Author: anjali

Monday, September 21, 2015 When a government makes changes to a regulatory framework, it takes time – sometimes years – before its actual impacts can be known. Now, almost two years since the last of the amendments came into force (the last of the Bill C-38 changes to the Fisheries Act came

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 Summer law student Justine Desmond reviews a recently-published article by Peter Frumhoff, Richard Heede and Naomi Oreskes suggesting that major carbon-producing companies should take greater responsibility for the impacts of climate change.    Earlier this month, Peter Frumhoff, Richard Heede and Naomi Oreskes published an exciting

Monday, August 17, 2015 Summer law student volunteer Rachel Gutman travelled to Vancouver Island with Staff Counsel Anna Johnston to hear from people who have been affected by rollbacks to Canada’s environmental laws.  Along the way, they met with Canadians from all walks of life and backgrounds. Rachel reflects on

Thursday, August 13, 2015 The summer is quickly coming to a close, and the West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) summer law student volunteers want to take this opportunity to thank our friends and mentors at WCEL for their support and guidance during the course of this amazing experience. As we

Thursday, August 6, 2015 Beneath the earth lies groundwater, buried treasure in the form of aquifers. Manage it well, and the treasure will continue to nourish us for generations to come. That’s why it’s important for you to speak up and contribute your feedback to the Government of BC’s consultation on

Thursday, July 23, 2015 This week West Coast Environmental Law held a meeting “Go With the Flow: Meeting on Regulations for the BC Water Sustainability Act” with allies in the conservation world to discuss our Expectations for the next critical phase of the BC Water Sustainability Act –the development of the regulations that will

Monday, July 20, 2015 The eighteen legal challenges to the federal government’s approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers project are scheduled to be heard together in Vancouver this October, setting the stage for a historic legal battle to protect the environment and Aboriginal rights. West Coast Environmental Law

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Staff Counsel Anna Johnston participated in the 10th annual Paddle for the Peace, a community event that brought hundreds of people along with canoes and kayaks to paddle down the Peace River in protest of the controversial Site C dam.  The 10th annual Paddle for the

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 A group of law student volunteers created a website that features summaries of the evidence submitted by intervenors in the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion proposal. Their goal: to increase information accessibility and to help open up the process.  I started as a summer student

Wednesday, June 24, 2015 Guest bloggers Allison Russell and Emily Beveridge from Rana Law explain lawsuits by a group of Treaty 8 First Nations against the federal and BC governments’ approvals of the Site C Dam in the Peace River Valley of northeastern BC. This is a guest post by

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 A law student’s perspective of TWN’s announcement that it has denied approval of Kinder Morgan to proceed through in its territory. A law student’s perspective of TWN’s announcement that it has denied approval of Kinder Morgan to proceed through in its territory. read more

Monday, June 15, 2015 The Auditor General has released a report criticizing  the province’s failure to adequately manage the cumulative impacts of resource development in BC.   On May 26, 2015 British Columbia’s Auditor General Carol Bellringer released her report on “Managing the Cumulative Effects of Natural Resource Development in

Monday, May 18, 2015 At a critical time for aquaculture in Canada comes a recent court victory for wild salmon. Activist and biologist Alexandra Morton, represented by Ecojustice lawyers, won a case against the Ministries of Fisheries and Oceans and Marine Harvest that now removes provisions for fish transfer licenses that

Friday, May 15, 2015 Despite the Province of BC’s tough talk about its conditions for oil pipelines, in ongoing litigation regarding the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines and tankers proposal BC is fighting to keep its decision-making responsibility in the hands of the federal government. Legal counsel Gavin Smith and summer

Friday, May 15, 2015 Staff Counsel Eugene Kung reports on a landmark journey with Tsleil-Waututh Nation leadership to New York and Texas to meet with Kinder Morgan investors and attend the megacorporation's AGM. Along the way he makes connections between oil giants and families in the path of health hazards,

Friday, May 15, 2015 Amid all the ocean stories dominating the headlines last week, like the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation’s decision to turn down a billion  dollar offer from an LNG proponent whose liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is  located in a hotspot of salmon biodiversity where they traditionally fish,

Friday, May 15, 2015 Some call sea-level rise a "slow-moving emergency", with a 1m rise predicted by 2100 and an estimated $9.5bn price tag to prepare BC for that rise. What kinds of diverse solutions should we be looking to prepare us, and why are there legal barriers to implementing

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 On April 21, the federal government released its 2015 budget. Weighing in at over 500 pages, it contains a number of measures related to the environment. But what do those measures actually mean? On April 21, the federal government released its 2015 budget. Weighing in at over

Thursday, April 16, 2015 How much environmental protection could Canada get for the price of government advertising? In the wake of the 2015 federal budget release, Staff Counsel Anna Johnston explores the contrast between government spending on the environment and its spending on its own advertising. Take our survey about