Algonquin Park and the Crown Forest (Un)Sustainability Act
In 1994, Ontario adopted the grandly named Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA). A long, bruising environmental assessment (the Timber Management EA) had shown that we were ravaging Crown forests with a short term focus on extracting the most timber now, damaging the future of the forests …
View the post titled Algonquin Park and the Crown Forest (Un)Sustainability ActKeeping septic systems working
Septic systems don’t run by themselves. They need regular inspections, cleaning and maintenance, or they break down and leak raw sewage. It is therefore somewhat amazing that only last summer was the Building Code (O. Reg 350/06) amended (by O. Reg. 315/10) to require such regular inspection…
View the post titled Keeping septic systems working50 years of environmental law in Canada
While I was giving a seminar on environmental law to Turkish lawyers this week, I realised that 2011 is roughly the 50th anniversary of Ontario (and I think Canadian) environmental laws. It was in 1961 that the Ontario Water Resources Act and Ontario Water Resources Commission were created, …
View the post titled 50 years of environmental law in CanadaEnvironmental Assessment not statutory authority?
An environmental assessment, no matter how “extensive and wide ranging”, does not amount to statutory authority, or provide a defence in nuisance, according to the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Appeal in Heyes v. Vancouver, now Susan Heyes Inc. (Hazel & Co.) v. South C…
View the post titled Environmental Assessment not statutory authority?Carbon Farming
Australia has introduced carbon farming legislation. The Carbon Farming Initiative is a carbon offsets scheme being established by the Australian Government to provide new economic opportunities for farmers, forest growers and landholders and to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
View the post titled Carbon FarmingJudicial Criticism of Experts: so what?
Judges occasionally make harsh criticisms of the witnesses who appear before them. Sometimes those criticisms are justified; other times, everyone is just having a bad day. In these days of instant search, such a criticism could be recycled endlessly in subsequent cases, perhaps permanently …
View the post titled Judicial Criticism of Experts: so what?Darlington and Fukushima
As new explosions demolish ever more of the Fukushima nuclear reactors, and as radioactivity spreads in air, soil and ocean water, environmental assessment hearings continue into the planned expansion of the Darlington nuclear plant near Toronto. Scheduled presenters at the hearing today wil…
View the post titled Darlington and FukushimaUS database on impacts of electric generation
How clean is each form of power?
View the post titled US database on impacts of electric generationOntario Budget 2011
Steady as she goes: not much changed in yesterday’s provincial budget for the environment. Most of the budget is devoted to the many achievements resulting from past/ existing initiatives. The province is pressing ahead with its Clean Energy Plan, continuing its existing support for pu…
View the post titled Ontario Budget 2011Agent Orange: we knew, but did it anyway
As calls flood in to the Agent Orange hotline by people worried about their health, I came across a 1970-Press release by MPP Dr. Morton Shulman. Dr. Shulman, one of Canada’s early environmental campaigners, lambasted the provincial government for continuing to spray 2,4,5T up and down…
View the post titled Agent Orange: we knew, but did it anywayReceive Blog Posts
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