A B.C. judge has released two journalists arrested by RCMP at a pipeline protest camp last week. They were released after agreeing to comply with terms of an injunction designed to keep protesters away from a pipeline construction site. A Coastal GasLink lawyer explained that unlike the 27 others arrested, the journalists had a “justified reason to go back.” [node:read-more:link]
There was a 22 per cent surge in deforestation of Brazil’s Amazon Basin in the year ended last July, according to the government, which is led by President Jair Bolsonaro, a proponent of more development in the world’s largest rainforest. The government says 12,235 square kilometres were deforested between August 2020 and last July, the most since 2006. [node:read-more:link]
A First Nation in northwestern Ontario is accusing the Ontario government of illegally granting nine mineral exploration permits in traditional territory without consulting them as required by provincial legislation and the Constitution. “When the government issues mining permits behind our backs, that's not reconciliation,” says Grassy Narrows Chief Randy Fobister. “That's destruction.” [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. is awaiting the results of an environmental review before making any decisions on the Line 5 petroleum pipeline which carries Canadian products through Michigan, where the state government is bowing to environmental activists’ calls for a shutdown. [node:read-more:link]
Ben van Beurden, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, is confident that the petroleum giant can achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, he says, the company needs its “legacy” oil and gas cash flows to cover the costs of that transition. [node:read-more:link]
Some climate scientists and environmental advocates argue that nuclear power is the best hope of addressing climate change because its carbon emissions are limited. On the other hand, critics decry its huge startup costs and the perennial problem of long-term waste management. [node:read-more:link]
Canada will impose a hard cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today at the global climate summit in Glasgow. Emissions would decrease “at a pace and scale needed to reach net-zero by 2050,” he said, acknowledging that it would be “no small task.” [node:read-more:link]
The Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed that 109 containers fell from a burning cargo vessel during a storm off Vancouver Island last week. The foreign-registered ship’s owners originally estimated that 40 of the 1,000 on-deck containers had been lost but said Oct. 27 that only two are believed to contain dangerous goods. [node:read-more:link]
Canada's new Minister of Environment and Climate change, Montreal MP Steven Guilbeault, insists that he has no “secret” agenda despite his record as an environmental activitist and pipeline critic. He was responding Oct. 27 to concerns expressed by Alberta Premier Brian Kenney about the federal climate change agenda. “It's a government effort to tackle . . . what many consider one of humanity's greatest challenges,” he said. [node:read-more:link]
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is worried by the appointment of Montreal MP Steven Guilbeault as the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change. The former Greenpeace activist was arrested 20 years ago for scaling the CN Tower in Toronto as part of a climate change campaign and has been openly critical of some pipeline projects. Kenney says Guilbeault’s new cabinet role sends a “very problematic” message to Alberta. [node:read-more:link]
The Canadian Coast Guard is leading an investigation into a fire aboard a foreign container ship off the B.C. south coast. The blaze initially involved 10 containers of unknown cargo but 40 more fell overboard in choppy seas and the ship was still smoldering today. [node:read-more:link]
Michigan has been confirmed as the site of a U.S. Coast Guard National Center of Expertise to develop plans for emergency responses. Involving Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, the decision flows from a 2017 USCG warning that it was not prepared for a spill in the Great Lakes because most responses have been designed for salt-water environments. [node:read-more:link]
A new Arctic strategy published today would ban development of new hydrocarbon development in the region. The European Commission acknowledged that the EU still imports petroleum resources from the North but said it will work “towards a multilateral legal obligation not to allow any further hydrocarbon reserve development in the Arctic or contiguous regions.” [node:read-more:link]
Canada has invoked a dispute resolution process in a 1977 pipeline treaty with the U.S. in a bid to keep a critical Enbridge pipeline from being shut down. Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron carries nearly half of the fuel supply to Ontario and Quebec but Michigan’s governor, fearing a potential spill, revoked a 1953 operating permit. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau now says “Canada has raised its significance for Canadian economic and energy security at the highest levels of the U.S. federal government.” [node:read-more:link]
The federal government is being asked by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to provide $2 billion over the next three years – followed by $1 billion annually – to help its 2,000 members to guard against more climate-related events such as wildfires, extreme heat, drought and floods. [node:read-more:link]
