VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh AND səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES — Activists from Stand.earth and Wilderness committee alongside environmentalists were at the office of Adrian Dix today to present a petition from over 10,000 people calling for an end to the expansion of the Tilbury Jetty LNG terminal.

The groups were carrying banners which said "No tankers on the Fraser” and "Reject Pollution, Reject Tilbury LNG".

Speaking from the delivery location, Anna Barford, Shipping Campaigner with Strand.earth, said, "Over 10,000 people today have spoken up to say that Tilbury LNG is not worth the pollution price tag. Fossil fuels are dangerous to our health, the planet, and for the wildlife who’s home they disrupt. Fossil fuels need to be put into retirement, right now. Leaving gas in the ground will keep tankers off the Fraser, and fracking out of the North East. Approving LNG expansion anywhere is a problem, but within MetroVancouver is a disaster waiting to happen. "

FortisBC is applying to expand their Tilbury LNG facility. This LNG expansion could endanger residents along the South Arm of the Fraser River with air pollution and has the potential for catastrophic tanker accidents. The tanker route is a dynamic area with the potential for unexpected weather and the risk of ignition from human activity. Fortis has not sufficiently provided evidence of scenario modelling or emergency notification plans for residents in the case of a problem.

Wilderness Committee Climate Campaigner Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas, said, “Minister Dix and the B.C. government have admitted that B.C. will not meet its greenhouse emissions reduction targets. Yet, they continue to consider projects like Tilbury LNG that will add as many emissions as the entire City of Vancouver. We've brought thousands of names and messages from the public who oppose Tilbury LNG to Minister Dix's office and it's well past time he listened to them."

Expanding British Columbia's LNG infrastructure will hold back Canada's climate commitments, and lock-in about 1 million tonnes of GHG emissions each year for decades to come. LNG is made from fracked methane gas, a highly polluting fossil fuel that is 86 times worse than carbon dioxide for warming our planet. Methane gas leaks into the atmosphere while extracting, transporting, and using LNG. Those leaks go massively under-reported.

A significant amount of its production from Tilbury LNG would be used to fuel and expand LNG shipping, by transporting and exporting 3.5 million tonnes of fracked LNG annually. Pollution from unburned methane that slips from LNG engines actually undermines any potential benefits of switching off dirty fuels.

This project could have devastating impacts on critical habitat for marine life. Increasing noisy ship traffic for LNG would stack the odds against orca whales that already struggle to find food in the busy ocean highway of the Salish Sea.

-30-

Event photos: This folder contains images from the petition delivery.
Debunked myths, including that LNG is a bridge fuel, can be seen here.

For more information, please contact:

Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas | Climate Campaigner – Wilderness Committee
+1 781-572-2795, isabel@wildernesscommittee.org (Pacific Time)

Anna Barford | Oceans Campaigner – Stand.earth 
+1 604-757-7029, Anna@stand.earth (Pacific Time)

Arin de Hoog | Communications, Oil, Gas and Shipping – Stand.earth. 
+1 613-978-7329, arin.dehoog@stand.earth (Eastern Time)