CALGARY — The Government of Alberta has released updated methane regulations as it seeks to achieve federal equivalency. Jan Gorski, senior analyst at the Pembina Institute, made the following comment: Read More
CALGARY – Ecojustice is intervening in another constitutional reference case brought by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, this time aimed at undermining the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) and its regulations.
Premier Kenney’s legal challenge is the most recent of a string of politically-motivated attacks on the environment and laws developed to defend the air, water, and land on which Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast depend. Read More
EDMONTON — SIMON DYER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to Teck Resources Limited’s decision to withdraw the Frontier project application: Read More
Edmonton — CPAWS welcomes the announcement by Teck Resources Limited CEO, Don Lindsay, that the company has withdrawn their application for the Frontier oil sands mine. In Teck’s letter to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Don Lindsay cites the need to address policy frameworks for tackling climate change and expresses urgent need to reduce global carbon emissions through carbon pricing and legislated caps for oil sands emissions. Read More
In December 2017, the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that renewed each Government’s commitment to monitoring environmental impacts of oil sands development through the Oil Sands Monitoring Program (OSMP). The MOU established the mutual intentions of both governments to continue to collaborate and be accountable for the design and implementation of an integrated monitoring, evaluation and reporting system. It also confirmed the joint commitment to revise and establish, in cooperation with Indigenous Communities in the oil sands region, effective mechanisms for Indigenous participation in the design, implementation and governance of the monitoring system. This includes development of a comprehensive, ongoing agreement (the Operational Framework Agreement, finalized September 21, 2018) that defines the governance and implementation model to guide the decision-making structure and processes, roles and responsibilities, and the monitoring, research mandate, and objectives of the OSMP. Read More
CALGARY – Environmental law group Ecojustice and the Pembina Institute are concerned about the potential climate impacts of the Teck Resources’ Frontier oilsands open pit mine, following the release of a Joint Review Panel report today that recommends its approval.
Despite finding that the mine would have significant adverse impacts on the environment – including the irreversible loss of 14,000 hectares of wetlands – the Panel concluded that those impacts are justified and that the project is in the public interest. Moreover, despite previous legal precedent, the Panel failed to recognize the adverse climate impacts or explain why the emissions impacts of this project are not significant. Read More
OTTAWA — Nichole Dusyk, senior analyst at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the House of Commons vote to amend Bill C-69: Read More
Ottawa – When House of Commons passed the Senate’s proposed amendments to Bill C-69, the federal government took an important step toward making good on its once-in-a-generation commitment to repair Canada’s broken environmental laws, says Ecojustice. Bill C-69 introduces the new Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which provides greater transparency in the environmental assessment process and more clearly-defined criteria for whether a project is in the public interest. Read More
Ottawa, Ont. – Last week, 26 leading environmental organisations from across the country sent a letter to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, outlining serious concerns with several components of the government’s new environmental assessment framework. Read More
