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BC backtracks on LNG ‘net-zero' carbon pollution rules

BC backtracks on LNG ‘net-zero' carbon pollution rules

The BC government's quiet rollback of carbon pollution rules for proposed LNG projects undermines provincial net-zero promises, says a Green Party MLA.
Last month, Adrian Dix, minister of energy and climate solutions, made changes to the liquified natural gas (LNG) approval process, which were
listed in a letter
sent to the BC Environmental Assessment Office.
Previously, LNG projects moving through the approvals pipeline required a credible plan for net-zero emissions by 2030.
However, now proposed LNG projects only have to 'provide a credible plan' to reach net-zero if they aren't plugged into BC's electrical grid by that date, providing a loophole for them to pollute, said Jeremy Valeriote, Green MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
The change is a significant backtrack by the ministry because it lets companies off the hook if they claim electricity isn't available, and allows them to generate emissions indefinitely, he said. The move also 'defies logic' if the province is actually committed to meeting its emissions targets.
The Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions did not respond to Canada's National Observer questions about how BC can meet its climate targets, or reduce emissions at all, if LNG projects are permitted to generate huge amounts of carbon pollution indefinitely.
In an email, the ministry said Dix's letter with the new instructions to the EAO, 'is a clarification of existing policy, not a change.'
LNG proponents are still expected to reduce emissions unrelated to electrical power such as gas flaring or transportation.
'Net-zero by 2030 remains the standard for LNG facilities, but we recognize that access to clean electricity will take time,' the email said.
'Proponents will not be penalized for factors beyond their control.'
Valeriote sees it differently.
'It's just pandering to industry,' Valeriote said. 'If companies can't meet those rules, that's not the government or the public of British Columbia's problem.'
It's not up to taxpayers to pay for and provide electrical resources for the fossil fuel companies, Valeriote said — nor is it fair if the public must shoulder the burden of any resulting pollution if they don't.
The coastal LNG export projects need access to clean electricity, instead of burning natural gas to eliminate the large volumes of carbon pollution created during the
energy-intensive liquefaction process
, which sees natural gas chilled into a fluid for easy transport by ship to overseas markets.
It's unlikely the province will have the electrical supply needed to power LNG plants with clean energy by 2030, said Matt Hulse, a lawyer with the legal charity Ecojustice.
Over the next decade, BC Hydro is spending
$4.7 billion in public funds
in Northern BC — expanding the grid
to clean up carbon pollution
from the natural gas Industry, LNG plants, mining and powering ports with clean energy.
One of the largest projects, the North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) from Prince George to Terrace, is slated for completion in 2032.
The electrical gap means gas-powered LNG facilities can generate millions of tonnes of climate pollution beyond 2030, if power from the grid is not available, Hulse said.
For example, the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project is expected to produce 1.8 million tonnes emissions yearly if not powered by electricity — not including the upstream and downstream emissions associated with the facility, he said. Close to 90 per cent of Ksi Lisims carbon pollution is generated from powering the plant.
Annually, the pollution from that project is anticipated to be the equivalent to 10 per cent of BC's total industrial emissions generated in 2023.
Aside from lacking the power supply for LNG projects, the province doesn't provide clear timelines for its availability, which undermines government claims of 'clean LNG,' Hulse said.
'Even if LNG facilities are electrified, you can't call them 'net zero,'' he said.
'It's still a fossil fuel, and you can't just ignore the upstream fracking emissions and the downstream combustion that happens elsewhere.'
BC residents will continue to pay the price of burning LNG overseas in the form of disasters like floods, wildfires and drought even if the emissions aren't included in the province's tally sheet, he noted.
'We'll still feel the climate impacts here — regardless of where the emissions are counted.'
Valeriote said BC emissions targets and CleanBC climate plan are largely 'aspirational' and lack any measures that have demonstratively reduced carbon pollution to date.
The Greens are sitting down with the province to review and shape a more accountable, enforceable CleanBC strategy better aligned with the public's interests, he said.
'We need to review the subsidies and the support we give to some of these industries,' he said.
'We should be spending public money on renewable energy rather than natural gas and methane.
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer

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House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis
House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis

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House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis

WASHINGTON — A House Republican panel is demanding records from more than 200 non-governmental organizations that nabbed billions of dollars in taxpayers' money to settle migrants in the US under ex-President Joe Biden. One of the targeted groups is among those embroiled in the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Subcommittee Chairman Josh Breechen (R-Okla.) fired off letters to the 215 organizations Tuesday, accusing each of having 'helped fuel the worst border crisis in our nation's history.' 5 House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) fired off letters to 215 non-governmental organizations Tuesday accusing them of having 'helped fuel the worst border crisis in our nation's history.' Bloomberg via Getty Images The powerful Republican chairman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee leader said the groups created a 'pull factor' in providing taxpayer-funded transportation, translation, housing and other services to migrants, most of whom were released into the country after crossing the border illegally. 'The Committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration, and stand ready to do so under future Democrat administrations,' Green and Breechen wrote, citing a 'near-total lack of accountability' for how the money was spent. 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'We have not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles other than the press conference and rally,' a CHIRLA rep previously told The Post in a statement. The group did not respond to a Post request for comment Tuesday. The ICE crackdown in the city rounded up convicted sexual abusers, drug dealers and gang members to put into removal proceedings, DHS officials said. 5 'The committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration,' Green wrote. REUTERS Southwest Key Programs, another group being probed by Green's panel, was the largest housing nonprofit for unaccompanied migrant kids who entered the US and took around $3 billion in taxpayer funding from Biden's Health and Human Services — before Trump officials pulled the plug in March. Between 2021 and 2023, Southwest Key's top five executives saw their salaries inflated on average from $420,000 to $720,000 — even as the organization outspent its revenue by millions of dollars. The Justice Department sued Southwest Key Programs in July 2024, alleging that some supervisors and employees had committed 'severe' and 'pervasive' rape and sex abuse against kids between 2015 and 2023. The civil suit was dropped by the DOJ in March 2025, the same month that Trump's HHS cut off federal funding for the organization. 5 Green led the GOP charge in the House to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. AP Southwest Key 'strongly denied the claims relating to child sexual abuse in our shelters,' a rep previously said. The group did not respond to a Post request for comment Tuesday. 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AP A March 2023 DHS Office of Inspector General audit revealed that 'more than half' of FEMA funding that went to NGOs couldn't be accounted for, Green notes in his letter. The GOP leader has previously called out $81 million in possibly 'illegal' funds that helped cover migrant stays in luxury New York City hotels. Conservative immigration groups have previously estimated that the influx of migrants cost New York City residents as much as $10 billion and bilked US taxpayers up to $150 billion in 2023, the year when illegal border crossings reached their highest level in recorded history. Green led the GOP charge in the House to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to comply with federal immigration law and lying to Congress that the border was 'secure.' The Republican missive requests the total dollar amount of federal grants, contracts or payments received by the NGOs between Jan. 19, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025. It also demands to know whether any organization sued the feds and what services it provided to migrants. Influential left-leaning groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and the Southern Poverty Law Center have all been asked to respond to the queries.

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