Obstacles to waste diversion

by Dianne Saxe on May 17, 2012

Ontario’s Minister of the Environment says that it is his second highest priority to increase waste diversion from landfill. Can he do it? Yesterday, Dianne gave a well-received keynote address to the Municipal Waste Association on Obstacles to Waste Diversion. [click to continue…]

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New rules on soil movement

by Dianne Saxe on May 15, 2012

Ontario has struggled for many years to provide clear, consistent, effective rules to govern the huge amount of soil that contractors move from place to place. Is it a product? a waste? Where can it go? How clean is clean? There is so much confusion that municipalities, such as Clarington, are now starting to pass bylaws forbidding the importation of soil to their jurisdiction. [click to continue…]

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Comments on the Mining Act changes

May 15, 2012

The Ontario Bar Association has submitted extensive comments on the proposed changes to the Mining Act. The OBA calls on the province to provide greater clarity on who must do what, especially in the area of aboriginal consultation: “Clarifying the requirements for proponents, the role of government and the rights of stakeholders, including aboriginal groups, is increasingly crucial [...]

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Low Carbon Policies

May 11, 2012

Interested in some really good thinking on low carbon policies, that might help lead to the future that Amory Lovins describes? Katie Sullivan of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) offers :

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Approvals reform making progress

May 10, 2012

What are Ontario’s biggest obstacles to job creation? According to employers contacting the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the Ministry of the Environment is usually on their top 5 list.  And approvals problems (including delay) are high among them. Approvals reform is just starting to help, though only for routine, low risk activities.

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BlackoutSpeakout: It worked for Wikipedia

May 9, 2012

BlackoutSpeakout: Canadian environmental organizations are using Wikipedia’s protest tactic of darkening their websites on June 4 to protest federal government 2012 Budget plans to slash environmental protection and environmental protest, anything that stands in the way of the oil sands and their pipelines.

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Quick Toronto hearings on Aggregate Resources Act

May 8, 2012

The Ontario Aggregate Resources Act governs development of aggregates like gravel, sand, clay, earth, and stone. Most of the aggregate resources produced in Ontario are used for construction, but they are also important for many other industries. In light of controversial proposals to create ever larger quarries, such as the so-called “Mega Quarry” in Melancthon Township, [...]

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Reinventing Fire: Amory Lovins

May 7, 2012

Reinventing Fire is Amory Lovins’ new TED talk on a smart 50 year energy plan. He shows how the US (and Canada) can choose to save $5 trillion, improve national security, increase jobs, reduce carbon emissions, and stop subsidizing its enemies by getting off oil and coal.  How? Conserve, and switch to renewables, on a [...]

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On a personal note

May 3, 2012

Some of you have asked for the occasional personal post. So, here is an email I just received from a small Mayan synagogue in Guatemala for whom I sewed a Torah cover, in my “spare time”. The Torah cover was dedicated last weekend.

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Oil, dissent, and environment

May 2, 2012

Many Canadians are horrified by the knee-capping of environmental charities, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Fisheries Act in last week’s Federal Budget. These are changes that will really matter.

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Creative sentencing- brilliant or cheap?

May 1, 2012

The same debate recurs every few years: Are “creative” alternatives to conventional fines a brilliant innovation? Or just another way for corporate polluters to get off cheaply?

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Winnipeg Consensus on clean energy policy

April 30, 2012

The overwhelming re-election of Alison Redford as Premier of Alberta last week has given a boost to the clean energy policy ambitions of the Winnipeg Consensus.

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Do we still have federal Environmental Assessment?

April 26, 2012

Resource project proponents should find it quicker, easier and cheaper to get permission to build what they want, with far less interference from the federal government, or those pesky environmental groups. The courts will eventually tell us whether they can so easily dispose of opposition from First Nations.

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Smith v. Inco: leave to appeal refused

April 26, 2012

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused Ellen Smith leave to appeal from the crushing dismissal of her class action against Inco. No reasons were given. Her lawyers now face a difficult hearing to determine how large a cheque they will have to write to Inco to pay for its legal costs, at trial and [...]

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OCA agrees: Ministry of Everything

April 26, 2012

When fly-rock from a blasting site hits a house, is that a “discharge” of a “contaminant” that must be immediately reported to the Ministry of the Environment Spills Action Centre? Ontario’s Court of Appeal says “yes”.

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