Crofton residents homes, gardens, vehicles, and kids toys were covered with an oily spray that resulted from a mechanical failure at the Catalyst Pulp Mill. Catalyst Crofton environment manager Brian Houle downplayed the event and Read more…
Continue readingTag: Ministry of Environment
Cowichan Conversations: Could Truckers Bypass the Koksilah Dumpsite Favouring The Closer To Victoria SIA Location?
Former CVRD Director Loren Duncan Post submitted by Loren Duncan Could there possibly be a silver lining to the dark cloud of the SIA “dirty-dirt” dump that is operating under sanction of the Provincial Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Stand Together, Shawnigan, Stand Strong
Shawnigan Director Sonia Furstenau Dear Shawnigan A few nights ago I posted on Facebook about the weariness that we all feel – the weariness that comes from having to fight so hard and Read more…
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The CVRD Has Amended Their Petition Over Bylaws To Halt SIA’s Contaminated Site Facility
Here is the CVRD’s late Friday release. In communications circles late Fridays are the time to deliver unpleasant news, firings, and the like. I spoke with CAO Brian Carruthers and he confirmed that the change Read more…
Continue readingreeves report: Transportation sector key to reducing GHG emissions in Ontario: ECO
GETTING SERIOUS about tackling greenhouse gases has to start with dramatically cutting emissions from Ontario’s transportation sector, the province’s environmental watchdog warned recently. In releasing his latest update on efforts to curb climate change-inducing emissions in Ontario, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller told reporters at Queen’s Park the biggest sector emitter
Continue readingreeves report: Environmental Legislation Killed by the Ontario Election
Environment Minister Jim Bradley and Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti speak with reporters at Queen’s Park. June, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Reeves) SO WE KEEP WAITING. Ontario’s environmental community had reason for optimism when Kathleen Wynne assumed leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in January 2013, knowing the new premier
Continue readingreeves report: Kathleen Wynne’s environmental ups and downs
Feature image: Ontario Rangers youth gather at Queen’s Park in January, 2013 to protest cuts to a Ministry of Natural Resources program many former participants claim changed their lives. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has called an election for June 12, and as the parties gear up their campaign platforms, it’s
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: BC Environment Ministry Bully Local Government
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Earlier this week the CVRD held ’Public Meeting’ of sorts to hear response from locals regarding efforts by Fisher Road Recycling to expand their operation to sync with the compost facilities capacity. The elected officials were unable to weigh in this a land use issue that is very
Continue readingthe reeves report: Deal reached to save Experimental Lakes Area
Ontario’s Experimental Lakes Area. After months of negotiation, Queen’s Park announced Tuesday morning a deal has been struck to transfer ownership of the Experimental Lakes Area living laboratory in northern Ontario to the International Institute for Sustainable Development. As part of the deal to keep the freshwater research facility alive,
Continue readingthe reeves report: Field naturalists granted construction stay at Ostrander Point
The south shore at Ostrander Point in Prince Edward County (Photo by Terry Sprague.) The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists were awarded a stay of construction at Ostrander Point this week that will prevent wind developer Gilead Power from beginning construction on their nine-turbine, 22 megawatt project until the outcome
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario Court backs Gilead Power at Ostrander Point
South Shore of Ostrander Point (Image from CountyLive.com) Seven months after learning a contentious wind project at Ostrander Point had been halted by the Environmental Review Tribunal, an Ontario divisional court overturned that decision Thursday, paving the way for development to begin later this year. In July 2013, the Tribunal
Continue readingthe reeves report: Green neighbours collide over wind power project
It’s dispiriting when newly rival factions of the environmental movement clash over what has become a touchy subject in green circles. Worse when disagreements end up in the justice system. Yet that’s exactly what played out this week in a Toronto appeals court. In an issue the media have dubbed
Continue readingthe reeves report: Europe looks to coal to reduce electricity prices
One year after The Economist signalled an ”unwelcomed coal renaissance”, Bloomberg News reported Jan. 6 that Europe’s lust for lower energy prices was reviving lignite mining for coal-fired generation in a big way. Lignite, a low-quality form of coal that contains less units of energy and greater volumes of carbon than
Continue readingthe reeves report: Asian carp capable of breeding in Great Lakes: USGS scientists
Captured grass carp at Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans research lab in Burlington, ON (Andrew Reeves) Anyone doubting whether Asian carp could successfully breed in the Great Lakes watershed got their answer Monday as researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University in Ohio announced four grass
Continue readingthe reeves report: Next Steps in Protecting the Great Lakes
Lake Huron shoreline/Photo by Jimmy Brown In the face of decades of environmental, pollution and development stresses on the shorelines, wetlands, river basins, flora and fauna of the Great Lakes, the government of Ontario realized making a difference in the health of these critical water bodies would require all hands
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