Lethal buildings slaughter migratory and threatened birds
It’s a horror story – the beautiful glass-walled building you may work, shop or live in are wastefully killing millions of migratory birds. Many readers are likely familiar with the distressing thud of a bird breaking its neck or wing on those lovely glass panes, often at night when the ligh…
Continue reading the post titled Lethal buildings slaughter migratory and threatened birdsAustralian Parliament Senate rejects anti-wind bill, notes nocebo effect
An anti-wind nocebo response is developing, caused by the reproduction and dissemination of claims about adverse health impacts – claims not grounded in the peer-reviewed literature
Continue reading the post titled Australian Parliament Senate rejects anti-wind bill, notes nocebo effectAbitibi wins, Newfoundland cleanup order unenforceable after insolvency
Provincial governments must do more to ensure that cleanup costs are provided by financial assurance during the active life of a business, and not rely on getting innocent third parties to pay for cleanups after the fact.
Continue reading the post titled Abitibi wins, Newfoundland cleanup order unenforceable after insolvencyNew voluntary standard for carbon storage
The Canadian Standards Association has released a voluntary standard for the Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide, CSA Z741. The CSA Z741 Geological storage of carbon dioxide standard is the first of its kind, and is intended to ensure a clear minimum standard for geologic (long-term, underg…
Continue reading the post titled New voluntary standard for carbon storageWhen can municipalities regulate environmental impacts?
Eleven years after the landmark Spraytech case, how far have municipalities been able to go in regulating environmental impacts of federally and provincially regulated activities? The people who must live closest to a resource or energy project often turn to their municipalities to protect t…
Continue reading the post titled When can municipalities regulate environmental impacts?New Guidance for Excess Soil management
The Ministry of the Environment has released its draft Best Management Practices for Soil Management in Ontario for two more months of public comment. The document outlines the MOE’s “recommendations” and “expectations” for managing the reuse of excess soils, a hugely important issue for the…
Continue reading the post titled New Guidance for Excess Soil managementCanada must answer: why aren't we protecting polar bears?
As the polar bears of the Beaufort Sea face record low ice, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has issued a determination, requiring a response from Canada to submission SEM-11-003 (Protection of Polar Bears). A year ago, on 5 December 2011, the US Center f…
Continue reading the post titled Canada must answer: why aren't we protecting polar bears?Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup order
The Ontario Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal the Ministry of the Environment Order requiring an innocent victim of a spill, the City of Kawartha Lakes, to clean up oil from a domestic fuel spill.
Continue reading the post titled Innocent victim, Kawartha Lakes, gets leave to appeal spill cleanup orderWaste exemption becomes less useful: what is "wholly used"?
The Environmental Review Tribunal has reduced the usefulness of an important exception to the “waste” rules in Regulation 347.
Continue reading the post titled Waste exemption becomes less useful: what is "wholly used"?Town liable for negligence re developer's storm sewer
Property owners often suffered damage when storm and sanitary sewers malfunction. Canadian municipalities are generally exempt from civil suits in nuisance relating to their sewers, due to special statutes adopted across the country. However, they can be successfully sued in negligence. Such…
Continue reading the post titled Town liable for negligence re developer's storm sewer