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- Environment Act Review - Manitoba Wildlands Responds
- Pimicikamak Occupy Jenpeg Hydro Dam
- Bayer Busting Bees Again
- BC Oil Tanker Disaster A Matter Of Time
- Environment Commissioner Audits Canada - Issues Failing Grade
- David Suzuki Blue Dot Tour On The Road!
- Solar Next Big Thing
- Loss of Wildlife Catastrophic
- Hydro to Build Conawapa Dam - CEO Says So
- People's Climate Action: Canadian Scientists Act
- Burnaby Defiant In Face of Kinder Morgan Pipeline
- UN Climate Summit 2014
| Environment Act Review - Manitoba Wildlands Responds | 22 October 14 |
The Manitoba Law Reform Commission was directed to review the Act in late 2013. Their review included a discussion paper no longer available, one public event, and a series of in person in depth interviews with Manitobans who have interacted with the law in various capacities. Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship (MCWS) also issued a discussion paper, and solicited review comments. The paper is posted in the online public registry. The folder on the registry refers to the Environment Act Consultation. To date there is little indication that a consultation will be conducted. Both discussion papers had a specific set of goals, or agenda. MCWS did not hold any focus groups, interviews, workshops or discussions. The goals outlined in the department’s discussion paper are based on faulty assumptions about current environmental conditions in the province. The risk arising from this process is that a changed Environment Act with numerous amendments will be handled only in the Legislature from this point. Further ‘consultation’ is required, especially about the Classes of Development definitions, and the Clean Environment Commission.
View Manitoba Wildlands Cover Letter, and Recommendations for changes to Manitoba Environment Act. |
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| Pimicikamak Occupy Jenpeg Hydro Dam | 22 October 14 |
"The building is empty, locked, undamaged and under the Pimicikamak flag," states a release from the Cree Nation, which is located approximately 525 kilometres by air north of Winnipeg. 'The project has turned a once bountiful and intimately know homeland into a dangerous and despoiled power corridor.'- said Cross Lake First nation Chief Cathy Merrick on the Jenpeg generating station. Pimicikamak guarantees the safety and well-being of these people, and ensures that hydro facilities will not be damaged." "This is our home; we will not let it be trampled," said Chief Cathy Merrick. "This dam has been great for the south but for us it is a man-made catastrophe. Hydro needs to clean up the mess it has created in our homeland. Hydro needs to treat us fairly." Premier Selinger is taking over negotiations after a visit to Cross Lake by Minister Struthers and Hydro CEO Thompson last week.
View October 21, 2014 Winnipeg Free Press article |
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| Bayer Busting Bees Again | 22 October 14 |
Flupyradifurone can enter the environment through a number of different insecticide applications covering a large number of 'pests' in a variety of crops. It can also enter groundwater and the aquatic environment through surface run-off. Flupyradifurone can be applied as a plant spray, as a soil drench and as a seed treatment, and can persist in the environment through "carry-over" from one growing season to the next. Ottawa has moved to approve the new Bayer insecticide even with Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) issuing a warning about the risks of introducing it into the environment. "Flupyradifurone may pose a risk to bees, non-target beneficial arthropods, and freshwater and saltwater invertebrates when used for foliar application. Flupyradifurone may pose a risk to birds and small wild mammals when used for soybean seed treatment." Studies have proven that long term exposure to neurotoxins like neonicotinids impair bees' ability to find their hives and changes the pollen collecting behaviours of honey bees – leading to colony collapse.
View October 10, 2014 Sierra Club Canada article |
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| BC Oil Tanker Disaster A Matter Of Time | 22 October 14 |
The memory of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill has yet to fade in the minds of Canadians. A current proposal to the Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry oil from the Alberta oilsands to a terminal in Kitimat for shipment to Asia is doing nothing to ease the memory of the Exxon Valdez spill. The proposed pipeline would bring about 220 large oil tankers a year to the province's coast, something few want to see other than the owners of the oil companies. Canada's inability to rescue the drifting Russian freighter highlights the dangers of oil tanker traffic on B.C.'s coast, said Living Oceans Society executive director Karen Wristen. "The failure (for Canada) to provide tug capacity on the North Coast puts these incredibly sensitive marine ecosystems at unacceptable risk from shipping," said Wristen. "The Simushir was following the same course intended for oil tankers leaving the proposed Kitimat terminal of the Northern Gateway project."
View October 20, 2014 The Vancouver Sun article |
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| Environment Commissioner Audits Canada - Issues Failing Grade | 7 October 14 |
"Environment Canada lacks...an effective planning process for how the federal government will contribute to achieving the Copenhagen target." "Two years later (after the 2012 audit), the evidence is stronger that the growth in emissions will not be reversed in time and that the target will be missed." "Given its commitment to be a world-class regulator, Environment Canada should publish its plans for future regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as the oil and gas regulations, with sufficient detail and lead time, so that consultations with interested and affected parties can be transparent and broadly based, and the parties can plan effectively." Sierra Club executive director John Bennett commented on the report: "Canada is treading water on climate change, Tar Sands pollution and arctic shipping. We need legislation, regulation and enforcement." Clean Energy Canada posted a blog upon release of the report and indicated: "The overall conclusion of the report can only be seen as a failing grade. Auditors know what it means to make a plan and put systems in place to meet it. The federal government still isn’t taking those basic steps when it comes to tackling climate disruption."
