Can a permit be refused after EA approval?
One frequently troublesome area of environmental law is the intersection between different types of approvals. Once an overarching, project wide approval, such as an environmental assessment, has been granted, may an individual approval be refused?
View the post titled Can a permit be refused after EA approval?Water meters inexorable
Pay for use or flat rates? Flat rates are often popular, but they are poor public policy. Flat rates encourage waste. Flat rates discourage conservation of water and energy, and devalue their importance. Flat rates make conscientious citizens pay for the bad habits of wasteful neighbours. An…
View the post titled Water meters inexorablePharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liability
The better our detection ability becomes, the more things we find in the water. One important group of those things is pharmaceuticals and their metabolites. Pharmaceuticals are specifically designed to affect the bodies, brains and behaviour of humans and other animals, at comparatively low…
View the post titled Pharmaceuticals, drinking water, and liabilityFracking, drinking water and regulation
Jessica Ernst has launched a multi million dollar lawsuit against Encana Corporation, the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board, and the Alberta government for contamination of her property and drinking water due to Encana’s fracking program. Encana fractures rock to extract coal…
View the post titled Fracking, drinking water and regulationSuncor stormwater conviction
According to Alberta Environment, the Provincial Court of Alberta in Fort McMurray has fined Suncor Energy Inc. $275,000 for contravening its water approval at the Voyager Upgrader site 20 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
View the post titled Suncor stormwater conviction50 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 CanadaWho owns the clouds?
Who owns the water in the clouds? Climate change is expected to intensify competition for water resources of all kinds, including precipitation that can be created by cloud seeding. Colorado has regulated weather modification since 1963, declaring that water in the clouds above the status p…
View the post titled Who owns the clouds?Water Opportunities and Conservation Act?
Bill 72, the Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act, 2010, passed second reading in the Ontario Legislature on September 23. It was referred to the Standing Committee on General Government, which will hold public hearings in Toronto on October 18 and 20. Important dates:
View the post titled Water Opportunities and Conservation Act?Tar ponds class action close to certification?
The most interesting part of the judgment will be how it treats pollution impacts on human health.
View the post titled Tar ponds class action close to certification?Ontario Budget 2010
How did the environment do? Dalton McGuinty may be Ontario’s greenest premier, but there are some understandable disappointments for the environment in yesterday’s hard times Budget 2010. There is an environmental section to the budget, although (given the yawning deficit) it doe…
View the post titled Ontario Budget 2010Receive Blog Posts
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