PMRA failing to fulfill its mandate
The Federal Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development (βCommissionerβ) tabledΒ her audit findingsΒ on JanuaryΒ 26, 2016Β of the management of pesticides by Health Canadaβs Pest Management Regulator Agency (βPMRAβ). The Commissioner reviewed PMRAβs efforts to protect Canadians and the Environment from the unacceptable risks associated with the use of pesticides. The report concluded With respect to conditional...
Continue reading the post titled PMRA failing to fulfill its mandateThe (Contaminated) Ground Beneath our Feet
The extentΒ and nature of contaminated land in Canada — the toxicΒ legacy of our collective history of poor environmental stewardship, including through weak environmental regulation —Β continues to invade the headlines. A few weeks ago, a CBC/Radio-Canada report revealedΒ that dozens of former dumps on the island of MontrealΒ have been covered over without everΒ having been decontaminated. Numerous municipal...
Continue reading the post titled The (Contaminated) Ground Beneath our FeetThe Paris Agreement
Over the weekend, representatives from 195 countries signed an historic agreement aimed at curbing climate change. The “Paris Agreement,” which has yet, of course, to be ratified, is being touted asΒ a “universal” climate agreement, with 195 signatories. Industry, policy-makers, ENGOs, and others will no doubt continue to digest the Agreement, and its implications, over the...
Continue reading the post titled The Paris AgreementMethane catastrophe in California: implications for cap and trade
Southern California is, at this very moment, in the throes of what is potentiallyΒ the most prolific gas leak to have ever occurred. The disaster–a methane leakΒ at a natural gas storage facility in Porter Ranch, California–has yet to galvanize the kind of media and popular attention that attended the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. However, particularly...
Continue reading the post titled Methane catastrophe in California: implications for cap and tradeFurther wind litigation and the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part I
Another appeal of a Renewable Energy Approval (βREAβ) for a wind turbine project has made its way to, and been refused by, the Environmental Review Tribunal (βERTβ). The appeal in SR Opposition Corp v Director, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 2015 CanLII 86926 (ON ERT) concerned the construction and operation of a Class...
Continue reading the post titled Further wind litigation and the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part IPMRA intends to end conditional registration of pesticides
Health Canada recently announced that as of June 1, 2016, it intends to end the federal practice of granting conditional registrations of for pesticides. Under the Pest Control Products Act, SC 2002 c28, (“PCPA”), Health Canadaβs Pest Management Regulatory Agency (βPMRAβ) is tasked with evaluating prospective pest control products for entry into, and ongoing use...
Continue reading the post titled PMRA intends to end conditional registration of pesticidesFurther wind litigation in the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part II
Recently, the Environmental Review Tribunal (the βTribunalβ) allowed in part the appeal of a Renewable Energy Approval (βREAβ) approving the construction of a wind turbine facility in the Oak Ridges Moraine Area in the City of Kawartha Lakes (the βProjectβ). The Tribunal concluded that, with respect to harm to the woodlands, neither the compensation nor...
Continue reading the post titled Further wind litigation in the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part IIEnergy East pipeline project faces further legal hurdles
Regional concerns over the contentious Energy East project have taken on an interesting twist recently. Quebec is seeking an injunction against the proponent of theΒ proposed Energy East pipeline project, Trans Canada Corporation, forcing the company to submit the project to provincial environmental assessment. The request came shortly in advance of environmental hearingsΒ conducted by the Bureau...
Continue reading the post titled Energy East pipeline project faces further legal hurdlesLittle Brown Bat the latest critter to shut down proposed wind farm
The Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”) has again demonstrated its willingness to allow appeals of renewable energy approvals (“REA”)Β for wind project on the basis that it will cause serious and irreversible harm to animal life, plant life or the natural environment. In Hirsh v Director, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change–a 123-page decision–the ERT allowed...
Continue reading the post titled Little Brown Bat the latest critter to shut down proposed wind farmThe GM Salmon debate: allow, label, or outlaw?
To what extent should we continue toΒ welcomeΒ genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”)Β into our food systems? The question has continued to invoke impassioned responses in recent years, with GMOs simultaneously touted by some as the salvation to global food security issues while decried by others as a menace to human health, the environment, and development. With the recent...
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