Act Positions BC to Regulate Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) in Federal Ports
New legislation to regulate the construction, operations and permitting of LNG development on federal port lands was introduced into the BC legislature [February 16] by Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman.

Bill 12, the Federal Port Development Act (FPDA), will extend provincial authority and application of provincial law to LNG-related development on federal port lands. The bill creates a seamless regulatory environment that complements the 2014 amendments to the Canada Marine Act (CMA) made by the federal government.

The FPDA authorizes the Province to enter into agreements with the federal government and a federal port to administer and enforce provincial law on port lands. For example, agreements under the FPDA would detail how the BC Oil and Gas Commission would oversee development and operations of LNG facilities at a federally regulated port. Read the full government news release.

New Tax Incentives to Advance
Liquefied Natural Gas Projects
On February 19, 2015, the Canadian government announced new proposed tax incentives intended to encourage investment decisions with respect to liquefied natural gas ("LNG") projects. The tax incentive takes the form of an enhanced rate of capital cost allowance ("CCA", being the tax version of depreciation) of:

• 30% for equipment used in natural gas liquefaction; and
• 10% for buildings at a facility that liquefies natural gas,

in each case for capital assets acquired between February 19, 2015 and the end of 2024 (the "Incentive Period"). This will allow a faster recovery of the capital costs of these assets. The Department of Finance is accepting comments on these proposals until March 27, 2015. Read the full article by Richard Eisenbraun with the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

AME BC Top Policy Issues and Recommendations
The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia recently published their annual discussion paper on the top policy issues and recommendations facing British Columbia's mineral exploration and development sector in 2015. It also offers specific recommendations that government and industry can work on together in order to address the identified issues and to implement policy measures that will position the sector for success in 2015 and beyond. View discussion paper.

Sweeping Aboriginal Lawsuit Threatens to Strangle
Resource Development in Northeastern BC
Development in British Columbia's resource-rich northeast sector, where the massive Site C dam is planned and gas exploration is booming, could be halted by a lawsuit that has been filed against the provincial government. The Blueberry River First Nations announced [March 4^th] that they are suing the government for breaching Treaty 8, a document enacted in 1900 that promised natives that in exchange for opening their lands to settlement they could continue their traditional way of life The Blueberry are now claiming in BC Supreme Court that the development of hydro dams, the burgeoning oil and gas industry, forestry, mining, agriculture and road building have largely destroyed their ability to hunt, trap, fish and gather plants as they traditionally did. The Blueberry bands are seeking (PDF) a declaration from the courts that in permitting the cumulative impacts of industrial developments the BC government breached its treaty obligations. The bands are also seeking an interim injunction restraining the government from permitting any further development. Read The Globe And Mail article.

Red Chris Tailings Pond "Totally
Different" from Mount Polley:
Minister of Mines Bill Bennett says independent experts have signed off on design for tailings pond
BC's Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said he's confident the tailings pond at the proposed Red Chris mine won't fall to the same fate as the one at the Mount Polley mine.

"It's a totally different design in terms of the tailings storage facility itself. Mount Polley had a two kilometre square facility with four man-made dams. At Red Chris you have the natural contour of the valley so you have two sides where you don't need a dam. You've got one in because the valley runs downhill," he told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

Bennett said independent engineers, engineers from Imperial Metals – the company behind the proposal, and engineers from the Tahltan First Nation have all signed off on the design.

Last week, the BC government granted Imperial Metals, which is the same company behind the Mount Polley mine, an interim permit to test the tailings pond at the Red Chris site. Read the CBC article.

Mitigation of Forestry Impacts to Natural Range Barriers
A New Forest Practices Board Report
This special investigation examined how well forest licensees plan and mitigate forestry impacts to timbered natural range barriers. Along with barriers such as steep gullies and large rivers, timbered range barriers are important because they help ensure cattle are contained within certain areas and do not graze where they are not supposed to. Forestry operations, including harvesting and road construction, can reduce the effectiveness of a timbered range barrier.

The investigation examined 10 case studies of range barrier mitigation on the ground and the commitments made in 56 operational plans (referred to as measures) to address forestry impacts to range barriers. In most of the case studies, the investigation found problems in how mitigation was planned and implemented. Most measures in operational plans were also deficient because, as written, they were not likely to lead to effective mitigation and were not verifiable. The investigation report includes three recommendations to improve how range barrier mitigation is planned and implemented. View the Forest Practices report here.

Environmental Appeal Board Decisions
There was one Environmental Appeal Board decisions released in the month of February:

Environmental Management Act

• Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd.; Danny La Sante v. Director, Environmental Management Act [Stay Decisions – granted pending final decision on merits]

Visit the Environmental Appeal website for more information.

BC's Environmental Studies Pose an Unsettling Paradox
Environmental assessment studies for industrial projects are contributing to the knowledge we have about BC's wildlife, but are they helping to protect anything?
Charlie Palmer's team of biologists wasn't looking for rare bats while conducting field work in 2010 to assess impacts of a wind farm on Bear Mountain near Dawson Creek. But that is precisely what they found – two eastern red bats, the first such sighting of that species in the region in 80 years, Palmer said. Typically, the biology that goes into an environmental assessment for a large industrial project is limited to conducting wildlife surveys and collecting data to establish what animals live in the path of a proposed resource project. So it is unusual to make a discovery such as this, said Palmer, a biologist and a manager on the assessment job for consultants Hemmera Envirochem. Read The Vancouver Sun article.

Occupational Health and Safety Regulation Amendments
A number of substantive changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation came into force on February 1^st as a result of B.C. Reg. 199/2014. These amendments include new references to:

• Avalanche risk assessment
• Roll-on/roll-off containers
• Rope access

Amendments to the following sections are also included:

• Emergency lighting
• Chemical agents and biological agents
• Ladders and movable work platforms
• Concrete formwork and falsework
• Demolition
• Log transporters – cab guards