TYLER IRVING:  Last weekend, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced a new carbon target of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. This is a change from the figure of 20% below 2006 levels by 2020, which has been the Conservative government’s official target for the last three years. The announcement came as part of Canada’s commitments under the Copenhagen accord, which states that signatory countries must announce their revised carbon targets by January 31.

The new target brings Canada in line with the United States, which announced the exact same target one day earlier. However, environmentalists such as Greenpeace’s Dave Martin, say that the new target is weaker than the one it replaced. When benchmarked against the 1990 baseline used by most of the developed world, the old target would have resulted in a net decrease of 3%. Against the same baseline the new target actually results in a net increase in emissions of 2.5%.

Prentice defended the target, repeating his government’s commitment to align its efforts with those of the Obama administration. However, he offered no concrete details of his government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions. [ index ]

PETER STOCK:  This week, Environment Minister Jim Prentice warned energy companies and the Alberta government that he expected a cleaner approach to tar sands oil extraction.

In a speech in Calgary Prentice said “We have a lot of work to do. It is no secret, and should be no surprise, that the general perception of the oil sands is profoundly negative. That is true both within Canada and internationally,”

Prentice suggested that technology and government investment could help mitigate any harmful impacts of oilsands operations.

But he continued: “Absent this kind of Canadian leadership, we will be cast as a global poster child for environmentally unsound resource development. Canadians expect and deserve more than that.”

The minister’s apparently heightened sensitivity to Canada’s environmental image in the eyes of the world might have come about as a result of his ministry being the target of an international prank at last December’s Copenhagen climate conference. There a group associated with the nefarious guerilla pranksters the YesMen issued fake press releases on Ministery of the Environment letterhead falsely declaring Canada’s commitment to a 40% carbon emissions cut.

According to the Financial Post, the Mr Prentice said: “How we manage environmental issues post-Copenhagen will define Canada’s future and our reputation on the international stage.” [ index ]

TYLER IRVING:  Tensions between Quebec and the federal government on climate change continued to simmer this week. On Monday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice used his speck to a Calgary business audience to criticize the Quebec government’s decision last month to impose fines on automakers whose vehicles don’t meet emissions standards. According to Prentice, Quebec’s decision will raise the price of cars in that province and hurt consumers, while having little impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Quebec’s premier Jean Charest responded to the comments from his trade mission in India. He said that he didn’t think simply aligning policies with the United States was good for Canada, and that it was ridiculous to criticize Quebec action when no carbon reduction plan whatsoever is yet apparent from the federal government. He defended his province’s plan, which would see automakers fined up to $5000 for each vehicle that does not meet provincial emissions standards. The fines would only affect cars starting in the model year 2010 and would not begin to be imposed until 2016.

During the Copenhagen conference last December, Charest and other sub-national leaders conspicuously took a much stronger stance on carbon emissions than the federal government. Stephen Harper has publicly criticized Charest for airing a domestic dispute on the international stage. [ index ]

PETER STOCK: In a breakthrough for eco-conscious snackers, FritoLay this week announced the Canadian introduction of the first 100% compostable potoato chip bag.

According to a company press release, Frito-Lays SunChips brand will be packaged in three layers of renewable plant based material polylactic acid, or PLA.

“In order to continue to reduce our environmental impact as a company, finding sustainable packaging solutions was a must,” said Marc Guay, the President of Frito Lay Canada. “We know that environmentally-friendly packaging is a priority for Canadians. Using plant-based renewable materials to make packaging that will interact differently with the environment, represents the next small step in Frito Lay Canada’s environmental sustainability journey.”

In a hot active compost pile or bin, the bags apparently decompose completely in approximately 14 weeks. The PLA bags are seen as an improvement over other so-called biodegradable plastics. The problem with these earlier efforts was that instead of decomposing, they simply broke down into smaller pieces of plastic that never actually became organic matter. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING:  On Wednesday, the David Suzuki Foundation released a climate scorecard for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. The foundation gave the Games an overall rating of bronze for its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the massive sporting event.

