After the G7 leaders summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced tentative plans to expand gas exports from Canada to Germany — with an option to revive a once-dead plan to build Goldboro LNG, and could export up to 10 million tonnes of LNG per day. The project might even require the construction of a pipeline from Alberta to the East Coast — wreaking havoc not only on the climate, but the environment it crosses. Gas companies are exploiting the war in Ukraine to try to expand production and fast track liquefied natural gas projects. They’re dressing up plans for expansion on Canada's East Coast, like Repsol's LNG project in New Brunswick, in the guise of helping Europe wean themselves off Russian gas. The truth is, by the time new export facilities are built, Europe won’t need Canada’s natural gas (3). Building more gas infrastructure in response to a war funded by fossil fuel profits will only lock the world into further instability.
Urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister Chrystia Freeland, Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Minister Steven Guilbeault to oppose gas companies profiteering from war, reject unnecessary gas expansion, and invest in reneweble energy instead.
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Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, and Opposition Environment Critics,
Despite urgent appeals from the International Energy Agency, IPCC, and United Nations Secretary General (1,2) to stop all fossil fuel expansion in order to give the world a shot at meeting climate targets, Canada is considering the expansion of high-polluting gas infrastructure.
The argument that new gas export facilities, like Repsol's LNG project in New Brunswick or the Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia, would help Europe’s energy needs is false. These LNG projects would take years to come online, when Europe’s energy needs will largely be met, and its countries will be far down the path of a renewable energy transition. Gas companies only want to squeeze every last drop of profit they can out of their sunset industry under the pretense of saving Europe. As Ukrainian policy and environment experts Svitlana Romanko and Oleh Savytskyi wrote recently:
“Europe and Ukraine do not need your gas. We need more clean, affordable, accessible and transparent energy policies, ones based on the best available science and technology — not on vested interests…. Canada’s leaders are known for bold words on climate at events like the G7. Now Canada’s leaders must match bold words with bold actions. And that means not being misled by the gas industry into building expensive, climate-damaging LNG export facilities that won’t help Europe.” (3)
Recent polling conducted by Abacus Data (4) also shows that more Canadians are opposed to building a new East Coast gas export facility than are in support of such a facility. It is time for you to listen to the science, to experts, and to Canadians and say NO to more LNG projects in Canada.
Sincerely,
Sources:
3. Article by Svitlana Romanko and Oleh Savytskyi: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/06/28/opinion/message-ukraine-dont-be-fooled-push-new-lng-export-facilities
4. Recent Abacus Data Polling on LNG views in Canada: https://www.sierraclub.ca/en/media/2022-06-30/new-poll-canadians-believe-climate-impacts-should-be-deciding-factor-whether-or-not