Drought: Water restrictions reach oilsands
Unprecedented water use restrictions, due to widespread and extreme drought, are in force in western parts of the US and Canada.California is in its worst drought on record. Widespread water shortages have prompted state governor Jerry Brown to proclaim a State of Emergency and issue an exec…
View the post titled Drought: Water restrictions reach oilsandsWhat will Alberta NDP govt do about climate change?
Congratulations to Rachel Notley and the new Alberta NDP majority government. Their platform page is “not found” this morning, but it included several environmental pledges: $5 million annually to partner with financial institutions and extend interest-free loans of up to $10,000…
View the post titled What will Alberta NDP govt do about climate change?Canada lags US in protecting endangered Sage-Grouse
In July, the US Fish and Wildlife Service launched a website to “communicate the breadth of the ongoing conservation actions underway to support Greater Sage-Grouse and the sage brush habitat the bird and 350 other species need.” The Greater Sage-Grouse website highlights work being done at …
View the post titled Canada lags US in protecting endangered Sage-GrouseGood news for the sage grouse
As we have written before, the Greater Sage Grouse is on the verge of extinction in Canada, likely due to habitat loss related oil and gas development. Prompted by litigation, the federal government finally issued an Emergency Order to protect the grouse in December 2013. In January 2014, ex…
View the post titled Good news for the sage grouseAlberta TCE class action – claims in trespass, nuisance, Rylands v. Fletcher dismissed
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) operated a train repair facility, known as the Ogden shops, since the early 1900s in a heavily industrialized area outside Calgary. Over the years, a residential area grew up around the shops. TCE was used as a degreaser in the shops from the mid-1950s to the m…
View the post titled Alberta TCE class action – claims in trespass, nuisance, Rylands v. Fletcher dismissedBetter access to environmental information in Alberta
Alberta may not often be perceived as a leader in environmental regulation, but they do some things much better than we do in Ontario. For example, consider access to private reports on environmental contamination that have been filed with the province. In Ontario, these reports can be acces…
View the post titled Better access to environmental information in AlbertaSage Grouse to be protected by Emergency Protection Order, later
Following a recent loss in the Federal Court of Appeal, Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq announced earlier this week that the federal government will (later) introduce an Emergency Protection Order for the Greater Sage-Grouse, or at least for those of this rapidly declining species…
View the post titled Sage Grouse to be protected by Emergency Protection Order, laterPipeline safety: regulators spar, but public gets no enforcement data
The National Energy Board has responded strongly to recommendations on pipeline safety by the Alberta Pipeline Safety Review. The National Energy Board argues, defensively, that it is already ahead of the game, even as environmental groups savage the Alberta report as a whitewash. According …
View the post titled Pipeline safety: regulators spar, but public gets no enforcement dataClimate change and Alberta flooding?
My heart goes out to the people of Calgary and elsewhere in Alberta whose lives have been turned upside down by last week’s catastrophic floods, (including our friends and family members). But my mind also goes back to Natural Resources Canada’s 2007 and 2010 reports on climate c…
View the post titled Climate change and Alberta flooding?Is Alberta greenwashing its greenhouse gas emissions?
Alberta frequently claims to be “greening” its dirty, fossil-fuel industries: coal and oil sands. One major, much-vaunted initiative is the Greenhouse Gas emission system
View the post titled Is Alberta greenwashing its greenhouse gas emissions?Receive Blog Posts
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