Hello Friend,
Every day, around the clock, dozens of trains with hundreds of cars loaded with dirty thermal coal rumble through my neighborhood in Crescent Beach, B.C. They cross the border into Canada from the U.S., just 14 km away and travel to the Roberts Bank coal port another 40 km down the line. The west coast U.S. states refuse to build ports to export this coal so it comes through Canada instead.
This excessive train traffic shakes the ground and my house. It means that my home and every house along the route are covered in fine black coal dust. It means more bulk freighters anchored throughout the southern Gulf Islands, damaging the sea bed and disturbing the peace and tranquility of the region with noise, light and air pollution that affects both humans and wildlife including the endangered southern resident killer whales.
But that’s not the worst of it…
Thermal coal, the kind burned to make electricity, is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel. It creates half of the world’s carbon emissions and the pollution it creates kills more than 800,000 people every year.
Canada has signed dozens of international agreements to fight climate change by lowering carbon emissions so why are we still allowing the mining, export and burning of thermal coal mined here and why are we allowing thermal coal from the U.S. to be exported from B.C.?
We need to get rid of thermal coal right now to have any chance of limiting global warming to the Paris target of 1.5 degrees C.
Please support the Green Party campaign to ban the mining, use, export and import of thermal coal.
SIGN THE PETITION and SEND A LETTER to Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault demanding that he:
- Add thermal coal to the Priority Substances List of the Canadian Environment Protection Act (CEPA) and then to the Toxic Substances List of CEPA; and
- Regulate the mining, use, export, and import of thermal coal in Canada in accordance with our international commitments to reduce carbon emissions at home and abroad.
Your voice matters. Stand up for real climate action by writing a letter to Minister Guilbeault and signing Elizabeth May’s parliamentary petition.
This is important to me because it affects me directly every single day. But it’s also important for everyone and for the future of our planet.Thank you for your support.
In action and solidarity,
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Beverley (Pixie) Hobby |