British Columbian taxpayers will be on the hook for $40 million to clean up the worst mining spill in Canadian history and the company responsible has once again escaped criminal charges after a private prosecution was dismissed this week. In August 2014 the 40-metre-high tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine
Continue readingAuthor: Judith Lavoie
Canada Risks International Embarrassment Over Mismanagement of World Heritage Site: UNESCO
Canada’s largest World Heritage Site is under threat from unfettered oilsands development and hydro dams on the Peace River — where the B.C. government is now planning to build the massive Site C dam — says a hard-hitting report by a United Nations agency. While contaminants from the oilsands are affecting
Continue readingPublic Inquiry Formally Requested to Investigate B.C.’s Shoddy Mining Rules
The ramshackle regulatory system governing B.C.’s mining industry is profoundly dysfunctional and the public has lost confidence in the province’s ability to protect the environment and communities from poor mining activities, says a new report from the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre. The wide-ranging report, released Wednesday, was commissioned
Continue readingPublic Inquiry Formally Requested to Investigate B.C.’s Shoddy Mining Rules
The ramshackle regulatory system governing B.C.’s mining industry is profoundly dysfunctional and the public has lost confidence in the province’s ability to protect the environment and communities from poor mining activities, says a new report from the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre. The wide-ranging report, released Wednesday, was commissioned
Continue readingB.C.’s Biggest Wind Farm Just Came Online — But Future of Wind in Province Bleak
On wind-swept ridgelines, surrounded by pine-beetle ravaged forests, the massive turbines at B.C.’s largest wind power project have started turning. The Meikle Wind project, built by Pattern Development, will increase wind power capacity in the province by more than one third — to almost 674 megawatts — and will be able
Continue readingB.C.’s Biggest Wind Farm Just Came Online — But Future of Wind in Province Bleak
On wind-swept ridgelines, surrounded by pine-beetle ravaged forests, the massive turbines at B.C.’s largest wind power project have started turning. The Meikle Wind project, built by Pattern Development, will increase wind power capacity in the province by more than one third — to almost 674 megawatts — and will be able
Continue readingBC Hydro Let Off Hook for $400,000 Site C Dam Fine … Again
Sandbags, bales of weed-free straw, crushed gravel and silt fencing are among the extra supplies BC Hydro has stockpiled at the Site C dam construction site to avoid federal fines. In early January the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency issued BC Hydro with a Notice of Intent to Issue an Order after
Continue readingBC Hydro Let Off Hook for $400,000 Site C Dam Fine … Again
Sandbags, bales of weed-free straw, crushed gravel and silt fencing are among the extra supplies BC Hydro has stockpiled at the Site C dam construction site to avoid federal fines. In early January the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency issued BC Hydro with a Notice of Intent to Issue an Order after
Continue readingTsilhqot’in Ready for Yet Another Fight if B.C. Grants Mine Exploration Permits Denied by Feds
A bizarre twist in a decade-long battle over a proposed mine on Tsilhqot’in Nation traditional territory could see the B.C. government issue extensive exploration permits for the mine this month even though the project has twice been turned down by the federal government. The proposal by Taseko Mines Ltd. to build
Continue readingTsilhqot’in Ready for Yet Another Fight if B.C. Grants Mine Exploration Permits Denied by Feds
A bizarre twist in a decade-long battle over a proposed mine on Tsilhqot’in Nation traditional territory could see the B.C. government issue extensive exploration permits for the mine this month even though the project has twice been turned down by the federal government. The proposal by Taseko Mines Ltd. to build
Continue readingMining Giant Taseko Seeks to Revive B.C. Gold Mine Twice-Rejected by Harper Government
Two rejections by the federal government have not deterred a Vancouver mining company from again heading to court in an effort to quash Ottawa’s decision to turn down a proposal for an open-pit copper and gold mine in an area where the Tsilhqot’in Nation has established aboriginal rights. Taseko Mines Ltd.
Continue readingThis First Nation Just Banned Industrial Logging and Mining from Vancouver Island Territory
Connection to the land and ocean has guided the Ahousaht people throughout their history and that bond is now at the root of a new sustainable economic development plan for the First Nation whose territory spans the heart of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Under the first phase of the
Continue readingSecrecy Around Composition of Oilsands Dilbit Makes Effective Spill Response, Research Impossible: New Study
Knowledge gaps about the behaviour of diluted bitumen when it is spilled into saltwater and lack of information about how to deal with multiple problems that can result from extracting and transporting bitumen from the Alberta oilsands, make it impossible for government or industry to come up with effective policies
Continue readingReview of 9,000 Studies Finds We Know Squat About Bitumen Spills in Ocean Environments
Nobody knows how a spill of diluted bitumen would affect marine life or whether a bitumen spill in salt water could be adequately cleaned up, because basic research is lacking, says a new study. The peer-reviewed paper, which will be published later this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and
Continue readingSouthern Resident Killer Whales Unlikely to Survive Increase in Oil Tanker Traffic, Say Experts
Under the waves of Haro Strait, hydrophones record the noise made by passing vessels and, if you happen to be a whale, the din is already disorienting and disturbing, making it difficult to echo-locate food or communicate with other members of the pod. “It’s a thunder. Thump, thump, thump, accompanied by
Continue readingFirst-ever Indigenous Freedom of Religion Case Heads to Canada’s Supreme Court
A precedent-setting case that could affect the ability of First Nations to protect their sacred sites and which has implications for indigenous rights worldwide, is heading to Canada’s top court Thursday. The Ktunaxa First Nation, based in Cranbrook, in a lawsuit against the B.C. government and Glacier Resorts Ltd, is arguing
Continue readingArt in the Heart of Controversy: Konelīne Cuts Through Rhetoric About Resource Extraction
There are no good guys or bad guys in the documentary Konelīne and that extraordinary lack of judgement is what rivets attention as the film examines the changing landscape and lifestyles of northwestern British Columbia. As massive machinery moves into the wild landscape, first to build the Northwest Transmission Line and
Continue readingNDP Pledge to End B.C.’s Grizzly Bear Trophy Hunt if Elected
Grizzly bear trophy hunting will be banned, for both resident and foreign hunters, if the NDP form the next provincial government, leader John Horgan promised Thursday. The NDP is walking a fine line between meshing the party’s views with the 90 per cent of British Columbians who say they oppose the
Continue readingNDP Pledge to End B.C.’s Grizzly Bear Trophy Hunt if Elected
Grizzly bear trophy hunting will be banned, for both resident and foreign hunters, if the NDP form the next provincial government, leader John Horgan promised Thursday. The NDP is walking a fine line between meshing the party’s views with the 90 per cent of British Columbians who say they oppose the
Continue readingWhy Does B.C. Still Kill Grizzlies for Sport?
In early October a provincial government news release landed in the inboxes of reporters and researchers around B.C. It boasted of a new government-commissioned report that concluded B.C. has “a high level of rigour and adequate safeguards in place to ensure the long-term stability of grizzly populations.” Even though the report
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