Proposed Infrastructure Projects Act gives minister power to steamroll over environment for private profit
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VANCOUVER / UNCEDED xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh AND səlilwətaɬ TERRITORIES — The Wilderness Committee is deeply concerned and shocked over Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, tabled by Premier David Eby’s NDP government on May 1. The organization says Bill 15 proposes to steamroll over environmental assessments currently required for resource extraction projects in British Columbia. 

The Wilderness Committee has called on the BC NDP to improve and strengthen environmental assessment regulations, and argues this proposed legislation amounts to a massive roll-back. Environmental assessments are meant to give community members, environmental experts and Indigenous Peoples a voice about proposed projects, including mining, power and oil and gas projects, and also reveal critical information about environmental and financial impacts before the government grants or dismisses permission to build. 

“Using essential public services like schools and housing as scapegoats to facilitate private projects that will push us so far behind our climate and biodiversity goals is a gross political move. Eby has lost the plot on who he works for — the people who can barely afford rent right now, not the billionaires looking to exploit B.C.’s ecosystems,” said Conservation and Policy Campaigner Lucero Gonzalez.

The organization contends that weakening environmental assessments is weakening human rights that we all hold dear, and is calling on Premier Eby and his government to scrap Bill 15.

“For decades, I have participated in numerous environmental assessments that have revealed critical threats to the environment, the economy and the climate,” said Protected Areas Campaigner Joe Foy.

“From Taseko’s proposed New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project at Fish Lake to the Site C dam project on the Peace River, these assessments gave First Nations, scientific experts and community members the opportunity to defend their lands from destructive industrial impacts and question sketchy economic benefits. I can’t understand why this so-called progressive government would remove our rights to defend the environment and the economy from corporate interests,” Foy said.

“The B.C. Ecosystem Health Framework, a desperately-needed policy to protect species and ecosystems at risk, has been sitting on the back burner for months, with no indication of when it’ll be finalized. Instead, the B.C. government has been busy reacting to President Trump’s every move, pushing policies like Bill 15 that are hardly any better than what he’s rolling out down south," Gonzalez said.

"They’ve forgotten commitments they have already made to Indigenous Rights, endangered species, ecosystems and climate action. If those priorities conflict with the approval of destructive megaprojects, it’s not up to Eby and his cabinet to unilaterally decide. That’s exactly what environmental assessments and consultations are for,” Gonzalez added.

The Wilderness Committee will continue to monitor the B.C. government’s cuts to environmental oversight, and work with First Nations, community groups and the public to advocate for proper protections for ecosystems and the climate.

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For more information please contact:
Lucero Gonzalez | Conservation and Policy Campaigner
604-700-3280, lucero@wildernesscommittee.org

Joe Foy | Protected Areas Campaigner
604-880-2580, joe@wildernesscommittee.org