Unlike a number of green advocates, political and otherwise, I think there can be some significant benefit for British Columbians from the development of LNG exports, particularly if issues around the supply and pricing of electricity, and the regulation and offset of industry GHG emissions are properly addressed. Nevertheless, I do agree with those who argue [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Energy'
The Green Part of Green
May 10th, 2013 · Marvin Shaffer · 4 Comments · Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
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Debt Free BC?
May 4th, 2013 · Marvin Shaffer · Comments Off · Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Uncategorized
It is pretty clear that the election-inspired promise of a debt free BC is not to be taken seriously. There is no credible market analysis indicating that the royalties from B.C. LNG exports would be sufficient to do that in 15 years, as the Premier would have it. The potential for increased gas supply from [...]
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Climate justice and BC’s political moment
April 5th, 2013 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
The following is based on a talk at the Bring Your Boomers election forum on April 3 at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver, the fourth in a series of intergenerational dialogues from Gen Why Media, and was co-sponsored by the CCPA, Get Your Vote On, LeadNow and Vancity credit union. I was asked to set the stage for a conversation on climate justice between [...]
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Absolving our Carbon Sins: the Case of the Pacific Carbon Trust
April 2nd, 2013 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Provincial budget & finance
Last week’s report from BC’s Auditor General dealt a huge blow to the credibility of carbon offsets and claims that BC had achieved a state of “carbon neutral government.” Coverage of the AG’s report was coloured by accusations from the Pacific Carbon Trust, the Crown corporation created to buy and sell BC offsets, and “experts” [...]
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Closing the Loop: Zero Waste, GHG Emissions and Green Jobs in BC
March 28th, 2013 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Economy, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Below is the summary for our latest Climate Justice Project report, Closing the Loop: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Creating Green Jobs through Zero Waste in BC (I recommend checking the much prettier full paper, stand-alone summary, and awesome infographic by Sam Bradd on the website). Closing the Loop was a complex and challenging project that made my head [...]
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Marc’s Enbridge Testimony
January 16th, 2013 · Marc Lee · 3 Comments · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability
Testimony to the Joint Review Panel on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project By Marc Lee, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives January 16, 2013 My name is Marc Lee, and I have served as an economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for more than 14 years. Most recently I have been Senior Economist and [...]
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What’s next for BC’s carbon tax?
January 14th, 2013 · Marc Lee · 1 Comment · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Taxes
An oped of mine was published by the Vancouver Sun today: What’s next for BC’s carbon tax? Marc Lee Climate change forced its way onto the political agenda in 2012, as Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeast United Stages just days before the election. And while action remains frustratingly slow, extreme weather disasters in the [...]
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Correction to carbon pricing paper
January 10th, 2013 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Energy, Environment, resources & sustainability, Taxes
An error has been found in my 2011 carbon pricing paper. In Table 2 on page 17 the results presented at the time of publication were per capita not, as stated, per household. Runs modeled using Statistics Canada’s Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) for carbon tax must be done on a household basis. [...]
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Letter: Continue LiveSmartBC Energy Incentive Program
December 19th, 2012 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Climate change, Employment & labour, Energy
My letter to Christy Clark, Premier of BC; Rich Colman, Ministry of Energy and Mines; Mike de Jong, Ministry of Finance; Terry Lake, Minister of Environment; Adrian Dix, Leader of the Opposition; John Horgan, Official Opposition House Leader and Opposition Critic for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources; Rob Fleming, Opposition Critic for Environment: I am a writing as an economist and lead [...]
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State of the BC Economy
December 4th, 2012 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Energy
As we close out 2012, BC finds itself in some precarious economic waters. To recap, a massive housing bubble that built up through the naughties (2000s) finally burst in 2008, feeding a financial crisis, as extremely loose (some would say fraudulent) lending practices pushed housing prices up to spectacular, never-seen-before levels, and created a plague [...]
Tags: economic growth·Economy
