TransCanada to sue US under NAFTA over Keystone XL decision
Calgary-based pipeline company TransCanada has filed a Notice of Intent to Arbitrate (“Notice”) under article 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”). It issued the Notice in response to US president Barack Obama’s November 6, 2015 refusal to grant the necessary approval to complete construction of Keystone XL, a proposed trans-national pipeline that would deliver crude oil...
Continue reading the post titled TransCanada to sue US under NAFTA over Keystone XL decisionPlastic-bottled water ban on the horizon in Montreal?
Not long after announcing his city’s intention to ban single-use plastic bags by 2018, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has indicated that banning plastic-bottled water may be next. Bottled water has long been decried for its heavy environmental footprint. Not only is it unnecessary where safe and effective municipal systems exist, plastic bottles create an enormous...
Continue reading the post titled Plastic-bottled water ban on the horizon in Montreal?PMRA failing to fulfill its mandate
The Federal Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development (“Commissioner”) tabled her audit findings on January 26, 2016 of the management of pesticides by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulator Agency (“PMRA”). The Commissioner reviewed PMRA’s efforts to protect Canadians and the Environment from the unacceptable risks associated with the use of pesticides. The report concluded With respect to conditional...
Continue reading the post titled PMRA failing to fulfill its mandateThe GM Salmon debate: allow, label, or outlaw?
To what extent should we continue to welcome genetically modified organisms (“GMOs”) into our food systems? The question has continued to invoke impassioned responses in recent years, with GMOs simultaneously touted by some as the salvation to global food security issues while decried by others as a menace to human health, the environment, and development. With the recent...
Continue reading the post titled The GM Salmon debate: allow, label, or outlaw?Little Brown Bat the latest critter to shut down proposed wind farm
The Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”) has again demonstrated its willingness to allow appeals of renewable energy approvals (“REA”)Â for wind project on the basis that it will cause serious and irreversible harm to animal life, plant life or the natural environment. In Hirsh v Director, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change–a 123-page decision–the ERT allowed...
Continue reading the post titled Little Brown Bat the latest critter to shut down proposed wind farmEnergy East pipeline project faces further legal hurdles
Regional concerns over the contentious Energy East project have taken on an interesting twist recently. Quebec is seeking an injunction against the proponent of the proposed Energy East pipeline project, Trans Canada Corporation, forcing the company to submit the project to provincial environmental assessment. The request came shortly in advance of environmental hearings conducted by the Bureau...
Continue reading the post titled Energy East pipeline project faces further legal hurdlesFurther wind litigation in the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part II
Recently, the Environmental Review Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) allowed in part the appeal of a Renewable Energy Approval (“REA”) approving the construction of a wind turbine facility in the Oak Ridges Moraine Area in the City of Kawartha Lakes (the “Project”). The Tribunal concluded that, with respect to harm to the woodlands, neither the compensation nor...
Continue reading the post titled Further wind litigation in the Oak Ridges Moraine: Part IICould an update to the Environmental Registry be coming soon?
Change may soon be coming to the Environmental Registry. The Registry has been crucial to supporting public participation in environmental decision making in Ontario for nearly two decades. Created under the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993 and administered by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (“MOECC”), the Registry provides public access to information...
Continue reading the post titled Could an update to the Environmental Registry be coming soon?Court confirms PMRA’s duty to conduct special reviews of pesticides
A recent decision out of the Federal Court has confirmed the federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s (“PMRA”) duty to conduct special reviews. More specifically, the PMRA must conduct special reviews of any pest control product containing a special ingredient banned for environmental or human health reasons in another member country of the Organisation for Economic...
Continue reading the post titled Court confirms PMRA’s duty to conduct special reviews of pesticidesAnother piece to Ontario’s Climate Change response
On June 8, 2016, Ontario released its Climate Change Action Plan. The plan follows closely on the heels of the introduction of legislation that will put a cap and trade programme into place in the province. The 5-year plan is comprehensive, and hits on many of the same concerns as the Environmental Commissioner’s recent report,...
Continue reading the post titled Another piece to Ontario’s Climate Change responseReceive Blog Posts
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