West Coast Environmental Law applauds two of Vancouver’s elected bodies – Vancouver City Council and the Vancouver Parks Board – for passing resolutions to take a formal position on the proposed Kinder Morgan oil pipeline expansion project, and associated oil tanker traffic. West Coast Environmental Law, along with several other groups, ...
Environmental Law Alert Blog
Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast alerts you to environmental law problems and developments affecting British Columbians. It is the public voice of our Environmental Law Alert unit which is a legal “watchdog” for BC’s environment.
If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. Also, please feel free to comment on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.
climate change, energy, Kinder Morgan, tanker resolution, Vancouver City Council, Vancouver Parks Board
14 May, 2012
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green communities, Health Canada, other issues, Pesticide Incidents, Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides
11 May, 2012
As the BC Legislature’s Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides grapples with the question of whether to ban the use of cosmetic pesticides, a recent report by Health Canada seems to confirm that humans, pets and the environment have something to fear from such pesticides. The Pesticide Incident Reporting Program – Third Annual Report, released on April 27th,...
10 May, 2012
In northeastern BC, the “Landman” is a representative of an oil and gas company, who shows up at your door when the company wants to drill an oil or gas well on your property.
Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of say in it. As we explained in our 2004 publication, When the Landman Comes Knocking, the law prioritizes the subsurface rights of the oil and gas companies, and leaves the land owner only with...
Bill C-38, Black Out Speak Out, Budget Implementation Act 2012, environmental assessment, Jobs Growth and Long Term Prosperity Act, other issues
7 May, 2012
Have you heard about the Black Out Speak Out campaign? West Coast Environmental Law is working together with other organizations across the country to let Canadians know that changes proposed for the country's environmental laws will silence laws and voices that speak out for our environment – for clean air, clean water, wild creatures and fish.
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energy, environmental assessment, Growth and Long Term Prosperity Act 2012, Jobs, Oil and Gas Industry
3 May, 2012
We’ve been clear that the roll-back of Canada’s environmental laws – legal environmental protection that Canadians have worked for decades to put in place – can only benefit the oil and gas, mining and other big industrial players, at the expense of our communities and the environment.
By gutting Canada’s long-standing environmental laws, the budget bill gives big oil and gas companies what they’ve been asking for –...
1 May, 2012
The federal government’s Budget Implementation Bill, Bill C-38, recently introduced in Parliament, is self-servingly called the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act 2012, which is ironic because most Canadians recognize that you can’t have long-term prosperity by destroying wild stocks of fish. Polls show that ...
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, directly affected, energy, environmental assessment, interested party
27 April, 2012
Earlier this week we warned that there were signals that amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) might silence not just environmentalists, also but hunters, fishers, land owners, and others by restricting public participation to those who are “directly affected.”
We found out more when the 2012 Budget Implementation Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on April 26th. Rolled up into the Bill is an entirely new...
24 April, 2012
Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, recently stated that proposed changes to Canada’s environmental laws will (if passed) prevent anyone who is not “directly affected” from speaking at environmental reviews. Oddly enough, much of the media coverage characterized this as shutting out environmentalists, rather than shutting out everyone not “directly affected” by a development (which it does). See, for example, coverage by ...
20 April, 2012
It’s easy to forget, with the current government’s overhaul of Canada’s environmental assessment laws, that it was another Conservative Government which, almost 20 years ago, committed internationally to developing a national environmental assessment process and to involving the public in environmental decision-making. It was Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who, in 1992 signed the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Economy on behalf of Canada.
This international...
11 April, 2012
We were alarmed to hear that Taseko Mines Ltd., the company that wants to develop the controversial Prosperity Mine, is suing the Wilderness Committee and one of its employees. This is a disturbing reminder that the law is sometimes stacked against individuals and groups concerned about the protection of the environment, and that big business can wield a big legal stick.
This development comes hot on the heels of another David vs. Goliath lawsuit....
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