The ashes aren’t even cold on the town of Jasper and already a coalition of environmental groups are calling on the federal government to take “decisive action” against the oil and gas industry it blames for causing wildfires.Last week more than 80 Canadian activist groups — running the gamut from usual suspects Greenpeace and the David Suzuki foundation to Grandmothers to Save the Planet and Seniors For Climate — signed an open letter to ‘all political leaders’ to act.In it, they blame 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement makers as being responsible for 37% of the burned forest area in Western Canada and northern US over the past decades.“We, the undersigned, say enough is enough,” it reads on the EcoJustic website. “Oil and gas companies and some politicians have pushed back against regulating Canada’s largest and growing source of emissions, the oil and gas industry. Those emissions continue to climb, while Canadians’ homes are burning.”.It further blamed the federal Liberals for bankrolling “financially and environmentally irresponsible projects” like the $34 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as well as the native-backed Cedar LNG terminal on the West Coast.Jasper it said, was just the latest victim of “fossil fuel lobbying” on the part of industry giants like Enbridge and Coastal Gas Link.“Now we see Trans Mountain prioritized for protection as ‘critical infrastructure’… while Jasper and Jasper National Park burn.”It called on all party leaders of all stripes to “stop playing politics” with health and safety and take “urgent action” to hold oil companies accountable..“We, the 80 undersigned organizations urge the federal government, with support from all federal and provincial leaders and political parties immediately, with no further delays, regulate oil and gas companies responsible for one third of Canada’s carbon pollution to sharply reduce their emissions, along with the financial institutions that bankroll them, so that devastating wildfires, heat domes and floods don’t continue to worsen across this country.”What’s needed, it said, is regulations to cap oil and gas emissions; ending the flow of private and public funds to oil and gas; and regulating the financial institutions bankrolling fossil fuel projects..“Clearly we are seeing an increase in the number and severity of forest fires in Canada and across the world, as well as other natural catastrophes,”Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.For his part, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he didn’t disagree at a press conference in Alberta to discuss the response. “Clearly we are seeing an increase in the number and severity of forest fires in Canada and across the world, as well as other natural catastrophes,” he said.But Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said “it is shameful to see so-called ‘environmental organizations’ attempting to politicize the wildfire in Jasper while it’s being fought. This is tone deaf, and completely disrespectful to those impacted by current wildfires in our province.”
