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As the midterms approach, many of our American readers riveted to US races may be wondering why Sightline is so focused on a referendum happening in British Columbia. If you want to know what proportional representation is all about, we answer your questions here. If you are wondering what the referendum in British Columbia is all about and why you should care, read on. Why does Sightline care about British...

In a surprise Sunday afternoon announcement, the company backing a huge oil pipeline proposal in British Columbia cried uncle. Citing conflicts between the Canadian government, which supports the project, and British Columbia (plus other local governments), which vehemently oppose it, Kinder Morgan said it would stop spending any money to advance the project. Or at least stop spending temporarily. Giving a deadline of May 31, Kinder Morgan says it will...

Financial turmoil! Political opposition! Environmental intrigue! By any measure it’s been a momentous week for Northwest coal exports. Here’s the rundown: A political game-changer in British Columbia In the midst of a tight election battle, BC Premier Christy Clark radically changed the debate over coal exports in the province last Wednesday by asking Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to ban coal exports to overseas power plants. Media reports initially described the move simply...

Just after midnight on October 13, 2016, the tug Nathan E. Stewart and its 287-foot oil barge ran aground on British Columbia’s central coast, spilling about 27,000 gallons of diesel and 1,300 gallons of oily lubricants. The inadequate response to the spill’s aftermath confirmed the fears many in BC and Washington have about the two oil pipelines proposed in the province, each of which would drastically increase tanker traffic in...

Cascadians south of the 49th parallel have heard for years about the Keystone XL pipeline, but many of them know little or nothing about the two pipelines proposed to cross British Columbia: nearly Keystone-sized pipes that would sluice tar sands oil from Alberta to Asia by way of the Pacific Northwest coast. Both projects have been intensely controversial in Canada—probably even more so than Keystone was in the United States—and...

It was just a few days before Christmas 1988 when an oil barge accident near the entrance of Grays Harbor unleashed one of the most damaging spills in Northwest history. It was quickly eclipsed by the grounding of the Exxon Valdez just three months later, and today the story of the Nestucca is largely forgotten. As it turns out, some of the same conditions that led to the Nestucca’s tremendous...

Research by Jane Harvey To understand how money corrupts democracy in the United States, especially in the Northwest states, look north to Canada. What you’ll see is that campaign fundraising is radically different on the two sides of the 49th parallel. It hasn’t always been, but it is now. The differences, and how they developed, reveal just how profound the impacts of US Supreme Court rulings have been on the...

Sightline’s research has found that increasing standards for buildings is an important step toward realizing the full benefits of energy efficiency. Including an energy audit along with the home inspection when a home is being sold is a great example of raising standards, which in turn should increase demand for energy audits and retrofits in the residential sector. British Columbia is taking a step toward implementing point-of-sale energy audits with...

The Waxman-Markey climate and energy legislation (a.k.a. the American Clean Energy and Security Act, ACES, H.R. 2454) before Congress right now has captured a lot of attention for its cap and trade provisions. But as we noted earlier there is a lot going in the legislation in terms of interesting complimentary policies to reduce emissions through increases energy efficiency—including retrofitting and weatherizing existing homes and buildings. There is a portion...

Backyard trees may not accomplish much, but forests soak up vast amounts of carbon. In fact, some people argue that trees and native plant communities may be one of our best remedies for climate emissions. Unfortunately, forests not only store a lot of carbon, they can also emit a lot carbon. Take California’s redwood country, for example. Data from the North Coast Air Basin shows astonishing carbon emissions from a typical year of forest fires in...