Skip to content

Letter: The NDP’s carbon conundrum: LNG/gas or renewable energy

In comparison to solar energy, natural gas is as dirty as my chicken coop
31951521_web1_Letters-logo-2-660x440

The NDP’s carbon conundrum: LNG/gas or renewable energy

What is our provincial government doing to prevent further catastrophic environmental damage like fires that destroy whole towns and floods that cause billions in damage? The answer is, not much.

Instead of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, the NDP spends our tax dollars on building higher dikes and hiring more forest fire fighters. But these measures are not going to stop a changing climate. Not at all.

The NDP/Liberal track record for achieving a sustainable economy is a solid zero over the past 20 years — they have never met any carbon reduction goals, and the B.C. economy continues to use fossil fuels for about 80 per cent of its energy needs.

So the NDP has a moral problem, or conundrum. They can choose to continue the unsustainable use of fossil fuels like gas; or they can make our planet’s future less dangerous by investing in renewable energy systems like solar electricity.

Regrettably, the NDP’s choice so far has been to ramp up the export of fracked gas or LNG, and in so doing to increase our carbon emissions when that gas is burned in Asia. Like my chickens coming home to roost, those burnt carbon gases inevitably return to B.C. in the form of atmospheric storms. And worse, they plan to decrease the price paid for solar electricity to 4 cents/kWh — much lower than the 9-15 cents they charge you on your electrical utility bill. Clearly, they want people to use gas instead of solar energy — more hydro energy is not a future choice since its ability to expand is limited.

The consequences of this choice to favour gas over solar are obvious: 600 people died during the heat dome crisis, fires destroyed whole towns, and recent floods are costing us all billions in increased insurance and taxes.

These economic costs and human misery will only increase if we do nothing.

So ask your MLA to demand that the government make the right choice when they are confronted with this NDP carbon conundrum: they should not choose to pollute our atmospheric nest by exporting and burning fracked gas; and they should choose to decarbonize society by paying a fair price for clean renewable energy.

Because in terms of stopping the climate emergency, and in comparison to solar energy, natural gas is as dirty as my chicken coop.

Peter Nix, Cowichan Carbon Buster

Maple Bay