Toxic Soil in Vanier?
Homeowners in part of Vanier, Ontario (now part of the City of Ottawa), want the City to investigate and help remediate the contamination of their properties: lead, arsenic, mercury. The homes were built in the 1940’s, on the site of an old landfill. Is the City legally liable? Or is t…
View the post titled Toxic Soil in Vanier?Giving the MOE False Information?
An environmental consultant and his firm have been heavily penalized for the serious offence of giving false information to the Ministry of the Environment. The consultant, Ron Carter, was hired to sample the notorious Bakelite site for PCBs. While some of his samples did detect PCBs, he tol…
View the post titled Giving the MOE False Information?Tenant's Contamination
Does the covenant to leave the property “in a clean and neat condition” at the end of a long term lease require the tenant to clean up all its contamination? Or only the contamination that has occurred since the last renewal of the lease? And does the tenant have to pay rent unti…
View the post titled Tenant's ContaminationLead, Children and Crime
This summer’s flurry of concern about lead in Ontario drinking water gets extra power from a growing body of research linking preschool blood lead and subsequent crime rates. Rick Nevin, for example, has tracked blood lead levels and violent crime over several decades in the USA, Brita…
View the post titled Lead, Children and CrimeNew Minister of the Environment
The new Ontario Minister of Environment is John Gerretsen, MPP Kingston and The Islands. This is an encouraging appointment for anyone interested in brownfields development, as Mr. Gerretsen has been Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for the last several years. During this time, the …
View the post titled New Minister of the EnvironmentBicycle Commuting in London
In the federal Throne speech, Canada again claims to be leading the world on climate change, when in fact we are an international embarrassment. My recent trip to London, England, drove home again how far we are behind. Climate change is a matter of frequent public and private discourse in t…
View the post titled Bicycle Commuting in LondonWho’s responsible for reducing local air pollution?
Air pollution is wide-spread across Ontario, coming from many sources and moving with large air masses from one region to the next. It’s resulting in health effects, including cancer and respiratory illnesses like asthma. Last year, more than 5000 premature deaths were attributed to poor a…
View the post titled Who’s responsible for reducing local air pollution?Contaminated soil from home heating fuel oil
Many older homes that were once heated with oil, or still are, had big tanks by the side of the house, buried underground or in the basement. These tanks held enough oil to keep families warm throughout the winter. But whether an old tank is still there, or was removed long ago, escaped home…
View the post titled Contaminated soil from home heating fuel oilNoise Bylaws
Noise pollution has been around for a long time. There’s even a reference going back to the 3rd millennium B.C., in The Epic of Gilgamesh: “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babble.” Noise, often defined as unwanted sound, is not always det…
View the post titled Noise BylawsNobel Prize for Gore
We are delighted to congratulate Al Gore on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, for his tireless work to awaken the world to the crisis of climate change. As the scientific drumbeats grow louder and louder, the need for action grows ever more urgent. Thanks to Gore and others like him, perhaps …
View the post titled Nobel Prize for GoreReceive Blog Posts
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