U.S. Pentagon: Climate Change an Immediate Security Threat
The U.S. Pentagon’s latest report, the 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, calls climate change an immediate threat to national security. The forward, by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, sets the tone: “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea le…
View the post titled U.S. Pentagon: Climate Change an Immediate Security ThreatAppeal Court Rejects Pollution Exclusion in Oil Overflow
In O’Byrne et al. v. Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company (Lindsay), 2014 ONCA 543, the Ontario Court of Appeal has forced an insurer to pay for a fuel oil cleanup after a spill, despite a pollution exclusion clause. The case involved an “all risks” insurance policy. A tenant inserted a piece o…
View the post titled Appeal Court Rejects Pollution Exclusion in Oil OverflowTribunal indecisiveness causes backlogs, increased costs
The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (OHRT) recently refused to dismiss an employee’s human rights complaint against McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited (MRCL) of discrimination based on family status and marital status. MRCL is the franchisor of the McDonald’s restaurant system in Canada.…
View the post titled Tribunal indecisiveness causes backlogs, increased costsFossil fuel divestment catching on?
Is the tide turning on fossil fuel divestment? Climate Week featured promises, by some big mainstream investors, to start divesting from fossil fuels. Notable announcements included the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which was built on the Standard Oil fortune. Europe has more than nine fossil f…
View the post titled Fossil fuel divestment catching on?Quebec Court Recognizes Precautionary Principle for Belugas
Quebec Superior Court Justice Claudine Roy granted a temporary injunction on September 23, 2014, stopping Energy East Pipeline Ltd. and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. from conducting exploratory work in the St. Lawrence River near Cacouna, QC until October 15, after a critical period for beluga …
View the post titled Quebec Court Recognizes Precautionary Principle for BelugasPowerful reports by environmental commissioners
Congratulations to both the federal and provincial environmental commissioners, who continue to strenuously remind our governments how far they fall short on environmental stewardship, and who both issued powerful reports this week. Bees, Algonquin Park, “Chemical Alley”, urban s…
View the post titled Powerful reports by environmental commissionersCan municipal bylaw stop Hydro One Transformer Station?
Can the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, by bylaw, force Hydro One to submit a groundwater study in order to build a $296 million transformer station, that has been directed to be built by the Ontario Power Authority, and approved by the Ministry of the Environment?
View the post titled Can municipal bylaw stop Hydro One Transformer Station?Ontario Targets for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Ontario government has released its Climate Change Update 2014 to coincide with Climate Week that was held in New York City from September 21-28. Climate Week involved mass gatherings to demonstrate the public demand for action on climate change, as well as roundtables highlighting the l…
View the post titled Ontario Targets for Greenhouse Gas EmissionsOntario Anti-SLAPP law soon after all?
Yesterday, we noted that Environment Minister Glen Murray’s mandate letter includes no reference to a new anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation) law: https://www.siskinds.com/environment-minister-murrays-mandate-letter/, even though SLAPPs are often directed again…
View the post titled Ontario Anti-SLAPP law soon after all?Environment Minister Murray's mandate letter
Every Cabinet minister gets his or her marching orders from the Premier or Prime Minister. These “mandates” used to be top secret, but Ontario now makes them public. Here is the mandate letter for the new Minister of Environment and Climate Change, with our emphasis added. On env…
View the post titled Environment Minister Murray's mandate letterReceive Blog Posts
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