2007- Year in Review
Climate change, class actions, contaminated sites and water again dominated 2007 for environmental practitioners. The biggest international news was the increasing urgency of climate change. The release of the fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change swept away any rema…
View the post titled 2007- Year in ReviewCommunity Right to Know Bylaw?
The City of Toronto has taken another step towards a Community Right to Know bylaw for toxic emissions. This would be the first such bylaw in Canada, and might beat the province to the punch on its promised new toxics law. 300 large facilities in Toronto already report their emissions throug…
View the post titled Community Right to Know Bylaw?Teck Cominco: Applying US Law to Canadians in Canada
On January 7, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Teck Cominco, a Canadian mining giant, is subject to U.S. pollution laws because Canadian slag washed into U.S. waters. This sets an important precedent for other cross-boundary pollution. For more than 100 years, Teck and its predec…
View the post titled Teck Cominco: Applying US Law to Canadians in CanadaHow to get the best environmental advice and win your case
Lexpert’s annual Top 500 Lawyers in Canada has honoured us again. This year, for the very first time, we were also in the gender majority: three of Ontario’s top five environmental lawyers are now women! Well, I suppose it’s about time. And there weren’t any women lis…
View the post titled How to get the best environmental advice and win your caseExport and Import of Hazardous waste
In late December, we were successful in having Environment Canada drop all charges against one of our clients. To the considerable fright of company staff, Environment Canada had executed a very public search warrant, with a huge search team, and had seized boxes of documents. Months later, …
View the post titled Export and Import of Hazardous wasteNTREE Reality Check on Climate Change
The National Round Table on Environment and Economy today issued an refreshingly hardheaded report: Getting to 2050: Canada’s Transition to a Low-emission Future. The report is a rebuke and a challenge to the absence of federal leadership on climate change, and to our failure to take concret…
View the post titled NTREE Reality Check on Climate ChangeCompensation for buyers of already contaminated sites?
When contamination flows offsite, can a subsequent purchaser of the downgradient parcel successfully sue the upgradient polluter? Most caselaw suggests that the buyer is out of luck. Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, is still a fundamental principle of real estate law. The buyer who asks …
View the post titled Compensation for buyers of already contaminated sites?Oil spill insurance coverage
Homeowners frequently want to sue their insurers for fuel oil contamination, even if they only have third party coverage. Several years ago, many insurers amended their policies to remove first party (own property) coverage for oil spills, unless homeowners paid a special premium. Few paid t…
View the post titled Oil spill insurance coverageReporting GHG for 2006: Once More With Feeling
After ducking out of an earlier public session, Canada’s Environment Minister announced Canada’s climate change program at Bali yesterday. His big news? Canada will collect some more information about how many greenhouse gases we emit. It’s hard to get excited about this…
View the post titled Reporting GHG for 2006: Once More With FeelingStanding on Contaminated Sites
BC’s most important contaminated sites decision is being appealed, and representatives of the public interest want a say. Surprisingly, the Court of Appeal has granted standing to an NGO as well as the Attorney General, both to argue for a broader interpretation of BC’s Environme…
View the post titled Standing on Contaminated SitesReceive Blog Posts
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