Several environmental
organizations today released a blueprint for improving the planning and
development of renewable electricity projects in British Columbia. The
recommendations, authored by the David Suzuki Foundation, the Pembina
Institute, Watershed Watch Salmon Society and West Coast Environmental Law,
have been endorsed by 25 environmental organizations across the province.
British Columbians are deeply concerned
about climate change, and while they support clean electricity to address
climate change, many harbour concerns about how clean electricity is currently
developed. Government energy and climate policies have
stimulated a rapid increase in the rate of development of renewable electricity
projects, but public support has not kept pace in many cases. Projects have
frequently been opposed due to concerns about social, environmental and
economic costs.
The blueprint released today, "Recommendations for Responsible Clean
Electricity Development in British Columbia," outlines how planning and
development can proceed in a way that is more transparent, strategic and
inclusive of and beneficial to all British Columbians — First Nations and the
public alike — while limiting environmental impacts.
The groups recommend that British
Columbia's progress on clean electricity policy and development can be
dramatically improved by:
- Ensuring that energy conservation and
efficiency is the highest priority. - Making British Columbia's electricity supply
as clean, renewable and low-impact as possible. - Adopting a renewable electricity planning
framework that limits environmental, social and economic impacts and
maximizes public benefit. - Reforming water licensing, land leasing
decisions and governance. - Strengthening the environmental assessment
process, addressing and managing cumulative effects, and improving
monitoring and compliance performance. - Developing an informed consensus about the
conditions whereby renewable electricity could be exported from British Columbia,
if at all.
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Organizations
endorsing the Recommendations for Responsible Clean Electricity Development in
British Columbia:
BC Spaces for Nature
BC Sustainable Energy Association
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Cassiar Watch
David Suzuki Foundation
Forest Ethics
Friends of Clayoquot Sound
Friends of Wild Salmon
Georgia Straight Alliance
Living Oceans Society
Northwest Watch
Outdoor Recreation Council
Pacific Wild
Pembina Institute
Raincoast Conservation Foundation
Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter
Skeena Watershed Conservation
Coalition
SkeenaWild Conservation Trust
Steelhead Society of British
Columbia
Sunshine Coast Conservation
Association
T. Buck Suzuki Environmental
Foundation
Watershed Watch Salmon Society
West Coast Environmental Law
West Kootenay EcoSociety
Wilderness Tourism Association
Wildsight
For more information, contact:
Karen Campbell, Pembina Institute,
cell: 604-928-2258
Craig Orr, Watershed Watch Salmon
Society, cell: 604-809-2799
Josh Paterson, West Coast
Environmental Law, phone: 604-601-2512
The full recommendations are
available at: www.pembina.org/pub/1951
