Red tape, green economy?
Some federal Conservatives are reportedly interested in finding “red tape obstacles to a green economy”. At one level, this is good news; I’m glad to hear of any government trying to build a green economy. The International Energy Agency issued an extraordinarily bleak report last week abou…
Continue reading the post titled Red tape, green economy?Transit, loss, and compensation
Our column in today’s award-winning SLAW revisits the Heyes case. “Public works often impose heavy losses on those in private property nearby. Under what circumstances should they be compensated? That should have been the question in Heyes v. Vancouver, now Susan Heyes Inc. (Haz…
Continue reading the post titled Transit, loss, and compensationSLAPPS, wind and libel chill
We really need legislation to stop SLAPPs. According to the Ontario Anti-SLAPP panel report: “Strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP) has been defined as a lawsuit initiated against one or more individuals or groups that speak out or take a position on an issue of pub…
Continue reading the post titled SLAPPS, wind and libel chillHow reliable are odour units?
345 Given that there are many steps in the process of attempting to calculate odour units which are problematic, and which contain so many points of bias and subjectivity, the Panel finds that the ultimate number or value coming out of an odour unit measurement cannot be relied upon as me…
Continue reading the post titled How reliable are odour units?Brownfield Regulation amended
The Ministry of the Environment has amended Ontario Regulation 153/04, under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), related to brownfields. According to the MOE, the amendments “are technical and are consistent with the policy intent of the existing O. Reg. 153/04, as amended in Decem…
Continue reading the post titled Brownfield Regulation amendedAmerican energy use in one chart
US energy policy has an outsize effect on Canadian law, regulation and policy. It’s therefore fascinating to see, in a single graph, how much of what type of energy they use, and how that changes year-over-year. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory publishes annual energy flow…
Continue reading the post titled American energy use in one chartErickson wind appeal delay
The Environmental Review Tribunal is hearing final arguments this week in Erickson v. Director, Ministry of the Environment. This is the first ERT appeal on renewable energy approvals under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, and the first renewable energy approval for a major wind farm …
Continue reading the post titled Erickson wind appeal delayPharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liability
The better our detection ability becomes, the more things we find in the water. One important group of those things is pharmaceuticals and their metabolites. Pharmaceuticals are specifically designed to affect the bodies, brains and behaviour of humans and other animals, at comparatively low…
Continue reading the post titled Pharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liabilityContaminated sites reminder
If a qualified person and owner of property wish to have a record of site condition (RSC) filed and acknowledged before the changes come into effect, and have not yet submitted the RSC, the Ministry strongly encourages them to submit the RSC with all required documentation well before Jun…
Continue reading the post titled Contaminated sites reminderSpring flooding and climate change
One of the key forecasts that Natural Resources Canada made, years ago, about climate change was that it would increase spring flooding and severe storms. This spring there are catastrophic floods and tornadoes in both Canada and the US. Is climate change partly to blame? Here is Living on E…
Continue reading the post titled Spring flooding and climate change