Danger in the Nursery - Impact of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canadas Boreal on Birds (pdf) (pdf) Joe Oliver 'aligned priorities' with pipeline lobby: documents. OTTAWA -- The federal natural resources minister and the industry lobby group that represents oil and gas pipelines are "aligned on priorities, particularly on the need to expand markets," according to an internal government memo. The document, obtained under the Access to Information Act by the environmental group Greenpeace, comes to light as Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is in the United States burnishing the environmental record of the oilsands in an effort to bolster the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Oliver met last July in Calgary with nine members of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, where they discussed the "importance of communicating to Canadians" the benefits of the energy sector and environmental measures.
A ministerial event report after the July 5 meeting listed communications as the top two key issues discussed, followed by labour shortages in the pipeline sector and "support for the Government's 'Responsible Resource Development' initiative. " Try It Now. Many Canadians must have wondered if George Orwell was alive and well this week as they read that the Alberta oil sands were being pitched to U.S. officials as “green” by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. “Canada is the environmentally responsible choice for the U.S. to meet its energy needs in oil for years to come,” the minister told an audience in Chicago – a message he repeated over and over in his U.S. tour, part of a calculated mission to associate Alberta bitumen with ecological benefits.
At a time when climate scientists are urgently telling us to significantly scale back the burning of fossil fuels, having a minister promote exactly the opposite really does feel like being told that two plus two equals five. Yet this is what we’ve come to expect from our federal government, which, as documents released this week through an Access to Information request revealed, has “aligned” its interests with the pipeline industry instead of with the voters who elected it. It was Mr. Mr.
Enbridge pipeline panel tangled in complex web of aboriginal rights. Dene Moore and Will Campbell, The Canadian Press Published Sunday, March 17, 2013 12:22PM PDT A top Northern Gateway Pipelines official says the company is trying to balance the many competing interests in the project, and realizes it may be impossible to satisfy them all. Federal review hearings into the $6-billion pipeline project continue Monday in Prince Rupert, where the three-person panel has been hearing about the company's aboriginal engagement and public consultation.
"I think it is important to understand this is a very diverse project. It's a very complex project. There's a lot of interests at stake," Janet Holder, leader of the Northern Gateway project team for Enbridge, told the panel last week. The company has gone well beyond what it believes is required, she said, but the 1,200-kilometre pipeline is "a very challenging project to try to incorporate everybody's interests. "It would be 100 per cent. "That will never hold up in a court," Sterritt said. Calls for Alberta pipeline safety review grow louder. Calls for an independent review into pipeline safety in Alberta are growing, with some saying it’s even more urgent now that a U.S. investigation has sharply criticized a Calgary company’s efforts to clean up a major oil spill. “If we don’t have tough regulations in place making sure that our pipelines are very safe, then people are not going to accept pipelines coming through their territories,” said Bill Moore-Kilgannon of Public Interest Alberta.
The left-leaning advocacy group is one of 54 signato ries to a letter to be released today that calls on Premier Alison Redford to formally look into pipeline safety. That number more than triples the 17 names attached to a similar call made in late June. Environmentalists make up the largest number of names. There are local organizations such as the Davey Lake Group to global giants such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund. Landowners rights groups from across Alberta come next. Ms. Ms. “It’s quite different here. Borealbirds. B.C. sockeye collapse report might not be made public - British Columbia. A report that's expected to explain why and how millions of sockeye salmon vanished from B.C.'s Fraser River must be handed into the federal government next week, but it's still unclear when, or even if, the public will get to see a copy.
Under the terms of reference, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen must deliver his report to the federal government by Monday. "Our terms of reference only discuss the submission of the report, they don't discuss making the report public," said Carla Shore, commission spokeswoman. "Our report goes to the government, and they then decided when or if to make the report public. " Melanie Carkner, a spokeswoman for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said in an email to The Canadian Press the department wouldn't be commenting or providing interviews until the report was tabled.
"There's no justification for them getting the report on Monday and excluding the public and the participants from having copies of that report," Crey said. Many deadline extensions. Enbridge’s ‘errata’ on caribou could prove a costly error. By itself, the pipeline that Enbridge proposes to build across British Columbia might not pose a great threat to caribou. The problem is, the Enbridge Northern Gateway project cannot be taken in isolation. Its impact has to be assessed cumulatively with the highways, gas and power lines that already exist – and therein lies an enormous environmental challenge that could bring the project to a halt.
Chris Tollefson, a lawyer representing BC Nature and Nature Canada at the federal review hearings, seemed to recognize that last week, when he hammered away at the numbers behind Enbridge’s “density threshold,” which sets out how much development can take place in caribou habitat before the animals fall into population decline. And in the process of finding out where the numbers came from, Mr.
