Rusting wrecks an oil spill timebomb?
Who will pay for cleaning up oil from a 70-year-old wreck? The owner of the ship, who may be long gone, or the Armed Forces that sank it?
Continue reading the post titled Rusting wrecks an oil spill timebomb?Endangered Species Regulation Upheld at Court of Appeal
In a decision released last month, Wildlands League v Ontario (Natural Resources and Forestry), 2016 ONCA 741, the Court of Appeal has held that a regulation made under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) is valid. The regulation exempts certain industrial activities from the ESA’s prohibitions against killing, harming, harassing, or capturing listed species at risk...
Continue reading the post titled Endangered Species Regulation Upheld at Court of AppealGreen Energy Act Amendments
How did the Green Energy Act amendments respond to the recommendations of the Ontario Bar Association? Details enclosed.
Continue reading the post titled Green Energy Act AmendmentsOBA recommendations on Green Energy Act
OBA's most important recommendation for amending the Green Energy Act: Provide how land-use and common law conflicts with approved renewable energy projects should be resolved; don’t leave this to the courts. Why encourage proponents to build a renewable energy project that the courts might shut down as a nuisance?
Continue reading the post titled OBA recommendations on Green Energy ActSmog: Health, Agriculture or Politics?
This month, the U.S. EPA announced a very modest tightening of its ground-level ozone standards from 80 to 75 parts per billion, averaged over eight hours. This announcement met immediate criticism from public health advocates, since an extensive scientific review had recommended that the standard be lowered to between 60 and 70 parts per billion....
Continue reading the post titled Smog: Health, Agriculture or Politics?Windpower – a cautionary tale
As the scientific evidence of climate change becomes ever more frightening, the collapse of Skypower Wind Energy Fund LP offers a cautionary tale of the barriers faced by renewable energy. Two years ago, this partnership raised $77 million to build a 201 MW wind energy plant in Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec. It already had the land, the...
Continue reading the post titled Windpower – a cautionary taleMunicipal orders under section 100.1 of the EPA
The seemingly never-ending litigation related to a spill of furnace oil fuel in the City of Kawartha Lakes is inching closer to resolution. In Technical Standards and Safety Authority v Kawartha Lakes, 2016 CanLII 41685 (ON ERT) the Environmental Review Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) tackled the issue—apparently for the first time—of who can be ordered by...
Continue reading the post titled Municipal orders under section 100.1 of the EPAOntario Court of Appeal Provides Succinct Overview of Regulation of Sewage Works
On January 31, 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Belwood Lake Cottagers Association Inc. v. Ontario (Environment and Climate Change), 2019 ONCA 70. The decision turned on the interpretation of “lot or parcel of land” in the Ontario Water Resources Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.40, and includes a clear and succinct...
Continue reading the post titled Ontario Court of Appeal Provides Succinct Overview of Regulation of Sewage WorksCoal Mine Fined $4.5 Million for Provincial and Federal Offences
A coal mining company was fined approximately $4.5 million in federal and provincial penalties as a result of a spill from its tailings pond into tributaries flowing into the Athabasca River in Alberta. Prairie Mines & Royalty ULC (formerly known as Coal Valley Resources Inc.) pled guilty in Alberta Provincial Court on June 9, 2017,...
Continue reading the post titled Coal Mine Fined $4.5 Million for Provincial and Federal OffencesEnvironmental Review Tribunal Clarifies Section 34(1) of OWRA
The Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”) recently released a decision clarifying the scope of section 34(1) of the Ontario Water Resources Act R.S.O. 1990, c. O.40, (“OWRA”). The City of Thunder Bay (“City”) in Thunder Bay (City) v. Ontario (Environment, Conservation and Parks), ERT no. 18-024 (“Thunder Bay”) brought a motion pursuant to an appeal by...
Continue reading the post titled Environmental Review Tribunal Clarifies Section 34(1) of OWRAReceive Blog Posts
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