Ellis Ross speaks in Legislature towards EV's and push to Zero emissions in BC

Bill 39 is on the Order list for this week at the BC Legislature, the Provincial Government's Legislation towards Zero Emission Vehicles in the province and through the Monday afternoon discussion, BC United MLA's raised a range of concerns over the BC NDP Government's ambitious targets.

The Bill which is in its Second Reading stage at the Legislature made some news last week with its target for the sales of new vehicles in BC which would see a goal of 100% vehicle sales by 2035.

The ZEV Act amendments will require automakers to meet an escalating annual percentage of new light-duty ZEV sales and leases, reaching 26% of light-duty vehicle sales by 2026, 90% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, five years ahead of the original target.

“This updated ZEV target reflects the success of our measures to shift rapidly to cleaner transportation. We’re taking action to encourage a cleaner British Columbia, while making headway on CleanBC’s mission to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030. These changes also support rising demand for cleaner vehicles on the roads and will make it easier for more people to choose an electric vehicle.” -- George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

Among those in the thick of the debate Monday was Skeena MLA Ellis Ross, who used some of the time towards concerns over how the province's goals on Energy are going to impact on LNG development in the Northwest.

To the theme of Electric Vehicles, the Skeena MLA relayed some of his research in the constituency towards interest in EV's.

Up in Skeena where I represent — Kitimat, Terrace, Nisg̱a'a , Kitsumkalum, Kitselas, Kitamaat Village — I've asked all around my riding about what the interest is in electric cars, and there's very little, to be honest. But the ones I have talked to have not talked about their ideal vision about reducing emissions. 

It's all about the novelty of owning an electric car and how much speed it gets from zero to 60 as opposed to a gas-powered engine and all the electricity that goes into it. 

Of course, everybody knows the downside of owning an electric vehicle when you're talking about batteries in cold weather or even some of the other issues that are affecting electric cars. But it hasn't really affected us. We've got two new electric charging stations in Kitimat that nobody uses. They just sit there. 

I'm not quite sure about Terrace, but nobody has come to me saying: "We have to accelerate the targets of electric cars being utilized in B.C. by 2030 or 2035."

Ross also noted of affordability concerns for British Columbians as well as an electrical grid that may not be able to meet the demand if the NDP's push towards it's goals by 2035 come to fruition.

The previous target was 20 percent by 2025, and the new target is 26 percent by 2026. The previous target in the previous bill was 30 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2030. 

Instead of 100 percent by 2040, it is 100 percent by 2035 in this new bill. 

Very ambitious, but really haven't addressed a number of things, like affordability. A lot of the people that I represent cannot dream of owning an electric vehicle, let alone trying to think about how to charge it, how to pay for it. There are so many questions that I get asked about electric vehicles that I can't answer. Will it be charged in their garage at home? Will they be given free electricity? 

I think right now the B.C. government is realizing they just can't give out free electricity anymore. It was good in the beginning to give it out as an incentive, give out free electricity, but you can't sustain that, especially with the amount of deficit that this B.C. government has incurred, and the debt. 

You just can't keep giving out free electricity. You can't keep building free electric car infrastructure and not get a return. So at some point, we're going to have to consider the affordability factor. 

The Skeena MLA continued on towards the Hydro infrastructure question, highlighting how the development of an LNG Industry could have been electrified, but infrastructure limitations have impacted on that potential carbon reduction tool.

I haven't seen the government yet talk about who's going to pay for all this. I understand that the consumer is going to pay for the vehicle, maybe through the additional subsidies. But who's going to pay for the infrastructure upgrades? I haven't seen that yet. Maybe that comes out in regulation. Maybe that comes out with higher rates through B.C. Hydro. Maybe it gets passed on to the taxpayer through higher taxes or deficit financing. We haven't really seen that just yet. 

Why I ask that is because we've been talking a lot about B.C. Hydro upgrades from Prince George to Kitimat for the purpose of exporting LNG. We've been talking about that now for 15 years. I was part of two consultations in my community of Kitimat. And we supported it because we wanted to see that LNG get to Asia with as little emissions as possible. 

Unfortunately, it didn't work out. And now LNG Canada will burn natural gas to operate its turbines for the first phase, which will be converting natural gas to liquid natural gas. 

We're talking about 14 million tonnes annually. The emissions factor there…. So we missed the boat on electrifying that industry for the purpose of reducing emissions.

Ross also noted of emerging energy sources and how BC should consider those options towards carbon reduction; rather than increasing its push towards an all in EV Vehicle future.

But like I say, different parts of the world are moving to different energy sources, so while we potentially put the residents of B.C. in a very tough spot in terms of affordability and in terms of being forced to buy an electric vehicle, the rest of the world will be switching to different energy sources to achieve the same goals, like purchasing ammonia from Alberta, which, by the way, will get shipped through Prince Rupert. I think it's a great idea — ammonia. 

By the way, I would love it if the B.C. government could cooperate with the federal government to relieve the liability issues on the CN Rail to make sure that the ammonia coming from Alberta and the Cold Lake First Nation, by the way, gets their ammonia shipped to Japan. 

It's a great economic opportunity, and Japan will reduce its emissions without a zero emissions vehicles amendment act that basically forces residents of B.C. to buy an electric vehicle.

The Full presentation to the Legislature can be reviewed through the Legislature Video stream, starting at the 5:17 PM mark of Monday's session.

More notes from the BC Legislature can be reviewed here.