An exhibit filed with the review panel by Enbridge in May, 2010, sets out that, for assessing cumulative impact of the pipeline, the company had adopted “a corridor density of 1.8km/km2 for caribou.” Fight against Northern Gateway pipeline gains star power. A leading conservation group has recruited a phalanx of well-known Canadians to join its fight against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, in a bid to counter past claims by the Harper government that many pipeline opponents are “radical” activists.
World Wildlife Fund Canada has signed up Canadians ranging from former Olympic hockey team captain Scott Niedermayer to author Joseph Boyden and economist Jeff Rubin, all of whom have agreed to publicly oppose the pipeline. Others who have joined the WWF campaign include Afghan war veteran and author Trevor Greene, Tony Dekker of the band Great Lake Swimmers, and the VanCity credit union. “This is a bunch of people from all different walks of life who don’t have a preexisting organized position to adhere to,” WWF Canada president Gerald Butts told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board on Wednesday.
Those opposing the pipeline want to get the facts out and have a “science-based” discussion, he said. Mr. A spokesman for Mr. Mr. Mr. Is GMO Farming Poisoning The World’s Drinking Water???? In a groundbreaking study published in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry last year, evidence surfaced that glyhosate, the active ingredient in the Monsanto’s patented herbicide Roundup, is flowing freely into the groundwater in areas where it is being applied. 1 The researchers found that 41% of the 140 groundwater samples taken from Catalonia Spain, had levels beyond the limit of quantification – indicating that, despite the manufacturer’s claims, glyphosate herbicide does not break down rapidly in the environment, and is accumulating there in concerning quantities.
Why Is Groundwater Contamination An Important Finding? Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface, that supplies aquifers, wells and springs. Keep in mind that glyphosate is considered by the EPA as a Class III toxic substance, fatal to an adult at 30 grams, and has been linked to over 20 adverse health effects in the peer-reviewed, biomedical literature. An acceptable level of harm? Submission to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel – elizabethmaymp.ca – September 4, 2012. As leader of the Green Party of Canada and as the Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands, I appreciate this opportunity to place on the written record my comments on the Enbridge proposal for a 1177 kilometre long, twinned pipeline across northern British Columbia and a port at Kitimat to receive diluents and pipe it to Alberta, while piping back to Kitimat the mixture of diluents and bitumen.
The proposal further involves the shipping of this mixture by super-tankers to be operated by persons unknown to, as yet undisclosed, ports. Having observed the hearings and the evidence over the nearly eight months since the hearings began, I wish to make the following observations: The proponent, Enbridge, has failed to provide any specific information about the impact of spills, on land or at sea, of the mixture it proposes to move by pipeline and sell to other carriers for shipment by sea. Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth E. Print this page. Submission to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel – elizabethmaymp.ca – September 4, 2012. A worrisome wet wake-up call from the Arctic. Arctic sea ice has already melted to a record low this year, in thickness and extent.
And summer’s not over yet. According to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, record melt has occurred for the past six years. Both the NSIDC and the European Space Agency say ice is thinning at a rate 50 per cent faster than scientists predicted, mainly because of global warming, and that summer Arctic ice could soon disappear altogether. The implications for global climate and weather, and for animals and people in the North, are enormous. We just don’t get it. The Arctic ice cap also helps regulate weather, affecting ocean currents and atmospheric circulation. This not only threatens our future and that of our children and grandchildren; it could also have tremendous negative economic impacts. That doesn’t take into account the effects on the animals and plants in the Arctic – including polar bears, whales, seals, and walruses – and the people who depend on them.
What’s the solution? Environment Minister Peter Kent to weaken emissions rules for coal-fired power | Energy | News. OTTAWA — After a year of tough negotiations with companies and premiers that tested Ottawa’s resolve to fight climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent is finally ready to present the final version of regulations to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from the coal-fired electricity sector. Kent is travelling to Saskatoon Wednesday to present a weaker version of the regulations he drafted a year ago, The Canadian Press has learned. Multiple sources say the new performance standard for coal plants will not be as strict as initially proposed. In draft regulations put forward for discussion in August 2011, Kent proposed that new coal plants only be allowed if they can emit less than 375 tonnes of carbon dioxide per gigawatt hour of electricity generated.