View October 7, 2014 CBC News article |
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| David Suzuki Blue Dot Tour On The Road! | 7 October 14 |
Source: BlueDot.ca
Canada's most famous environmentalist is travelling across Canada as part of a national campaign to enshrine environmental rights into the Constitution. David Suzuki says he believes most Canadians support the idea and the tour is designed to ignite grassroots support. Suzuki, now 78-years-old, says this is his last national tour. The Blue Dot Tour includes 20 stops from St. John's to Vancouver. David Suzuki is joined by guests like Margaret Atwood, Neil Young and wildlife artist Robert Bateman. Suzuki said he's seen a lot of social progress over the years. "In 1969, it was illegal to be gay in Canada," Suzuki said speaking to a crowd in New Brunswick on September 30, 2014, "Now's the time to enshrine basic rights to clean air, soil and water, into Canada's constitution." The Blue Dot Tour started in St. John's, New Brunswick, September 24. The tour stops in Winnipeg, Manitoba on October, 24th and wraps up in Vancouver on November 9th.
View October 6, 2014 NOW Magazine article |
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| Solar Next Big Thing | 7 October 14 |
Source: Solar Energy Industries Association
"As these reports show, the future of solar is strong," Resch said. "Today, the solar industry employs 143,000 Americans and pumps nearly $15 billion a year into the nation’s economy." Since early 2010, the average price for solar panels has dropped 64% in the United States, one of the largest solar energy markets, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C. Over 150 megawatts of solar panels had been installed by early 2014. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels constitute the fastest-growing renewable energy technology in the world since 2000, although solar is still less than 1% of energy capacity worldwide.
View October 3, 2014 Computer World article |
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| Loss of Wildlife Catastrophic | 7 October 14 |
This "Living Planet Index" declined by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, "a much bigger decrease than has been reported previously," according to the report. The 52 percent figure refers to a general trend of vertebrate species populations shrinking, on average, to about half the size that they were 40 years ago, according to WWF spokesperson Molly Edmonds. The report attributes the declines primarily to habitat loss and degradation, hunting and fishing, and climate change. The previous WWF report analyzing animal populations, published in 2012, suggested a decline of 28% over a similar period. The latest report uses 15% more data than the previous one, is more representative of tropical species and applies an improved methodology. "We were surprised by the extent of the decline. It means we are not effectively reducing biodiversity loss," said Robin Freeman, a researcher at the Zoological Society of London, which compiled the population database on which the study was based.
View October 1, 2014 RT article |
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| Hydro to Build Conawapa Dam - CEO Says So | 26 September 14 |
The Manitoba government, according to CEO Thompson, accepted 14 of the extensive recommendations in the PUB report. including the recommendation to not build Conawapa. During the annual Crown Corporation Committee meetings of the Manitoba Legislature Wednesday September 24, Hydro CEO Scott Thompson referred repeatedly to the future Conawapa project during his answers to questions from Opposition MLAs. "The construction power station at Keewatinoow, the northern converter station, was put in service in July, and as I'd mentioned, site preparation is well under way" The northern converter station, inside the Bipole III licence is for Conawapa, not for the Keeyask project, which will utilize an upgraded existing converter station. Continuing to build the northern converter station is essentially building for the Conawap generation station. This is occurring regardless of the PUB review and recommendation to government. The additional $ 1 Billion cost for Bipole III, for a total of $ 4.6 Billion, which Manitoba Hydro announced recently, would be significantly less if the Conawapa converter station was not built.
View more information on Manitoba Wildlands Manitoba Hydro Projectspage |
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| People's Climate Action: Canadian Scientists Act | 26 September 14 |
"On Sept. 21, more than 1,000 events around the world were planned to demand stronger action on climate change, echoing New York's People's Climate March. As Canadian researchers who study climate change and sustainability, we strongly support this global mobilization. Canada is running a sustainability deficit. Unlike budgetary deficits, this does not seem to preoccupy our politicians. Canada has repeatedly missed its own climate change emission reduction targets. Last January, Environment Canada acknowledged that Canada won't meet its least ambitious target to date, proposed in 2009 as part of international climate negotiations coined the Copenhagen Accord."
View September 23, 2014 United Nations Environment Programme article |
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| Burnaby Defiant In Face of Kinder Morgan Pipeline | 26 September 14 |
The NEB's federal decision made public September 25th means Kinder Morgan will not proceed with its pipeline test drilling work in a protected forest area of Burnaby Mountain, until the company returns with a much larger legal offensive, with thorny constitutional implications. This legal battle could have a huge ripple effect for pipeline projects across Canada. Deciding if local city governments, and not just the federal Harper government, can have a say in oil pipeline approvals. Protesters flocked to Burnaby Mountain on Saturday, September 13 to oppose Kinder Morgan’s survey, which was investigating how to triple their pipeline operation in Burnaby. Kinder Morgan was conducting the survey despite the city’s opposition to the project.
View September 25, 2014 Vancouver Observer article |
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| UN Climate Summit 2014 | 26 September 14 |
The UN Climate Summit was be about action and solutions focused on accelerating progress in areas that can significantly contribute to reducing emissions and strengthening resilience – such as agriculture, cities, energy, financing, forests, pollutants, resilience and transportation. The Summit is not part of the UNFCCC negotiating process. By promoting climate action, it aimed to show that leaders across sectors and at all levels are taking action, thus expanding the reach of what is possible today, in 2015, and beyond.
Visit UN Climate Summit 2014 website |
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