Tell B.C. officials to get gas out of new buildings

The so-called "natural" gas (aka methane gas) piped into our homes, schools, and workplaces causes severe health complications and is one of B.C.’s biggest sources of climate pollution – but it doesn’t have to be this way. Premier Eby and his new government can dramatically cut carbon emissions through one simple change: requiring developers to power new buildings with clean electricity instead of methane gas.

In B.C., switching our buildings from methane gas to clean electricity should be an obvious step for any government serious about climate action or public health. Already over a dozen municipalities have taken the lead by passing local policies calling for low carbon construction.

So why is the province still allowing FortisBC to hook up tens of thousands of new buildings to polluting methane gas each year? 🤔

It’s time to prioritize climate action and community health and safety: let's get fracked gas out of our buildings – tell Premier Eby and key ministers to make the switch to clean electricity now.

Message Premier Eby and key ministers

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Premier

David

Eby

B.C. NDP

The Honourable

George

Heyman

BC NDP

The Honourable

Josie

Osborne

BC NDP

The Honourable

Bowinn

BC NDP

The Honourable

Ravi

Kahlon

BC NDP

The Honourable

Adrian

Dix

BC NDP

Dear Premier and Ministers,

Premier Eby, I was very encouraged to hear your pledge to hit B.C.’s legislated climate goals and your acknowledgement that we can't keep expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and still reach those goals. As a demonstration of this commitment, I’m calling on you to take action in your first 100 days to ban gas hookups in new construction, and instead require new buildings to be heated and cooled with clean electricity.

Over 100 representatives from the building sector, labour, municipalities, housing associations, health professionals and climate groups have recently sent an open letter calling on your government to ban gas in new buildings, and I’m adding my voice to this call to action.

The current plan to leave it up to municipalities to opt-in to zero emissions new construction will not incentivize deep enough emissions cuts to meet our climate target. What’s more, it leaves a dangerous loophole for so-called “renewable natural gas” and will create a very challenging patchwork of regulations for the building and construction sector. Finally, it misses a big opportunity to tackle climate resilience through housing policy.

Requiring highly efficient heat pumps in all new buildings will, quite literally, save lives. Last year, more than 600 people in BC died due to extreme heat, most of them living in apartment buildings with inadequate ventilation and cooling. If those residents had heat pumps in their homes, many – if not most – would be alive today.

I urge you to follow the lead of more than a dozen B.C. municipalities along with Washington and New York state and take immediate action to require all-electric new construction across the province. By halting new methane gas connections and catalyzing rapid and deep emissions cuts in the building sector, your government will take a big step towards meeting our Clean B.C. climate goals while protecting the health and safety of British Columbians.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}, {user_data~Zip or Postal Code}

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