Region: British Columbia
Another Disappointing Year for King Coal
Despite the Trump administration’s promise of a coal industry rebound, data from the US Energy Information Administration show that King Coal actually lost crucial ground in 2017: the nation’s electric utilities produced even less power from coal over the first 11 months of last year than they did over the same period in 2016. It was … Read more
Why It’s Not a ‘Green Light’ for Fraser Surrey Docks
Last week, a federal court in Canada gave a rare sliver of good news to a coal export project outside Vancouver, BC, that had been beaten down by years of disappointments. The court rejected a petition by two community groups to overturn a permit for the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD) coal terminal on the banks … Read more
A Word About Our Facebook Page
Facebook announced earlier in January that it would overhaul users’ feeds, placing more of an emphasis on posts from family and friends and less on posts from businesses, brands, and media. An organization like ours falls squarely in the latter group by Facebook’s definition. And with nearly 12,500 of you following us on this platform … Read more
Part 2: Your Car of the Future is No Car at All
[content_box type=”solid” button='{“url”:”https://www.sightline.org/2018/02/27/video-autonomous-electric-vehicles-and-their-future-in-cascadia/”,”title”:”Watch video”}’]Watch Daniel Malarkey’s February appearance on Q13’s newscast in which he discusses the future of autonomous electric vehicles in Washington.[/content_box] In part 1, I laid out the immense potential for good that Transportation as a Service (TaaS) offers. A future where most private cars give way to taxi rides provided by fleets … Read more
Part 1: Your Car of the Future is No Car at All
Editor’s note: This piece marks the Sightline debut of Daniel Malarkey, our newest Sightline fellow. A Seattle native, Daniel will be writing about issues of infrastructure, technology and energy with a view towards sustainability. You can read his full bio here. Additionally, you can view his February appearance on Q13’s newscast here in which he … Read more
Family Planning Kick-Starts Prosperity
Cascadia is known for mountains and salmon, technology, and modern urban gateways to Asia. But wellbeing is marred by economic hardship for a third of families, who struggle to pay for basic household necessities. For many, unsought pregnancy compounds this hardship, with poverty and mistimed or unwanted pregnancy fueling each other in a cycle that … Read more
The Thin Green Line: 2017 in Review
1. Don’t call it a comeback Despite President Trump’s promise to revive the coal industry, the US coal market is still shrinking. And the industry can’t look to exports to save it. November 2017 saw 20 nations and regions pledge to cease using coal for power generation by 2030, launching the Powering Past Coal Alliance … Read more
Can ‘Youth Plaintiffs’ Sue the Federal Government for Climate Policies That Violate the Constitution?
Reading about a climate-change lawsuit is potentially a double threat; it’s an often gloomy topic weighed down by an eye-glazing overlay of legal jargon. But stay with me. This particular story features idealistic youth, the limits of democracy, and an ending with a twist. All of it captured in a courtroom showdown that originated in … Read more
Fall Update From the Thin Green Line
As our corner of the planet tips away from the sun and the rains we missed this summer return, Sightline’s Thin Green Line team is hitting the books. Since our last update to you in early August, we have been studying the coal, oil, and gas industries with an eye toward obstructing their plans to … Read more