Home Insurance and the Pollution Exclusion
A BC court has upheld the pollution exclusion in a home insurance policy. The issue was the scope of the “pollution exclusion” clause in a policy of home insurance issued by the defendant, BCAA Insurance Corporation, to the plaintiff, Brian Corbould. Corbould sought a declaration of coverage…
Continue reading the post titled Home Insurance and the Pollution ExclusionDocuments excluded after illegal seizure
Environmental investigators are not allowed to seize private documents unless they have prior judicial authorization (i.e., a search warrant) or the consent of the owner of the documents. However, this does not always stop them.
Continue reading the post titled Documents excluded after illegal seizurePermit by Rule- update
The Ministry of the Environment is racing to have its new Environmental Activity and Sector Registry up and running for at least some sectors by September 2011. The Registry will establish a new system of “permit by rule” authorizations for common air emissions, instead of certificates of ap…
Continue reading the post titled Permit by Rule- updateREA status updates
As of November 9th, the MOE had received 17 applications for renewable energy approvals. Six of these have been deemed “complete” and have been posted to the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry for comments: five wind, 1 biogas. The remainder were sent back for further information, or are …
Continue reading the post titled REA status updatesWind approvals issued
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has issued its first renewable energy approvals for wind turbines, under the full scale process established by the 1 year old Green Energy and Green Economy Act. They authorize two small Class 2 wind projects, and one 20 MW Class 4 project in Camden, O…
Continue reading the post titled Wind approvals issuedRules for bird studies for wind turbines
The Ministry of Natural Resources has released proposed Guidelines for wind turbine applications on both Crown and private lands. The Guidelines set out data and study requirements for applications under the Renewable Energy Approval regulation on identifying and addressing potential negativ…
Continue reading the post titled Rules for bird studies for wind turbinesCaledon quarry rejected
OMB: It is time for alternatives to aggregate for infrastructure construction to be found.
Continue reading the post titled Caledon quarry rejectedCoal plant promises to be broken?
The Alberta Public Utilities Commission is holding hearings into Capital Power’s application to be freed of its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its Genesee coal-fired electrical generation plant. When Capital Power’s Genesee Power plant was approved in 1999, th…
Continue reading the post titled Coal plant promises to be broken?Everyone liable for PCB-contaminated oil
A British Columbia used oil company has successfully sued the owner of a PCB transformer, and everyone down a contractual chain, for failing to warn them that the oil was almost pure PCBs. It was awarded $776,033.75.
Continue reading the post titled Everyone liable for PCB-contaminated oilNew rules for US GHG control
Since the US Congress is deadlocked on climate change legislation, the Obama administration is moving forward to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act, starting January 2, 2011. One of the challenges in doing this is that the Clean Air Act was designed for toxins em…
Continue reading the post titled New rules for US GHG control