Related Posts

  • Closing Down Water Monitoring in the North: Bad Idea, Bad Policy

    OTTAWA – The federal government should reverse its decision to save money by closing down 21 of 23 water monitoring stations in the north.

    "The arctic water monitoring system is our early warning system. The data tell us what is happening with water quality and pollution. Knowing what's in the water can prevent Walkerton like tragedies. The Prime Minister is right that development leads to pollution, but with the information from water monitoring stations in the north we can develop plans to minimize those impacts on public health, wildlife and the environment," said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.

    Monitoring stations regularly measure physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, alkalinity, major ions, nutrients and metals.

    According to Environment Canada, water monitoring allows Canada to:

  • Federal coal regulations risk being tarnished

    Just over a year ago, the federal government announced a plan to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from some of the dirtiest sources of energy in Canada -coal power plants. While the rules aren't scheduled to take effect for four years, the government promised to guard against any efforts to rush new plants into service ahead of their start date.

    Now, a decision by an Alberta regulator to approve a new coal plant has put the ball squarely in the federal government's court to live up to that commitment. And so far, the signs aren't promising.

  • Canada’s Resources Minister calls enviros ‘radical groups’
    Ottawa - Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, has called opponents of the country’s energy markets “radical groups” who threaten its energy market with their “radical ideological agenda.”   In an open letter on Monday, Oliver started a firestorm when he said Canada must diversify its energy markets away from U.S.
  • Today, Canada is a less democratic country ...

    Yesterday the federal government took away our right to participate in environmental assessments.  Today, Canada is a less democratic country. Big oil has more say about the future of Canada than you and I. I did a pile of media interviews yesterday but that's not enough. We have to wake up Canada's Parliament and alert them to what is happening.

    Unfortunately, we’re going to have to make a very big noise.

    Your Member of Parliament (MP) is home in your riding this week. The Easter break following the budget is an important opportunity for them to gauge the mood of the country.

  • Canada’s Resources Minister calls enviros ‘radical groups’
    Ottawa - Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, has called opponents of the country’s energy markets “radical groups” who threaten its energy market with their “radical ideological agenda.”   In an open letter on Monday, Oliver started a firestorm when he said Canada must diversify its energy markets away from U.S.
  • Tell Environment Minister Peter Kent to Get to Work to Protect the Gulf!

    Speak Up for the Gulf!

    Call Environment Minister Kent and ask for a full joint review panel environmental assessment for oil and gas development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Tell him and his staff that you don’t think we can risk this precious ecosystem and that we need everyone around the Gulf engaged in protecting it.

    Honourable Peter Kent's telephone number: 1-819-997-1441

    You can also write a letter or email.

    Here is a sample letter:

    The Honourable Peter Kent
    Minister of the Environment
    Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
    10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
    Gatineau, Quebec
    K1A 0H3

    E-mail: Minister@ec.gc.ca

  • Guided Hike on McIntosh Run Trail, August 27th

     

    The Sierra Club, McIntosh Run Watershed Association, and Hike Nova Scotia invite you to explore McIntosh Run Trail. McIntosh Run is an excellent example of biodiversity protection in our own backyards. 

    Special guests: Martin Willison & Richard Evan will be able to show you the special habitats, plants and animals that make McIntosh Run their home.
     

    WHERE: Meet at Capt. William Spry Community Centre, 10 Kidston Road, Halifax (Bus routes #19 & 20)

    WHEN: August 27, 2011, 10:30 am (Rain date August 28, 2011, 10:30 am)

    WHO: Sierra Club, McIntosh Run Watershed Association and Hike Nova Scotia. 

    SPONSOR:Halifax Regional Municipality

     

  • Foes of Northern Gateway pipeline fear revocation of charitable status

    Environmentalists are fearful that the Conservative government is planning to limit their advocacy role after Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained that groups flush with “foreign money” are undermining a controversial pipeline review.

    Mr. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver stoked activists’ fears in recent days by lashing out at environmental groups that have taken money from U.S. donors to build opposition to the $6.6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry oil-sands bitumen to the British Columbia coast.

    The Conservative-dominated Commons finance committee is set to begin a review of the charity sector, and several activists say government MPs have told business groups that the committee will look at the environmental sector’s transparency, its advocacy role and the flow of funds from outside the country.

  • Avoiding fracking earthquakes: expensive venture


    (Reuters) - With mounting evidence linking hundreds of small earthquakes from Oklahoma to Ohio to the energy industry's growing use of fracking technology, scientists say there is one way to minimize risks of even minor temblors.

    Only, it costs about $10 million a pop.

    A thorough seismic survey to assess tracts of rock below where oil and gas drilling fluid is disposed of could help detect quake prone areas.

    But that would be far more costly than the traditional method of drilling a bore hole, which takes a limited sample of a rock formation but gives no hint of faults lines or plates.

    The more expensive method will be a hard sell as long as irrefutable proof of the link between fracking and earthquakes remains elusive.

  • Anti-fracking protest held at Province House

     

     About 70 Islanders staged an anti-fracking protest at Province House Tuesday.

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