Spill, baby, spill
Two major oil disasters in a single month – a Chinese oil tanker aground on the Great Barrier Reef, and the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico – where is Sarah Palin now? Or, more seriously, where is environmental law when we need it? The Australian spill is, in a legal sense, simpler.
View the post titled Spill, baby, spillExporting monitors to China
CC Ever Better recently pled guilty in Newmarket provincial court to one charge of attempting to ship a container load of used computer monitors to China for recycling without an export permit, contrary to the Export and Import of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recyclable Material, contrary…
View the post titled Exporting monitors to ChinaBig fine for one minute of air pollution
Highest air pollution fine per minute
View the post titled Big fine for one minute of air pollutionOil sands tailing wastes and dead ducks
In Alberta provincial court, Syncrude is on trial for the death of 1600 migratory ducks, who were unable to escape from its oil sands tailing ponds in 2008. Federal and provincial governments allow Syncrude to create the giant, deadly ponds, as long as they take reasonable care to frighten t…
View the post titled Oil sands tailing wastes and dead ducksWhy no minimum fines in the SDWA?
Minimum fines would be particularly inappropriate in dealing with municipalities, almost all of whom already provided safe water before the Walkerton disaster.
View the post titled Why no minimum fines in the SDWA?Courts, the environment and big fines
When I was a young lawyer, fines up for even the most egregious environmental offences tended to be very small. In one famous case, R.v. Cyanamid, proof of enormous pollution was punished with a $1 fine. Judges used to groan when we environmental prosecutors came into their courtrooms, compl…
View the post titled Courts, the environment and big finesEnvironmental Penalties higher in 2009
The Ministry of the Environment issued more environmental penalties in 2009: 13, totalling over $107,000. Although the total is still small, this is a significant increase over the 6 EP, totalling $69,583, that the Ministry issued in 2008. Companies were able to obtain reductions of up to 25…
View the post titled Environmental Penalties higher in 2009$1,000,000 penalty for odour
Fines for industrial accidents keep climbing. On November 4, 2009, BP Canada Energy Company pleaded guilty to one count of causing an odorous discharge that caused an adverse effect. BP was fined $800,000 plus the 25% victim fine surcharge. BP operates a natural gas liquid fractionation plan…
View the post titled $1,000,000 penalty for odourHow long does a prosecution take?
Average prosecutions in Toronto now take 239 days, after the charges are laid, and 11.7 court appearances, according to the Ministry of the Attorney General. Unsurprisingly, cases move a little faster outside Toronto. In the Ottawa region, for example, the average charge is resolved in 193 d…
View the post titled How long does a prosecution take?Quick Overview of Canadian Environmental Law
Please checkout our new page, with its quick summary of Canadian environmental in an easy-to-read, question and answer format. It starts: Legislation 1 Main environmental regulations What are the main statutes and regulations relating to the environment? Under Canada’s constitution, environm…
View the post titled Quick Overview of Canadian Environmental LawReceive Blog Posts
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