Environmental Law Alert Blog

Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:

  • proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
  • stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
  • emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.

If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

As anyone who has worked in environmental or social justice knows, sometimes change takes a very, very long time, somewhat like a glacier carving out a valley.

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 w

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 Washingt

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

Recently the BC Water and Waste Association (BCWWA) posted a video of a short talk that West Coast Staff Lawyer, Deborah Carlson, gave last June to their Climate Change Committee.  The talk, which is intended to be a firs

The Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released the first of 4 reports that make up its 5th Assessment Report.  This first report documents t

The Yinka Dene Alliance (YDA), a group of First Nations whose territories cover 25 percent of Enbridge’s propose

Many people seem surprised when I mention the possibility that greenhouse gas emitting companies may one day be held liable for the damages caused by climate change.  And yet, there is no other context in which businesses could cause

BC’s archaic mining laws have a real cost for BC communities, their environment and their economies.

CBC is reporting that Prime Minister Harper has sent a letter to U.S. President Obama offering to commit to greenhouse gas regulations in return for the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.