Tuesday, June 13, 2017 President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement is disappointing, outrageous and immoral. And it should surprise no one. We’ve seen time and again that countries with major fossil fuel industries are very reluctant to put the health of the planet ahead of their short-term economic
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Environmental Law Alert Blog: Here’s what we’re expecting from an NDP-Green BC government
Friday, June 2, 2017 After a surprising election result culminating in the announcement that the BC NDP and BC Greens will cooperate to bring in a new government, it makes sense to look forward to what we might expect on the environmental law front from a BC NDP government (supported
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How Teck Resources benefits from being the largest BC Liberal donor
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Revelations about the amount of corporate money coming to the BC Liberals have many people asking: what are these companies getting in return? It’s a good question. After all, corporations are not supposed to spend their shareholders’ money without a reasonable expectation of a return. In
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Government charges (finally) laid in Lemon Creek jet fuel spill – thanks to private prosecution
Friday, July 29, 2016
In 2013 a jet fuel truck operated by Executive Flight Centre, and servicing …
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Government charges (finally) laid in Lemon Creek jet fuel spill – thanks to private prosecution
In 2013 a jet fuel truck operated by Executive Flight Centre, and servicing BC Ministry of Forests firefighting efforts, plunged off a road in the Slocan Valley, crashing into the pristine Lemon Creek and dumping 33,000 litres into the river, compromising drinking water and killing fish. The province investigated, concluding that no charges were warranted. The case would have been closed, but for the efforts of Marilyn Burgoon, a resident of the Slocan Valley. Last Friday (July 22nd) a federally appointed prosecutor laid new charges against both Executive Flight Centre and the BC Government.
Photo courtesy of Valley Voice |
In 2013 a jet fuel truck operated by Executive Flight Centre, and servicing BC Ministry of Forests firefighting efforts, read more
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Poor mines enforcement undermines social licence
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
BC’s government accuses political opponents of being too keen to say “no” to development, but a recent report by B…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: How do we make the environment a top issue in Supernatural BC’s next election?
Thursday, May 26, 2016
One year to go until BC’s next election – what role will defending ou…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Not only #ExxonKnew about climate change, but its Canadian subsidiary #ImperialKnew too
Thursday, May 5, 2016
New documents reveal that the Canadian oil company Imperial Oil knew in the 1970s or earlier that burning fossil fuels caused climate …
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Mining good and bad news from a Mines Act announcement
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Good news and bad news on the environmental enforcement front from a recen…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: This is Canada’s weather on climate change, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Any questions?
Thursday, March 3, 2016
It’s amazing how invisible climate change can be – how we feel…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: TransCanada’s NAFTA claims are based on the old normal
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Earlier this month TransCanada announced that it would be claiming comp…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Demand a Carbon Budget to trim Canada’s Climate Deficit
Monday, January 18, 2016
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to sit down with premiers &ldq…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Talking climate justice in Paris
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
In the haggard, pre-Christmas weeks after the Paris climate negotiati…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: The Paris climate agreement is signed, now the hard work begins
Monday, December 14, 2015
An agreement has been reached in Paris, and myself and West Coast’…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Did Canada show up at the Paris climate talks with its pants on?
Friday, December 11, 2015
As a lawyer I’m supposed to be able to give a pundit’s opini…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Fort Nelson First Nation Shuts Down Nexen’s License to Frack
Friday, November 20, 2015
In September, the Fort Nelson First Nation won a major legal challenge a…
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Is our atmosphere critical infrastructure? The Canadian government responds
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 Recently we received a series of replies from the Canadian government to our suggestion that the global atmosphere was critical infrastructure, at least as essential to our national security as pipelines and highways.We learned that Public Safety Canada recognizes that climate change can have a huge
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Philippines human rights climate petition names Canadian, international fossil fuel companies
Thursday, October 15, 2015 In 2013 Typhoon Haiyan smashed into the Philippines, killing at least 6,300 people, and displacing an estimated 4 million people. On September 22nd, 2015, individuals and organizations in the Philippines filed a human rights petition (the “Petition”) alleging that 50 corporations, including 6 Canadian companies, are
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Mark Carney, Governor of Bank of England, on climate change lawsuits
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, and formerly Governor of the Bank of Canada, does know something about financial risk. And when he was asked to speak to Lloyd’s of London, he chose to talk about the financial risks of climate change, including (and
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Water win against logging giant leaves many unanswered questions
Monday, September 21, 2015 Even though water has been at the heart of logging conflicts in BC for many years, it is very rare that logging companies are actually made to pay financially when they harm watercourses. That’s why a rare out-of-court settlement announced this past week between logging giant,
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