Motorists in the City of North Vancouver could be seeing warning labels on gas pumps following council voting Monday in favour of bringing the idea to a public meeting.
Following a delegation last month from West Vancouver teen Emily Kelsall, in which she urged council to look at implementing such warnings, council agreed to look at making a business license bylaw change to allow for such labels.
The proposed warnings would depict the effects fossil fuel consumption is having on the environment and act as a reminder to motorists filling up their tanks, said Kelsall, who is a member of the national climate-change group Our Horizon.
Councillors who spoke on the motion at Monday’s meeting were in general agreement of taking the idea to a public meeting, though some voiced their concerns. “I certainly hope that when we get to the public meeting that staff consider having some kind of analysis of the impact of all this activity,” said Coun. Craig Keating.
“I’m not sure it actually changes behaviour and ultimately I really think what it does is it puts people who want to do the right thing in a hell of a pickle,” he said. “A lot of people don’t think that they have any other option given the transportation we have in this region, except to put stuff in your tank and I really don’t think it’s up to us to make people feel guilty for doing that.”
The city is one of the few municipalities in North America to look at implementing such an idea, although the District of West Vancouver recently passed a motion to bring the labels idea to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities in September. The city also intends to forward a copy of the resolution to the UBCM. Kelsall made the initial presentation to West Vancouver council last year.
Coun. Don Bell said it would be difficult to assess the impact of such warnings as the initiative is unprecedented. “I think that we would have to try if for a period of time if it looks practical and then measure afterwards to see whether the agencies that monitor these things feel there’s been a benefit.”
Bell said labels would serve as a reminder to the impacts fossil fuel consumption is having on the planet. “I think what the labels on the gas pump will do is at least remind people that there is an environmental cost associated with the use of fossil fuels and that it may make them think about using the possibilities of alternate transportation, such as public transit.”
Coun. Linda Buchanan was also in agreement. “When we look at, even within our own city, that 49 per cent of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions are due to fossil fuels, then I do think that public education and awareness is critical and it is a reminder to people when they are filling up their tanks of what the consequences of those actions are.”
Council voted unanimously in favour of passing first reading and bringing the motion to a public meeting.