In the final version, that standard is likely to be relaxed to about 420 tonnes instead of 375. Sources also say the time allowed for old plants to meet the new standard will be about 50 years — instead of the originally proposed 45 years. What's the fracking problem with natural gas? | Science Matters. It’s not unexpected that shooting massive amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into the earth to shatter shale and release natural gas might shake things up. (Credit: Ari Moore via Flickr) By David Suzuki with contributions from with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Editorial and Communications Specialist Ian Hanington. At least 38 earthquakes in Northeastern B.C. over the past few years were caused by hydraulic fracturing (commonly called fracking), according to a report by the B.C.
Oil and Gas Commission. It's not unexpected that shooting massive amounts of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into the earth to shatter shale and release natural gas might shake things up. Subscribe to Science Matters Hydraulic fracturing requires massive amounts of water. Those are all serious cause for concern — but even they don't pose the greatest threat from fracking. As Bill McKibben points out, it didn't have to be this way. Low water levels in the Great Lakes are raising concerns | Geekquinox. This undated photo provided by the city of Racine shows North Beach in Racine, Wis., on Lake Michigan.Water levels in the Great Lakes are nearing record lows this year. Jim Biddle, the owner of Biddle Marine Services in St. Williams, Ont. told The Star that boaters on Lake Erie were "playing Russian roulette", adding that "boaters are running into rocks a mile off shore. " According to Environment Canada, Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior were already running below the 100-year average last year, and now all the Great Lakes are running below that average — Lake Erie at 22 cm below average, Lake Ontario at 23 cm below average, Lakes Michigan-Huron at 63 cm below average and Lake Superior at 34 cm below average. [ More from Geekquinox: More freshwater jellyfish sightings may be no cause for concern ] The main reason for the low water levels in the lakes this year is due to the warm winter and dry summer.
There is a human component to this, of course. (CP Photo) ‘Secret’ Environment Canada study warns of oil sands’ impact on habitat. ‘Secret’ Environment Canada study warns of oil sands’ impact on habitat Facebook | Twitter | Email | Instapaper Postmedia NewsThursday, Dec. 22, 2011 Mikael Kjellstrom/Postmedia News By Mike De Souza OTTAWA — Contamination of a major western Canadian river basin from oil sands operations is a “high-profile concern” for downstream communities and wildlife, says a newly-released “secret” presentation prepared last spring by Environment Canada that highlighted numerous warnings about the industry’s growing footprint on land, air, water and the climate. The warnings from the department contrast with recent claims made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Environment Minister Peter Kent that the industry is being unfairly targeted by environmentalists who exaggerate its impacts on nature and people.
But it warned that Alberta and other parts of Western Canada are facing a steep economic and ecological price tag for failing to crack down on the industry’s collateral damage. Stephen Harper wants to streamline environmental oversight. MINTO MINE, YUKON—Prime Minister Stephen Harper expanded his vision of resource riches fuelling Canada’s future and he’s vowing to streamline environmental approvals to make those projects a reality. Harper made the remarks Tuesday as he signed a revised resource royalty sharing agreement with the Yukon government that he said would ensure territory residents benefit from the “boom” in mineral exploration and development over the coming decades.
“Northern development must mean northern prosperity,’ he said during a speech here. Harper kicked off his annual northern tour on Monday, touting the benefits of the resource economy to Canada’s North but said it requires changes to environmental oversight to ensure projects become a reality in a “responsible manner.” “We need thorough, balanced science-based assessments conducted on a timely basis according to the principle of one project, one review,” Harper said.
Harper government cancels 3,000 environmental reviews on pipelines and other projects. Canada News: Ottawa quietly opens protected Arctic wilderness to proposed mining. Government Tries To Block MP's Questions At Pipeline Review. Harper deploys diplomats to counter U.S. climate change campaign. Enbridge CEO says environmental groups have taken control of pipeline debate. Pipeline Accident Report: PAR-12-01. Only 2% of Canadians deny climate change, suggests poll - Calgary. Tell Enbridge to pull its misleading ads. Enbridge Pipeline and Tankers: Competition Bureau Asked to Investigate Deceptive Northern Gateway Marketing by Enbridge.
Canadian Scientists 'Mourn Death of Evidence' under Harper Government. Tides Canada Stands Up to Government Critics. Harper hurts science – again. Canada News: Tim Hudak: Ontario should develop Ring of Fire like oilsands. Canada upside-down. Redford calls Alberta oil spill an ‘exception’ as cleanup continues. Environment. Chisholm questions site of DFO office consolidation-FISHERIES. First Nations. Foreign investment a threat to oilsands: Green Party leader - Fort McMurray Today - Alberta, CA. Canadian Oil Sands Flyover. 2011 Arctic Ice Minimum. Toxic substance found in snow near oilsands - Calgary. Canada asked to explain polar bear policies to international environmental group.