Battle over B.C. gas pipeline comes as some cities pursue green energy options
Credit to Author: Matt Robinson| Date: Wed, 08 Jan 2020 01:16:18 +0000
As conflict erupts over a natural gas pipeline in northwestern B.C., the City of Vancouver is reporting decreased gas use in new buildings, and some of our closest neighbours to the south are now proposing to broadly curtail the fossil fuel — even in homes that already rely on it.
The City of Bellingham’s ambitious idea emerged from a planning exercise on how to move the city to zero emissions, explained Michael Lilliquist, a city councillor.
“To get to zero, you have to transform everything,” Lilliquist said in an interview this week. “To get to that number you basically have to do everything, and do it fast.”
Fast is a key word for the city, which already had a climate plan in place. The problem, as Lilliquist presented it, is that Bellingham’s target dates were too distant given expert opinion that transformative climate action needs to be taken now — or at least as early as possible. So the city set a prospective carbon neutral date of 2030.
The idea to phase out natural gas use at the end of the lifecycle of existing residential heating equipment is just one of scores of ideas the city is now considering to hit that goal. There are also ideas such as banning conventional gas-powered cars within city limits. But the natural gas proposal in particular raised the ire of industry and sparked “a concerted effort … to create fear and concern” among residents about the government’s plans, Lilliquist said.
UNDATED — Michael Lilliquist is a Bellingham city councillor.
Despite industry opposition, Lilliquist said he expects the idea will get the green light. The city’s new mayor campaigned on climate issues, and the city is working on ideas on how to make it easier for residents to pay for the transition, he said.
The City of Vancouver has also faced opposition from the natural gas industry over its push to phase-out the use of fossil fuel-derived natural gas in the city by 2050. In 2016, Vancouver proposed a set of green building plans that would require by 2030 new buildings to be heated by zero-emission sources such as district energy, electricity or renewable natural gas. The city did not consider retrofits on existing buildings, and natural gas ranges and other appliances would not be impacted until 2050.
FortisBC contended the city’s natural gas restrictions were tantamount to a ban, and the fossil fuel provider spoke out at council meetings against the idea, wrote letters of opposition and encouraged residents to take their concerns to B.C.’s ombudsman. But the city ultimately proceeded with its plans.
Since then, Vancouver has continued to see at least some natural gas use proposed for many buildings, according to city staff. About a third of rezoning applications received by the city between May 2017 and December 2018 proposed natural gas for domestic hot-water heating. But the average greenhouse gas intensity for those projects had fallen 75 per cent from average proposals filed in 2014, according to staff. The city has also seen a general trend toward reliance on electric heat and hot water in residential homes over the last decade.
Natural gas has been in the spotlight in B.C. in recent days after the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en, representing five First Nation clans, issued an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink on the weekend.
The gas company is working on a $6.2-billion pipeline between the Dawson Creek area and LNG Canada’s export terminal in Kitimat. Coastal GasLink had signed agreements with all 20 elected First Nation councils along the pipeline path, but the five hereditary chiefs say the project has no authority without their consent.
The chiefs advised the company that its staff and contractors were trespassing in the same area where 14 protesters were arrested last January when the RCMP enforced an interim injunction at a blockade near Smithers.