E-Sierran!
michael matthys
|
E-Sierran |
|
|
In This Issue: · The Brief · Action Alerts · Climate Change · Tar Sands · Fracking · Renewable Energy · Government & Politics · Healthy Communities · Blogs
Connect With Us:
Subscribe to our E-Sierran Emails by clicking here
|
The Brief Greetings Sierrans, issues of note from this edition include the proposal of a new coal fired power plant in Alberta and Alberta’s flawed proposal to reduce carbon emissions through carbon capture. The power plant, proposed by Maxim Power, would severely impede Canada’s efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Read more about the issue here.
Alberta is one of the few governments world-wide that hopes to incorporate unproven Carbon Capture technology into their plans to reduce greenhouse gases. With $285 million in funding the program is a reckless expenditure of taxpayer money. Read more here.
The Edmonton group of the Sierra Club Canada has been active in the re-purposing of the decommissioned Epcor power plant near Rossdale. As part of a series of stakeholder consultation meetings with the City of Edmonton, the proceedings of the session will eventually be used to compile a proposal for Council on the future use of the site. You can read a summary of our teams efforts here. The Executive Committee will debate the report on Oct 5, and the report should be released a few days before. The meeting is open to the public and interested parties are invited to attend.
On September 19, the Edmonton group advocated for a complete ban on non-essential pesticide use within Urban areas—including public parks, and private lawns and gardens. At issue is a report that was directed to the City’s Park department studying the impacts of reduced pesticide use. The trouble, as noted by our representative, Charles Richmond, as well as other activists, was that the report focused exclusively on the impacts of reduced pesticide use on weed control and not the impacts of pesticide on humans. Sierra Club Prairie requested the report be received for information and that a separate motion be made requesting Administration provide a report addressing the impacts of pesticide use on human and environmental health and welfare. Councilors were unable to reach consensus so a motion on the report—requiring further review, or endorsing its findings—is forthcoming. More to come on this issue. Action AlertsDear Friend, We are asking you to show solidarity with asbestos victims in the Third World and support the campaign to demand the Canadian government ban asbestos mining and exports. Asbestos kills over 100,000 people every year, and Canada is a major player in the death-dealing industry.
Climate ChangeA coal fired power plant and the lie of the land Stephen Harper can’t allow new coal-fired electricity plants to be built, such as the one Maxim Power is proposing in Alberta, and achieve his promise to reduce Canadian greenhouse-gas emissions 17 per cent by 2020. As a researcher of energy-economy systems, I say this with virtual certainty. I also know that any scholar in my field would agree with me, and that the Prime Minister’s expert advisers would tell him the same thing. The reasons are simple.
Bureaucrats urged Kent to take global warming seriously Global warming is the world’s greatest environmental challenge and Canada is falling behind the United States in reducing the pollution from industry that is causing the problem, say newly released briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent. Tar SandsCanada says oil, gas industry organized PR strategy for oilsands OTTAWA — Natural Resources Canada says a powerful oil and gas industry lobby group was responsible for organizing a key meeting and some controversial messaging, in partnership with government, to polish the image of Alberta's oilsands industry. In newly released emails and internal records, department officials said the strategy to "turn up the volume" and get "the right attitude" on oilsands advocacy was actually proposed by high-ranking officials from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers during a March 2010 meeting involving senior federal and Alberta government officials, as well CEOs from oil and gas companies.
Fake Twitter accounts used to promote tar sands pipeline Someone in the oil industry appears to be resorting to astroturfing to bolster support for the controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta down to Texas if approved by the Obama administration. The Rainforest Action Network thinks the American Petroleum Institute and its oil lobby allies are behind a slew of fake Twitter accounts designed to prop up public opinion about the pipeline. Province investing $285 million in Carbon Capture and Storage Chelsea Flook, a spokesperson for Sierra Club Prairie, an environmental group, said the entire carbon capture program is the wrong direction.
FrackingFracking: Let’s heed these
protestor’s concerns The
provincial government would be wise to heed the protesters who rallied
recently in front of Province House to express their concerns about hydraulic
fracturing as a means of exploring natural gas. Islanders are fully dependent
on groundwater, and government should always err on the side of caution when
it comes to protecting it.
Renewable Energy Wind power could blow Hudak away On the surface, it’s easy to interpret Energy Minister Brad Duguid’s move to make it difficult for a future Tory government to kill some 1,800 pending wind energy projects as an attempt to entrench Liberal policies ahead of a defeat. But it’s just as likely part of the Liberals’ search for a wedge issue like the one they exploited so well in 2007, when then-Progressive Conservative leader John Tory lost his grip on the campaign over his promise to extend funding to faith-based schools. Government & PoliticsNorwood [ON] calls for exemption of sub-national governments from CETA Norwood Ontario has passed a resolution calling on the provinces and the federal government "to negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for local governments" from the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. Like other municipalities, Norwood is concerned the CETA agreement will impact their ability to procure goods and services locally and that they would loose their ability to control their own water and waste facilities. Read more at the Community Press. Healthy CommunitiesBiking to the BEAT Just admit it. You could probably add more physical activity into your daily life. In the winter time, it's easy to blame our sedentary lives on the weather. It's too cold in Canada. Or it's been raining for the 29th consecutive day in Vancouver. Slowly but surely, less exercise can lead to larger numbers on the bathroom scale. The Built Environment & Active Transportation (BEAT) initiative focuses on design changes in our surroundings that can help us incorporate those important bouts of physical activity into our daily lives, rain or shine. BlogsPlanned Cuts to Environment Assessment Agency Could Leave Gulf Open to Oil and Gas New Glasgow, NS- Plans to slash the budget of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency budget to a paltry $17 million alarmed a coalition of community, fisheries, and Aboriginal groups engaged in protecting the Gulf of St. Lawrence from oil and gas. I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely shocked Canada's energy ministers met in Kananaskis this week. This was the first meeting since the meltdown of the Fukushima reactor in Japan. The first since the unprecedented floods in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Québec. The first since 900 temperature records were set in the United States. The first since the Town of Slave Lake was nearly destroyed by a wild fire.
Erickson decision: wind turbines can be built in Ontario Wind turbines can be built in Ontario, despite opponents’ claims of adverse health effects. But more studies are warranted about how far they should be set back. That’s the bottom line of today’s Erickson decision of theEnvironmental Review Tribunal under the Environmental Protection Act.
|