Letter: Premier should recognize ‘mistake’ in promoting fossil fuels in B.C.

I applaud Premier John Horgan’s acknowledgement that he “made a mistake” about proceeding with a planned rebuilding of the Royal BC Museum.

I wish he would also recognize the mistake he is making in subsidizing and promoting the fossil fuel industry in B.C., especially the liquid natural gas (LNG) pipeline and export terminal at Kitimat.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that in order to prevent a future of climate chaos, there must be an immediate phase-out of fossil fuel consumption and production, and no new fossil fuel infrastructure.

It’s vital that we keep global heating to within 1.5 C, and B.C. must do its part.

Instead, the government is promoting the production and export of LNG, which leaks methane at every stage of the process: fracking, processing, storage and piping.

Methane is 86 times worse for the climate than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, and it’s the next 20 years that will be critical in fighting climate change.

In the Jan. 22, 2022 Observer, the winning essay in a contest in which students were asked to write about what life might be like in the Shuswap in 2052 was published.

The essay reflected a bleak outlook for the future, and most of the others reflected a similar outlook.

In promoting and subsidizing LNG production and export, the B.C. government is letting our province’s young people down.

It is promoting the very industry it should be phasing out, thus contributing to a future of climate chaos: record-setting heatwaves, wildfires, killer-storms and flooding.

The premier should acknowledge his mistake, end subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, stop further oil and gas development, and begin to phase out fossil fuels.

Also, protect all of B.C.’s remaining old-growth forests, which are critical in fighting climate change.

Anne Morris

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