Monday, January 6, 2014 The beginning of the year is a good time for planning, setting goals. And with 2014 shaping up to be an important year for environmentally minded Canadians, here, briefly, are our top 3 resolutions for the coming year. The beginning of the year is a good
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Forestry in BC – few inspections, low consequences
Friday, December 20, 2013 We’ve reviewed the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Compliance and Enforcement Annual Reports from 1998 to 2012. And what we've found raises a whole lot of questions – dramatic declines in inspections and in the fines imposed on the forest industry, but stable
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: BC government outs environmental debtors
Thursday, December 12, 2013 The BC government yesterday released the names of 18 businesses and 155 individuals who have not paid court fines for environmental offences committed between 2004 and 2012. Collectively, these individuals owe $1.54 million that the courts ordered paid to the Province or the Habitat Conservation Trust.
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Info Commissioner says environmental info should be more available
Thursday, December 5, 2013 If a disaster strikes in the forest, the question is not does it make a sound, but does the government have a legal duty to tell someone? Commissioner Elizabeth Denham deserves credit for her recent report examining the obligation of government to release information that is
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Should industry frack with our water?
Thursday, November 14, 2013 Hydraulic fracturing – which uses and pollutes a whole lot of water – should be a major discussion point within the public consultations on a new Water Sustainabilty Act (taking place until this Friday, November 15th). BC’s Environment Minister, Mary Polak, has argued that the provincial
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Who benefits from water in BC?
Friday, November 8, 2013 The current public consultation on a new BC Water Sustainability Act represents a perfect opportunity to ask: who should benefit from BC’s water? Because right now the proposed Water Sustainability Act focuses on ensuring that private benefits from using water continue, locking in a private-interest focus
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Water Sustainability Act and Groundwater
Friday, November 8, 2013 About one out of every four British Columbians relies on wells for drinking water. Groundwater is also essential to BC’s agricultural sector and is critical for habitat for salmon and other fish species. So it’s welcome news that BC is planning to finally regulate groundwater use
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Water for fish and the Water Sustainability Act
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 Imagine a lake, stream or river that you love. Or perhaps rely upon for your drinking water or livelihood. That’s what the current BC government consultations on a new Water Sustainability Act – which are going on until November 15th – are about: is the government
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Say no to cosmetic pesticide use
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 It was only two years ago that Premier Christie Clark promised that the province would ban cosmetic pesticide use– pesticide use on lawns and ornamental plants. But much has happened in a year, and the province is instead currently consulting on regulations that will allow cosmetic
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Will local government election rules silence the public?
Monday, October 21, 2013 Local government elections should be about communities discussing their problems, and electing people who will address those problems. Making a home-made lawn-sign or printing a few leaflets should be a basic right. Unfortunately, major changes being considered for the Local Government Act would require not just
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Will BC’s proposed Water Sustainability Act really be sustainable?
Friday, October 18, 2013 British Columbians have been waiting for a new Water Act (our current one is 104 years old and has its problems), and now that wait may be finally coming to an end with today’s release of a “legislative proposal” for a new Water Sustainability Act. We’ll
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Why Anna’s going to Washington
Tuesday, October 15, 2013 Recently we asked our readers to write to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to talk about their concerns with the Canadian government’s actions in dismantling our environmental laws in omnibus budget bills (Bills C-38 and C-45). Well, now we’re taking those concerns to Washington, DC
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: What shielding Water Act violators says about BC’s environmental enforcement
Tuesday, October 15, 2013 Last Tuesday (October 8th), the Province paper had an important story – Environment ministry continues to shield Water Act violators – about the Ministry of Environment’s refusal to identify companies and people that don’t pay their fines for violating the Water Act, based on a government
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Lemon Creek jet spill and emergency release of data
Thursday, August 29, 2013 I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to have your drinking water, and your entire community, contaminated with jet fuel. So when some folks who live near Lemon Creek contacted West Coast looking to find out what they had been exposed to, we
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Lack of footnotes costs fish farm activist $75,000
Tuesday, July 30, 2013 On Monday, July 22nd the BC Court of Appeal ordered well-known anti- fish farm activist Don Staniford to pay $75,000 in damages because the mock cigarette packages he had made criticizing Norwegian fish farm companies lacked footnotes. What does this mean for fish farm activists? For
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Canadians stand up for fish
Friday, July 12, 2013 A great many Canadians, from many different backgrounds, have been standing up for fish – saying no to changes to the law that would gut legal protection for fish habitat. Wildlife organizations and local governments that the government says are on-side are saying no. First Nations
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Health Canada fiddles while bees burned by pesticides
Tuesday, June 25, 2013 Earlier this month, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), an arm of Health Canada that regulates pesticides, released its report into the deaths of honey bees in Ontario and Quebec that occurred in the Spring of 2012 – concluding that certain pesticides (known as neonicotinoids) likely
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Tell the Prime Minister – Fish need legal protection
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Among the most controversial elements of Bill C-38, passed a year ago (June 18th, 2012) was the decision to “take the guts out” of the Fisheries Act by abandoning long-standing legal protections for fish habitat –the ecosystems that sustain our iconic salmon and other species –
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Fight Against FIPA
Monday, June 17, 2013 “We stand together! We stand together! We stand together!” On June 5th, 2013, West Coast Environmental Law’s Executive Director Jessica Clogg and three legal interns joined the hundreds of voices chanting “We stand together!” outside the Federal Court in downtown Vancouver. The crowd was gathered to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Fight Against FIPA
Monday, June 17, 2013 “We stand together! We stand together! We stand together!” On June 5th, 2013, West Coast Environmental Law’s Executive Director Jessica Clogg and three legal interns joined the hundreds of voices chanting “We stand together!” outside the Federal Court in downtown Vancouver. The crowd was gathered to
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