NORTHERN LIGHTS - Climate Change Mandates Stopping LNG Expansion
Written by SP Editor
The climate crisis is accelerating. Canada -like most countries-is locking in fossil fuel dependence while subsidizing large LNG projects controlled by private conglomerates. Environmental campaigns have struggled to match the scale and speed of these decisions, facing some of the largest forces the world has ever seen and pushing the planet-and all life- "toward the edge."
Sea levels are projected to rise between 30 cm and 200 cm by 2100-with 30 cm only if the world acts immediately and effectively, which is not happening. A 2 °C temperature increase would mean roughly a 60 cm rise, accompanied by stronger storms, submerging low-lying regions like Florida and Bangladesh. Seven hundred million people live in coastal areas at risk-and while lower Manhattan or parts of Florida may be protected by levees and pumps, millions in low- and moderate-income communities will be displaced or worse by the time my 8-year-old son turns 80.
Despite the bleakness, there will always be opportunities for organizers to win, probably more so after storms, floods, fires, rising seas, water shortages, and the ramping up of fascism. It is time for all those willing or qualified to lace up, work hard, set aside individual concerns, and build power while the sun shines. Organizations need to share power by developing partnerships and coalitions. They should continue to push boundaries, take strategic risks, and be adaptable to scale up and build power sooner rather than later.
ACORN Canada has been called upon by environmental organizations to connect energy campaigns to the fight against carbon. Our decades of work-including climate adaptation campaigns calling for max-heat bylaws-places us on the cutting edge.
For years on housing, ACORN has played a large role in embedding in the public consciousness that rental prices being high, apartments being in substandard condition, and no-fault evictions are because of, broadly speaking, some form of corporate greed. Through organizing, ACORN has consistently won tenant-positive press attention, limiting landlord and developer ability to dominate the housing narrative.
The same approach can be applied to energy. Higher energy prices are not caused by government investment in renewables or by a lack of pipelines from Alberta's tar sands. Corporate greed plays a massive role, and ordinary people pay the price-through subsidies or by having costs passed to ratepayers to fund privately owned energy infrastructure. There is a growing need to drive the climate debate by taking ownership of the issue of energy affordability.
Environmentalists, much like the academic left and progressives, often operate in a bubble, talking mostly to themselves. Too often, they fail to communicate with regular people and, at times, focus on virtue signaling or scolding rather than winning public support. Either way, it is alienating and a gift to our opponents. Like someone who took out a predatory loan versus the banker who ripped them off, the environmental fight should be easy to understand-ACORN aims to bring new populist leadership to it.
On Canada's west coast, the Stop-LNG campaign is uniting dozens of organizations to oppose the federal Liberal government's plans to expand natural gas extraction and export through billions in LNG infrastructure.
With Trump's annexation threats, Prime Minister Carney and BC Premier David Eby have doubled down on LNG, framing new projects as nation-building efforts to secure Canadian energy independence. Three major facilities are proposed on BC's north coast to liquefy shale gas and export it to Asia. The projects require pipelines and new BC Hydro generation and transmission lines, backed by public subsidies and ratepayer funding, potentially costing tens of billions.
There is one LNG project closer to home. Fortis has applied for a 5% rate increase to pay for an expansion of the Tilbury Island LNG Facility near Delta, BC. The facility has been in Metro Vancouver on the south shore of the Fraser River for 50 years, serving as a storage facility for FortisBC, a private gas and electricity provider in B.C.
The expansion will enable liquefaction of natural gas inside Metro Vancouver. Along with a parallel Tilbury Pacific Marine Jetty project, it will allow the facility to become an export hub for overseas markets during off-peak seasons. In short, Fortis will be able to build LNG processing and increased storage capacity through a rate increase paid by local customers. This, in turn, allows the company to ship LNG to Asia from the mouth of the Fraser River, generating profits well beyond what the rate increase provides.
This is not their first rate increase. Over the last five years, rates for residential gas customers have risen approximately 40%, which is significant. The British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) approves rate increases for improvements to infrastructure-pipelines, meters, and energy efficiency programs. The latter is problematic due to a split incentive, which calls into question why Fortis is in charge of efficiency programs at all. Nova Scotia's government eventually caved to pressure and carved out responsibility for efficiency from the privatized NS Power, with ratepayers contributing to the independent Efficiency Nova Scotia, which now runs all efficiency programs separately.
An affordability crisis, combined with a 5% rate increase application on top of many more in recent history, places this facility-essentially in our turf- at the center of local environmental concerns, including the potential for catastrophe in the waters of the Fraser River. Fortis is a private company with a monopoly on gas, whose CEO earns $15 million, and the rate increase will fund infrastructure used to ship gas overseas at a great profit. With rate increase hearings and public comment coming soon, this is an excellent opportunity to carve out ACORN's role in the Stop-LNG campaign-and to challenge the very national strategies that are locking in fossil fuel dependence and accelerating the climate crisis that threatens millions worldwide.
John Anderson is the Field Director for ACORN Canada and over two decades has played key roles in building ACORN across the country.
