Globe and Mail

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, responding to criticisms of the federal Liberal green plan by northern premiers, is calling for an end to a dependence on diesel fuel in the North.

“It’s time we stopped having diesel-dependent communities,” he said on Thursday. He had been asked for his view on suggestions by Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie that the green-shift plan proposed by federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion would hurt the diesel-dependent territories.

The Vancouver Sun

British Columbia’s new carbon tax, applied to virtually all fossil fuels (including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, propane and home-heating fuel) will be effective on Canada Day, July 1st. Prices at the pump will see a 2.41 cent per litre increase.

British Columbia’s carbon tax plays a key role in the government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is being challenged by dozens of northern communities in BC, claiming that the tax discriminates rural and northern residents.

An outbreak of mountain pine beetles in British Columbia is doing more than destroying millions of trees: By 2020, the beetles will have done so much damage that the forest will release more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, new research indicates.

Northern communities in British Columbia are opposing the government’s new carbon tax program. Residents in remote areas feel that they are being penalized over fuel consumption choices that they have no control over “due to distance, climate and resource-based livelihoods.”