Anti-wind litigation: is there an end in sight?
After nearly two years of vigorous anti-wind litigation in Ontario, anti-wind activists have failed to satisfy any court or tribunal that wind energy development in accordance with government standards will cause serious harm. Many wind projects have been approved, and wind-based electrical …
View the post titled Anti-wind litigation: is there an end in sight?National Energy Board and safety rules for construction near pipelines
The National Energy Board (NEB) is proposing changes to three regulations1 governing construction and excavation activities around NEB-regulated pipelines, two of which have not been updated since they came into effect in 1988. For context, according to Alberta’s Energy and Resources Conserv…
View the post titled National Energy Board and safety rules for construction near pipelinesQuebec is still the place to be for environmental class actions
There continue to be more environmental class actions in Quebec than anywhere else in the country. Environmental Disasters Two new class actions were certified in Quebec last year arising from disastrous accidents: In Lessard c. Arcand, 2012 QCCS 275, a claim was certified for flooding damag…
View the post titled Quebec is still the place to be for environmental class actionsOff shore wind law suit not dead yet
Trillium Wind Power Corporation’s lawsuit against the province may not be over yet. Trillium was one of the companies planning to build an off-shore wind farm in Lake Ontario. They invested heavily, totalling $5.3 million, based on the Green Energy Act, the Feed in Tariff, and direct e…
View the post titled Off shore wind law suit not dead yetFirst source protection plan approved under Clean Water Act
Source water protection is finally coming into force in Ontario. Nearly 13 years after the Walkerton water tragedy, Ontario has approved its first Source Water Protection Plan under the Clean Water Act. The Lakehead Source Protection Plan for the Thunder Bay area is the first legally bindin…
View the post titled First source protection plan approved under Clean Water ActEquivalent wetland dedication is expropriation?
The Quebec Court of Appeal will soon decide an appeal on whether applications to destroy wetlands can be required to dedicate offsetting lands to become protected areas. However, the trial decision has already been overruled by the National Assembly. In Atocas de l’érable inc. c. Québe…
View the post titled Equivalent wetland dedication is expropriation?The 32 most alarming climate change charts
Grist has assembled the 32 most alarming climate change charts from the draft report of the US National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, including sea level rise; billion-dollar weather disasters; annual days over 100°F; observed changes in heavy precipitation; increas…
View the post titled The 32 most alarming climate change chartsWhat counts as pollution?
Two recent cases have reached opposite conclusions about what counts as a “contaminant” under Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act (EPA). Neither case seems to make much environmental sense. Why is flyrock a “contaminant”, when reflected light that lures millions of birds to their deaths i…
View the post titled What counts as pollution?Climate change burns while governments fiddle
Everywhere I look, I see galloping evidence of climate change. Last weekend, southern Ontario watched ski trails and ice rinks melt under the onslaught of record high temperatures and heavy rain. Spring perennials and bulbs were blooming in Toronto gardens, blooms that will be destroyed for …
View the post titled Climate change burns while governments fiddleChemtura fined $150,000 for air pollution leak
As environmental fines continue to increase, Chemtura Canada Inc. was fined $150,000, plus the victim fine surcharge of $37,500, for spilling sulphuric acid mist into the air, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act. Chemtura’s Toronto manufacturing facility produces sulfonates an…
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