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Published on: 27 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

How will Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 work for designated projects?

According to the Conservatives, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012) will streamline the EA process, avoid duplication and consolidate responsibility for [EA] to three agencies instead of 40.[1] These three agencies are the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the…

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Published on: 26 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Kivalina loses its climate change nuisance case again

The City and Village of Kivalina, population about 400, sits on the tip of a six-mile barrier reef on the northwest coast of Alaska. The residents depend on the sea ice that forms along the coast to shield them from violent storms.  Sea ice has consistently declined in recent years – i…

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Published on: 24 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Inco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class action

Justice J. R. Henderson of the Ontario Superior Court has awarded Inco $1,766,000 in legal costs arising from the Smith v. Inco nickel contamination class action  in  Port Colborne, Ontario. This is less than a quarter of Inco’s actual legal costs, which exceeded $5,340,000 after certi…

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Published on: 17 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Do the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?

Cleaning up your neighbour’s mess: Recovery of spill clean-up costs by the innocent party. It is clear that any civilized system of law is bound to provide remedies for cases of what has been called unjust enrichment or unjust benefit, that is to prevent a man from retaining the money of or …

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Published on: 11 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Citizen science: Home spectrometer and Big Data

Do it yourself spectrometer? Cell phone spectrometer add ons? Do it yourself aerial mapping with balloons and kites? Environmental data collection with citizen science devices could fill in some of the gaps created by government cutbacks, especially if combined with the NEON Big Data project. 

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Published on: 6 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Surging climate change: Record low ice and crop failure, who cares?

What will it take for climate change to become an election issue? Ok, lots of people don’t understand why the rapid disappearance of Arctic ice to its record low (and still melting) matters to them. (For a quick summary, try Why Arctic Ice Matters and the Arctic Ice Death Spiral. Accor…

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Published on: 4 Sep 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Managing fill: when is surplus soil “waste”, and where can it go?

Soil movement is big business in Ontario, involving perhaps 170 million tonnes/ year, and adding about 15% to infrastructure costs. Last year’s changes to the contaminated sites regulation Reg. 153/04 have made soil movement more difficult and expensive than ever, and further cost increases …

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