LAST CHANCE to have your say on the acceleration of the Step Code

This Wed the 18th 5pm - or write letters today!

Hello COAP members.

Last meeting Council gave the first three readings on the Building Amendment Bylaw, which would accelerate the net zero carbon emissions levels from the current optional level , to mandatory level 3 immediately, and mandatory level 4 by July 1st 2024 - 6 years ahead of the BC governments recommended steps.

You showed up to voice your concerns - don’t lose momentum!

What does this mean? ( Talking Points to stay on topic)

- Step three allows Natural Gas as a backup - FORTIS will not hook up for a little gas fireplace, as that is not economically viable, and builders already pay astronomical fees to bring Hydro in as it is. Builders would not take on the extra cost to additionally hook up LNG to a new build.

- Step 4 only allows Renewable Natural Gas. However; no local governments have shown interest in helping create the infrastructure to turn our curbside waste into RNG - odd as that would be an excellent example of a Circular Economy, using our waste to create our power ( instead of shipping our waste out of sight out of mind…)

- The Province recognizes the time needed to make this transition, and is allowing 6 years to help builders adjust - North Cowichan is not giving the builders the same courtesy here during a so-called “housing crises”.

- New LNG facilities are being built currently to ship LNG to Asia.

- There was no advertised public input, nor engagement with builders for such a drastic change. Usually these things have two readings and then adoption. In this case they pushed for all three readings and then adoption.

- They skipped the recommendation by staff to put the plan before the builders first.

- The island only has a couple small dams and relies on the majority of it’s electricity coming from underground/undersea cables fed here from the mainland. Would it not behoove us to be more energy independent, especially when we focus so much on ‘climate disaster mitigation’ and how we would navigate all these disasters supposedly on their way to us in the near future? Keeping heat and hot water would be rather helpful in a disaster.

- The fact remains that more people die from cold than from heat globally, and giving BC Hydro a monopoly on power allows a no holds bared approach to pricing and price increases. Additionally, if the Province keeps pushing more renewable energy ( aka windmills and solar panels), causing a decrease in energy needs from the sole provider of energy, BC Hydro would have to increase rates even higher. The poorer people become, the more likely they will turn down or off their electric heat.

- Gas is cheaper than Hydro, no matter what a certain councilor has stated.

- The counter argument was :

a) The dangers of gas for children, of which the “study” drew no causation, only weak correlation, and was a meta study ( taking multiple studies together), easily debunked.

b) That Methane was even more dangerous than Carbon. Being more dangerous than a life giving gas is an interesting argument. Additionally, if methane was such an issue, would we not capture it and turn it into a local power source?

- The public that did show up were told three reason’s why their input was irrelevant:

a) That LNG could still be used as a secondary heat source - the reason why this is not viable is mentioned above

b) The public shared their worries about this being just the first step towards taking away all natural gas, and were told that this was not retroactive, and therefore their worries were irrelevant. It is a possibility that this Councilor did not read the Climate Action Energy Plan that states clearly that retrofitting old homes is projected to be in the works in the next 3-5 years.

c) Lastly the public was told that regardless of input, they had to follow the Climate Action and Energy Plan to zero emissions and this was one of the steps to help the Municipality reach those goals. The CAEP is not a bylaw, not a religious text, not a plan created with vast public feedback - so it is in their discretion to follow it or not.

We hope to see you there ( sign in 4:30) .

A little video you may want to use for research on the downsides of heat pumps:

ps - Please stay on topic - “No acceleration of step code” for the reasons listed above, and others you may come up with. If you veer to far off topic, their eyes glaze over and they will not hear you. The Item is 7.2 ( https://pub-northcowichan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=13642)

Sincerely,

Adrienne & Joseph

COAP Inc.