VANCOUVER: British Columbia Premier John Horgan released a statement today claiming that the province intends to proceed with an LNG terminal in Kitimat, B.C., while still meeting its climate goals.
Alan Andrews, an Ecojustice spokesperson, issued the following statement in response:
“Premier John Horgan claims that this massive new LNG facility is consistent with B.C.’s climate targets. Now he must prove it.
Meeting the province’s targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050 was already going to be challenging, but this project leaves us with an even more daunting mountain to climb.
By some estimates, LNG Canada alone would account for 81 per cent of the emissions allowed under B.C.’s legislated 2050 target.
With this in mind, we are eagerly awaiting the government’s new climate strategy, expected in the late fall.
That strategy needs to clearly show how and where B.C. is going to make the additional cuts that will now be needed to meet our climate targets. It is time we had an open and honest conversation about the burden LNG Canada will place on ordinary people, other industry sectors and future generations to make drastic cuts in their emissions.
The science is clear: the world needs to decarbonize by the middle of the century in order to avoid climate catastrophe. As governments across the world commit to this goal, B.C. is heading in the opposite direction by locking the province into fossil fuels for decades to come.”