BC Hydro’s proposed Site C Dam (artist’s rendering) by Dene Moore, Canadian Press FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The province of Alberta is concerned that a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric dam proposed in northeastern British Columbia could increase mercury levels in fish and escalate the risk of floods or drought along the
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The Common Sense Canadian: Harper Govt approves Shell’s Jackpine oilsands mine despite ‘significant adverse effects’
ACFN Chief Allan Adam outside an Alberta court in 2012, challenging Shell’s Jackpine development Shell Canada’s Jackpine oilsands mine expansion plan has received the go-ahead from Ottawa, despite the environment minister’s view that it’s “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” In a statement late Friday, environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: American fracker wraps divisive seismic work in Elsipogtog territory
Members of the Elsipogtog Nation and RCMP clash at a recent protest over fracking in New Brunswick REXTON, N.B. – SWN Resources Canada says it has wrapped up seismic testing in New Brunswick. The company’s work has been subject to ongoing protest by opponents of shale gas development in the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ocean acidification accelerates in Arctic, threatening food web: study
Ocean acidification affects shell growth for marine life (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme) Research conducted at an ice camp high in the frozen North – part of the Catlin Arctic Survey – suggests climate change is threatening the Arctic Ocean’s food web by making those waters more acidic. The scientists, who
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ex-Harper advisor slams Canada’s Keystone XL pipeline promotion
WASHINGTON – A former Harper government appointee used a keynote speech at a Washington event Monday to trample Canadian authorities’ message on oil pipelines while describing the country as an environmental “rogue state.” Mark Jaccard became one of the first people nominated by the Conservatives to the environmental file when
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Taseko wants judicial review into Prosperity Mine’s harsh assessment
Fish Lake, near the proposed “New Prosperity” Mine in BC VANCOUVER – Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO) has formally requested a judicial review of a critical environmental assessment for the proposed New Prosperity copper-gold mine in the B.C. Interior. The company said Monday it has filed the request with the Federal
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper government spending $40 million to clean up Tar Sands’ image
Stephen Harper is trying hard to convince other nations not to shun Tar Sands bitumen (Adrian Wyld/CP) by Bruce Cheadle OTTAWA – The Conservative government is spending $40 million this year to advertise Canada’s natural resource sector — principally oil and gas — at home and abroad. Natural Resources Minister
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: US House passes bill to speed up oil and gas fracking
by Matthew Daly, The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The House approved a bill Wednesday aimed at speeding up drilling for oil and natural gas. The measure was one of three energy measures the House was considering this week as Republicans controlling the chamber push to expand an oil and gas
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Japan puts global climate change action in jeopardy
WARSAW, Poland – Japan’s decision to drastically scale back its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions could hurt efforts to craft a global deal to fight climate change, delegates at U.N. talks said Friday. The new target approved by the Japanese Cabinet calls for reducing emissions by 3.8 per cent
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NWT developing regulatory model for oil fracking before devolution
Controversial natural gas fracking operations in BC (Damien Gillis) CALGARY – With the Northwest Territories preparing to take control of its resource development next spring, its industry minister has been busy looking at the best way to regulate its nascent shale oil industry. A devolution agreement kicks in on April
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC struggles to reconcile carbon emissions with “clean” LNG claims
Australia’s Colongra gas-powered electrical plant – BC LNG would be powered by carbon-intensive plants like this one VICTORIA – Like the underground shale gas that Premier Christy Clark says will pave the way to a debt-free future, British Columbia appears caught between a rock and a hard place in balancing
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: New dam planned for St. Lawrence River
BECANCOUR, Que. – The Quebec government is helping to bankroll a $130-million project by RER Hydro, Hydro-Quebec and Boeing to generate clean energy on the St. Lawrence River, in what officials say would be the world’s largest river-generated turbine farm. The three-phase project could eventually culminate in nine megawatts of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Farmland advocates fire back at secret plan to gut ALR
ALR co-founder Harold Steves on his family farm in Steveston, BC (Damien Gillis) VANCOUVER – A leaked cabinet document that proposes significant changes to British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Reserve — millions of hectares of cherished farmland that have been largely protected from development for decades — prompted swift denials Thursday
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Nuclear plant spills chemicals into Bay of Fundy
New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear plant LEPREAU, N.B. – NB Power says the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant recently released water containing low levels of a chemical used in its steam generators into the Bay of Fundy. The provincial Crown utility says the release of hydrazine occurred Sunday from a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Newfoundland passes fracking moratorium
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador is shutting the door on applications for hydraulic fracturing or fracking for oil and gas while it reviews regulations and consults residents. Plans to frack wells near Gros Morne National Park pending government approvals had raised concerns about groundwater pollution and the impact
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Protestors stage mock fracking on premier’s lawn
photo courtesy of Maryam Adrangi’s facebook page VANCOUVER – Opponents of the British Columbia government’s liquefied natural gas plans set up a three-metre mock fracking rig on the premier’s front lawn on Sunday, as Premier Christy Clark prepares for a trade mission to Asia to sell the province’s LNG potential.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Quebec to invest half billion in green transportation
Quebec plans to spend more than a half-billion dollars on a green transportation plan over the next three years. Premier Pauline Marois says the plan includes up to $8,000 in subsidies for the purchase of electric or hybrid vehicles; and up to $1,000 for people installing a charging unit at
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper govt extends salmon farm moratorium in BC, critics say DFO ignoring Cohen recommendations
VANCOUVER – Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea says she will not lift the moratorium on aquaculture development in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands for the foreseeable future. The announcement came Wednesday, almost a year after Justice Bruce Cohen released his report into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Japan to remove perilous Fukushima nuclear fuel rods
1,500 spent fuel rods remain precariously perched atop the badly damaged Fukushima Reactor 4 TOKYO – Japanese regulators on Wednesday gave final approval for removing fuel rods from an uncontained cooling pool at a damaged reactor building considered the highest risk at a crippled nuclear plant. Removal of fuel rods
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ontario skips provincial review of Enbridge Line 9
TORONTO – Ontario won’t conduct its own environmental assessment of a plan to reverse the flow of the Line 9 oil pipeline that runs through the province, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Monday. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) wants to reverse Line 9 and increase its capacity to move 300,000 barrels
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