Water Matters has published their latest issue of the Water Log:
CALGARY — Alberta provincial court’s guilty verdict in the Syncrude ducks case confirms the need to eliminate toxic tailings ponds and the risks they pose, Ecojustice said today.
Some 1,600 ducks died after landing in a Syncrude tailings pond in April 2008. The pond’s bird deterrent systems were not in place at the time. Read More
AEN members weighed in on Friday's guilty verdict in the Syncrude ducks case. Both Sierra Club Canada and Ecojustice applauded the verdict, suggesting that the verdict further confirms the need to eliminate the toxic tailings ponds. The Pembina Institute's Simon Dyer, while calling the verdict "significant" and "positive", raises questions about the deterrent value and impact of the verdict in the broader context of the oil sands tailings ponds:
Since the incident, the amount of tailings (the toxic liquid waste produced by the oil sands extraction process) has steadily increased in volume by 200 million litres, or 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools, every day to now cover an area of 170 km2. It raises the question: Did the ducks die in vain?
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OTTAWA – Syncrude Canada Ltd. was found guilty today on federal and provincial charges and may now face fines of up to $800 000.
“It is great to see Syncrude charged as guilty under federal and provincial laws," said Sheila Muxlow, Interim Director of Sierra Club Prairie. "I just hope the federal and provincial governments see that it's time to shut these projects down and begin the transition towards a clean, green, renewable energy economy." Read More
The latest decision by Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) perpetuates the conditions that are threatening Alberta’s grizzly bear population, says Alberta’s environmental organizations. Read More
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, an AEN member group, is celebrating a victory with the recent announcement that the Alberta govenrment will list the grizzly bear as a threatened species. Read More
Sierra Club Canada and the more than 1200 participants in Action Grizzly Bear are commending Alberta's Sustainable Resource Development Minister, Mel Knight, and his Cabinet colleges for listing Alberta's grizzly bears as a Threatened Species under Alberta's Wildlife Act, a necessary step to recovery that was first recommended by the government's multi-stakeholder Endangered Species Conservation Committee in 2002. Read More
The Alberta government is not following its own recovery plan to protect the province’s grizzly bear population, which will likely lead to population decline
A new report analyzing current recovery efforts in Alberta indicates that the provincial government is not doing enough to protect one of the most threatened grizzly bear populations in North America. Recent research indicates that the grizzly bear population in Alberta is small and may be declining due to expanding networks of industrial access roads and the high levels of human-caused mortality that accompany them.
Read MoreIf you've been following the Syncrude duck death trial, check out this post by the Environmental Law Centre's Adam Driedzic. In it he answers common questions about the trial, and helps to clarify the implications of the pending verdict.
The prosecution has delivered its closing arguments in the case of R. v. Syncrude. Syncrude’s non-suit application was dismissed, and it will be forced to plead a defence against evidence that could see it convicted. The public interest this case has generated is warranted, but after two months of tar and feathers it can be hard to distinguish political debate about the oil sands from the actual legal issues.
The Alberta Wilderness Association's Nigel Douglas recently spoke on Friends of Banff National Park's Park Radio about Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight's recent comments on grizzly bears and AWA's subsequent letter "Alberta Government Can’t Afford to Protect Grizzly Bears".
