The environmental groups behind Whistler's climate change letter controversy asked Squamish council to track the costs of global warming.
"Join us in convening a meeting of interested local government officials to explore litigation and legislation as tools to recover your community's local climate costs," reads a letter signed by My Sea to Sky and West Coast Environmental Law, presented at the Feb. 5 council meeting.
The letter was also signed by the Georgia Strait Alliance, though this group wasn't part of the initiative last year that drew fire from the fossil fuel industry.
Last September, both West Coast Environmental Law and My Sea to Sky urged Squamish and Whistler, among other municipalities, to write a letter to fossil fuel companies asking them to pay for the costs of climate change.
Whistler wrote a letter and sent it, and was promptly rebuked after CIBC announced it was removing the oil and gas portion from the agenda of its high-profile conference held in Whistler.
Squamish promised to send a similar letter before the incident, but an administrative error kept it from being drafted and sent. It still hasn't been inked, though it is on the mayor's to-do list, spokesperson Christina Moore told The Chief.
Council voted to refer the latest communication from West Coast Environmental and My Sea to Sky to staff.
Only Coun. Doug Race voted against it, saying asking staff to keep track of all the damage climate change does to town would be a waste of the municipality's time and resources.
However, Coun. Chris Pettingill and Mayor Karen Elliott said they believed this was a direction to ask staff to be mindful of climate change's effects
