Tuesday, April 10, 2012 In 2004 the residents of the tiny community of Stillwater, near Powell River, learned that BC Timber Sales (BCTS) was planning to auction off the rights to clearcut 12.5 hectares in the Jefferd Creek watershed, which is the source of their drinking water. Well, it’s been
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Defending Canada’s Environmental Laws is just common sense
Thursday, March 29, 2012 Or “What your Mom taught you about Canada’s environmental laws” With a wide range of Canada’s environmental laws apparently on the chopping block in the coming weeks, and environmentalists under attack across the country, it has never been more important for Canadians to stand up for
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Fisheries Act amendments would be an attack on Salmon
Monday, March 19, 2012 Last week fisheries biologist, Otto Langer, went public with a leaked draft of proposed amendments to the federal Fisheries Act which would remove any mention of fish habitat from the Act. When asked about these rumours in Parliament the government seemed to confirm that changes along
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How to support a new Public Interest lawyer
Thursday, March 15, 2012 No, that title is not an invitation to donate to West Coast Environmental Law. Law students who want to work as public interest lawyers face massive student loans. Perhaps we can support them better in making the choice to forego salary in favour of working for
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Enbridge linked to PNCIMA cancellation
Wednesday, March 7, 2012 Revelations on Sunday that Enbridge had actively, and successfully, lobbied the federal government to walk away from a decade long planning process with Coastal First Nations and the Province of BC do nothing to help the company’s embattled pipeline and tankers project, or its reputation with
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Lessons from the world’s top Environmental Law Conference
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference held each year in Eugene Oregon is, perhaps, the Mecca of environmental lawyers. It brings together literally thousands of lawyers, law students, community activists, and others to discuss whether and how the law can be used to protect the environment.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Caribou, Coal Mining and the world’s First Twitter Moot Court
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 Many were scratching their heads when they heard that West Coast was running the “World’s First-ever Twitter Moot.” Say what? What’s that, and how does it relate to the environment? Just what are you trying to accomplish? But for an hour or so on February 21st
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How about a real “post-Kyoto Plan”, Minister Kent?
Thursday, February 2, 2012 In a January 20th letter, Canada’s Environment Minister, Peter Kent, assured Canadians that the Canadian Government, despite having withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol, nonetheless has a plan on climate change. But reading the letter, it’s pretty clear that that there is no real plan, unless you
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The environment needs your voice for 2 important public consultations
Friday, January 27, 2012 The record level of public engagement shown in the recent BC government consultations on cosmetic pesticides (8,700 people) shows that democracy is alive and well in BC. Whether you were one of the thousands of people who made their views known in that consultation or not,
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Ethical Oil attack ads expose un-"fairness" of Vivian Krause
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 On January 13th, our Executive Director, Jessica Clogg, appeared on the Bill Good Show on CKNW radio, opposite blogger Vivian Krause, to defend West Coast against the recent American-style attack ads launched against us by the oil industry advocacy group, Ethical Oil. Even though Ms. Krause
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Attacks on Canadian public registered to participate in Enbridge Process are unacceptable
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 What began as a smear campaign against West Coast Environmental Law and other environmental groups has crossed a line with oil industry advocates EthicalOil.org and Ezra Levant (author of the book Ethical Oil), taking aim at the thousands of ordinary Canadians who have registered to express
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Why West Coast is fighting Enbridge (it’s not the funding)
Thursday, January 5, 2012 A recent ad campaign linked to a top oil sands firm questions what drives the work of West Coast Environmental Law. Back in the ‘70s when a broad citizens’ coalition brought to a halt a proposed oil pipeline to an oil port at Kitimat, BC West
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Regulating the road less travelled
Thursday, December 22, 2011 BC has laws governing mining roads, other laws governing forestry roads and still other laws governing oil and gas roads. And historically there’s been no real coordination between the companies building these different roads. As a result, BC has an estimated 400,000 to 550,000 kilometres of
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The ear of government and the mouths of the oil industry
Friday, December 16, 2011 With French-language CBC reporting that Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent is meeting far more often with the oil and gas industry than with environmental organizations, we have 2 questions. First, what does that mean for Canada's environmental laws and policies? Second, where is the English-language media
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: First Nations from North, South and Interior stand against oil tankers and pipelines
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 December 1st marked a turning point in the effort to protect the Pacific coast and the watersheds that we all depend on from the threat of oil spills. For the first time, First Nations from the north coast, the south coast, and the Interior gathered together
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: A new era of pesticide special reviews in Canada
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 So what does last week’s federal court win by Josette Wier, a pesticide activist based in Smithers, against Health Canada mean for pesticide regulations in Canada? If Health Canada implements the decision of the Honourable Mr. Justice Kelen in Wier v. Health Canada, we believe that
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Polluters get off more lightly than hunters
Monday, November 28, 2011 While violators of all BC environmental statutes are much less likely than they used to be to be charged and convicted of an offence than used to be the case, it turns out that violators of the Wildlife Act – primarily hunters and fishers – are
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How about we have strong environmental laws and job creation?
Monday, November 21, 2011 As part of the Premier’s job creation strategy, the BC government has introduced legislation to remove permitting requirements for certain so-called “low-risk” mining operations – notably related to exploration. But the best information is that strong environmental regulations have little or no impact on the available
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: A climate change challenge to foresters, engineers and biologists
Thursday, November 17, 2011 A new, ground-breaking report from West Coast Environmental Law – Climate Change and Professionals – is asking professional associations to ensure that their members provide responsible advice on climate-related issues. Folks in Delta, Richmond and other regions subject to flooding from rising sea-levels will want to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: With Keystone shelved, Northern Gateway must not go ahead
Monday, November 14, 2011
Throughout the debate about whether the Keystone XL Pipeline should be b…
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