Environmental groups fire back at oil and gas ads

Natasha Bulowski,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Environmental groups are firing back at pro-oil and gas advertisements with their own tongue-in-cheek information campaign funded by concerned citizens.

The campaign, dubbed “Our Future is Now,” aims to raise awareness of the climate, economic, environmental and health risks of expanding the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in British Columbia.

The ads will include humorous scenes, such as a mother asking about a fart smell in a room and her son replying that it’s “the stink of LNG robbing my future,” according to the press release issued on Sept. 4. The ads will run on social media, YouTube and in newspapers. Despite the humour, the campaign emphasizes that “LNG expansion in B.C. isn’t funny at all and is a huge risk for taxpayers, our health and the environment,” the press release said.

The campaign is a response to ads from fossil fuel advocacy group Canada Action that claim B.C. LNG will reduce global emissions. Earlier this year, Canada’s advertising regulator — Ad Standards – ruled unanimously that this pro-LNG campaign “distorted the true meaning of statements made by professionals or scientific authorities” and created an “overall misleading impression” that LNG is climate-friendly.

“Expanding LNG in British Columbia simply doesn’t make any sense when research shows it can be as dirty as coal,” says Tracey Saxby, co-founder and executive director of My Sea to Sky, in the press release. “Instead, the government should be investing in renewable energy and other industries that are a better bet for our environment, economy, human health and future generations.”

The Pembina Institute projects that the combined emissions from a suite of LNG projects  — LNG Canada Phase 1 and 2, Cedar LNG, and Woodfibre LNG — will far exceed the province’s emission reduction target for the oil and gas sector sector.

“Doubling the number of fracking wells in B.C. to supply LNG terminals will be a climate and environmental disaster,” Sven Biggs, Stand.earth’s Canadian oil and gas program director, said in the press release. The gas will come from a fracking field in the Peace River basin called the Montney Shale Formation “which climate scientists have identified as Canada’s largest carbon bomb,” Biggs explained.

One ad calls out the billions in subsidies and tax breaks handed to the LNG industry. In it, a child calls his father and says he is short on rent again, wondering, “Why don’t I get subsidized like LNG?”

Another ad calls into question the economic risk of building costly and polluting fossil fuel infrastructure by suggesting that even a babbling baby “knows LNG’s a bust.”

Natural gas is largely methane, which is responsible for roughly a quarter of global heating. Methane leaks into the atmosphere during gas production and when the gas is burned it releases plant-warming CO2.

The physical extraction of gas has environmental consequences, too. Along with environmental degradation and pollution, oil and gas companies in British Columbia used record amounts of fresh water for their operations in 2023, according to data published by the BC Energy Regulator earlier this year.

Health is another major concern in the LNG conversation.

Doctors and healthcare professionals have been sounding the alarm about LNG for years and highlighting a growing body of research on how producing and using LNG is impacting human health.

Environmental organizations participating in the ‘Our Future Is Now’ campaign include My Sea to Sky, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth, Environmental Defence Canada, For Our Kids and the BC Climate Emergency Campaign. A concerned citizen donated $200,000 for the campaign via the Salal Foundation, according to the groups.

Natasha Bulowski,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada’s National Observer
— With files from Marc Fawcett-Atkinson