any related legal instruments that the conference of the parties may adopt is to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system;
Barbara Gard calls her three-hectare property, nestled below the forested peak of Sumas Mountain, a “miniature Stanley Park.” Its lush trees and flowing creek reminded her of Vancouver’s majestic park, and she immediately knew she wanted to call it home.
But she said her peaceful retreat in Abbotsford now feels more like a nightmare. Gard is among thousands of landowners along the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion route who have not yet granted the Crown corporation access to their property, and she said her dealings with the project’s owners over the years have shattered her mental health.
“It’s caused me emotional devastation,” said Gard, a 64-year-old school psychologist on medical leave from work. “They are killing me through stress and legal fees.”
Numerous hurdles remain before significant construction can begin on the massive project. Trans Mountain Corp. has not signed agreements with 33 per cent of landowners, no part of the detailed route has been approved, about half of the necessary permits are outstanding and it must meet dozens of conditions with the Canada Energy Regulator, formerly the National Energy Board.
Further, it faces resistance in southwest B.C., where landowners are digging in their heels, Indigenous groups are filing legal challenges and protesters are planning to ramp up activity.
The federal Liberal government bought the pipeline for $4.5 billion last year. The parliamentary budget officer has said that if the expansion is not complete by the end of 2021, it would be fair to conclude the government overpaid for the asset.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 September 2019 13:28
The federal government is promising to create artificial ice jams, strategically release water from BC Hydro dams and assess cumulative impacts on northern Alberta’s Peace-Athabasca delta in an attempt to retain the World Heritage status of Canada’s largest national park.
However, Ottawa’s long-awaited action plan for Wood Buffalo National Park rejects a World Heritage Committee recommendation calling on Canada to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment of the controversial Site C dam. The action plan says the federal government’s hands are tied because an assessment of the project was completed by a federal-provincial review panel before the dam was approved in 2014.
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When governments rely on court-granted injunctions to define the “rule of law” in respect to Indigenous land occupations, they risk breaching their Constitutional and international human-rights obligations and undermining any chance at meaningful reconciliation.
Case in point: the injunction currently being enforced against Wet’suwet’en land and water defenders in British Columbia.
We submit this message to you as a demonstration of our support and solidarity as you uphold and defend your unceded, ancestral homeland. The Wet’suwet’en have the right to live in balance with their lands and waters and have a responsibility to defend their culture, language, and livelihood.
The ICCA Consortium is an international association under Swiss law uniting federations and organizations of indigenous peoples, local communities and civil society organisations concerned with the appropriate recognition of the territories and areas conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities (ICCAs) throughout the world. We are a partner organization of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP GEF SGP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Our direct Members and Honorary members span over seventy-five countries.
Joan Russow founded the Global Compliance Research Project that calls upon countries to comply with their international obligations and commitments. She has attended many international climate change, and environmental conferences. Injunctions should be against those who cause irreversible harm not those who strive to prevent irreversible harm. Since Clayoquot Sound, she has been concerned about the misconstruing of injunctions and she is still saying, as she did then, “who are the real criminals?
Is it a crime to strive to prevent crime or is it a crime to cause and condone it?
A. NOT HEEDING AN INJUNCTION AS BEING AN EQUITABLE REMEDY THAT MOVES WITH TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES AND TREATIES MUST BE COMPLIED WITH IS UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED (PACTA SUNT SERVANDA)
B. DISREGARDING “BEING HARMFUL” TO ECOSYSTEMS AS BEING A CRIME TO STATE AND SOCIETY –
C. OVERLOOKING THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AND CONSERVATION COMMITMENTS
D DISCOUNTINGA GLOBAL VISION FROM COP21 CONFERENCE IN PARIS
E. DISRESPECTING RIGHTS OF FUTURE GENERATION
F. DISPENSING WITH UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (UNDRIP)
Installation of concrete for the south-bank tailrace wall in July at B.C. Hydro's Site C dam construction project on the Peace River near Fort St. John.B.C. HYDRO / PNG
Installation of concrete for the south-bank tailrace wall in July at B.C. Hydro's Site C dam construction project on the Peace River near Fort St. John. B.C. HYDRO / PNG
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Last month, the B.C. Supreme Court handed the Horgan government a victory that may prove much more costly than a defeat.
The West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations had asked the court to temporarily suspend construction of the Site C dam, or at least protect critical areas of the Peace Valley while their still unresolved Treaty rights challenge is being considered. On Oct. 24, Justice Warren Milman dismissed the injunction application entirely. This is exactly what the provincial government and B.C. Hydro had asked the court to do.
At the same time, the judge ruled that the First Nations’ legal challenge can continue with the possibility that, if the First Nations are able to prove their case, the dam could be stopped before plans to flood the Peace River Valley are completed.
In other words, the court told the province, if you so choose, you’re free to continue sinking billions of dollars into a project you might never be allowed to complete.
