Ecojustice recaps the week in Canadian environmental news: September 7, 2012

 

This week’s recap starts with some important news: Ecojustice is raising concerns about Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline at the public hearings in Edmonton. You can read about that below and get several helpings of Enbridge-related news, plus an infographic on why now is the time to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from serious threats. It’s good timing on that last issue, considering that we’re preparing a report card on Canada’s Species At Risk Act, which will highlight the work that needs to be done within our own borders. 

 

Be kind. Share this with other like-minded Canadians.

 

• Staff lawyers Tim Leadem and Barry Robinson on Tuesday wrote that “today marks the next phase of an important national conversation about Canada’s future.” They’re right. Hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway project re-opened on Sept. 5 and they'll give Canadians and their representatives the chance to question the proposed project’s impact on our economy, energy and of course our environment.” Learn why we’re involved and find out which groups we’re supporting at the full blog post, here. 

 

• Beth Hong of the Vancouver Observer live blogged the first day of the Northern Gateway hearings, which you can read about here.

 

Connecting the dots between pipelines and global warming 

• Earlier this year, staff lawyer Albert Koehl worked on an issue with an existing Enbridge pipeline that could one day make Ontario and Quebec pathways for oilsands expansion. The pipeline is named Line 9 and in a blog post on Wednesday, Albert connected the dots between Line 9, the oilsands, environmental law rollbacks and global warming. It was one of our more popular posts this week, so check it out. 

 

• Power plants fueled by coal produce 11 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a CBC News article. What’s worse is that Environment Minister Peter Kent revealed new regulations for the industry that were lower than the ones he first proposed last year. When the regulations come into force on July 1, 2015, coal-fired plants are allowed to emit more greenhouse gases. That hurts our ability to reduce the effects of global warming and it's definitely not the forward step we wanted to see given some of our past work. 

 

• MTV Canada is airing Pipeline Wars, a documentary about you know what, this Sunday, Sept. 9 at 6 & 11 pm EST. It’s hosted by Aliya-Jasmine Sovani of MTV Impact, a show that looks at the “most urgent issues facing our audience in a powerful, honest and direct style." Check out a snippet below to see if it might be for you.

 

People & Health

 

• Environment Minister Peter Kent’s second major announcement this week was an agreement between U.S. and Canadian governments to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Ecojustice economist and staff lawyer Dr. Anastasia Lintner said the agreement shows promise, but she’s looking for Ontario to step up to protect threatened species and Ontario communities. “Defending the Great Lakes from toxic pollution, climate change and habitat destruction will require strong leadership from all of Ontario’s elected officials.” 

 

 

• Our supporters are passionate about protecting plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction. All those species together is what we at Ecojustice call biodiversity. The World Bank infographic below asks What’s Happening to Biodiversity? Well, it’s disappearing, the infographics says, because of “overexploitation of species, habitat destruction and the introduction of invasive species.” The real message, though, is that “once a species is extinct, it is lost forever.”