While the report concluded that the Vancouver Games will “likely be remembered as among the greenest and most climate-friendly Olympics held so far,” it did point out some areas for improvement. It criticized the decision to invest $600 million in upgrades to the Sea to Sky highway rather than trying to improve the existing rail link between Vancouver and Whistler. The report also stated that the Games could do a better job engaging the public over climate change, and that the International Olympic Committee lacks a real commitment to address sustainability.

Nonetheless, the report had praise for the organizing committee’s use of clean energy sources, and innovative, energy-efficient buildings. The foundation estimates that emissions from the Games will be 15 percent lower than they would have been under a business-as-usual approach. The committee’s Vice-President of Sustainability, Linda Coady, accepted the award with thanks, adding that since the games haven’t started yet, there may still be time to change the colour of the medal. [ index ]

PETER STOCK: According to Reuters Canada, an environmental assessment report by the Joint Review Panel may have thrown a wrench into the plans for the proposed $16.2billion dollar Mackenzie gas pipeline in the North West Territories.

The Joint Review Panel is a group of seven impartial citizens selected on the basis of their knowledge and expertise.

Among the 176 recommendations in their otherwise positive assessment of the project, the review panel cited conerns about the impact of noise on the Kendall Island Bird sanctuary through which the pipeline will partially run. The report recommended limiting noise levels to 50 decibels 300 meters from the pipeline.

Imperial Oil, one of the project’s lead investors, says that this standard has proven impossible to achieve. They are urging regulators to reject the recommendation, adding that many of the Panels recommendations are “far-reaching and apply to activities that are not associated with the Mackenzie Gas Project.”

Before the National Energy Board approves the project, the panel also recommended an analysis of the impact of climate change on facilities buried in permafrost, monitoring grizzly bear dens and assessing if alcohol and drug abuse programs in the sparsely populated region are adequate. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING:  This week, Quebec premier Jean Charest’s trade mission to India had to contend with heavy criticism over the exporting of asbestos to developing nations.

The trouble started last Friday, when a letter signed by 100 scientists from 28 countries arrived in the premier’s office. It accuses Quebec of having a double standard by promoting the use of asbestos abroad and yet using virtually none of it domestically. The letter urged the province to stop mining and exporting the material. In Mumbai, the trade mission was dogged by protests organized by Indian trade unions and activists, many of whom are workers who suffer from asbestos-related diseases.

Asbestos, also known as chrysotile, is a form of fibrous silicate mineral known for its use as a flame retardant and insulating agent in building materials. Inhalation of asbestos fibres has been linked to a number of lung ailments, and the substance is considered a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Although it has been banned in many countries, it continues to see wide use in developing nations where health and safety standards are less stringent.

The head of the Chrysotile Institute, an industry lobby group, insists that the product can be used effectively if the fibres are properly contained in cement. Nevertheless, the fact remains that almost all of the approximately 175,000 tonnes of asbestos mined each in Quebec is exported to developing countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Figures from Quebec’s own Workers Health and Safety Board show that in 2009, 60% of workplace-related deaths were linked to asbestos. [ index ]

PETER STOCK:  Responsibility for mulitple failures to contain a ruptured BC pipeline lies squarely with its operator, EnCana. That, according to the Globe and Mail, was the finding of an investigation released this week by by the province’s Oil and Gas Commission.

The rupture occurred on November 22nd of 2009 near Pouce Coupe in Northern BC. The leak was not brought under control until 8 hours after it occurred and 2 hours after EnCana detected it. By that time 30,000 cubic meters of gas containing 62 hundred parts per million of hyrdrogen sulphide had drifted across local farmland, flushing local families from their beds

The report says that not only did EnCana’s pipeline fail structurally, but the emergency shutoff valve didn’t stop the leak and the company then failed to follow its own safety-response plan by neglecting to promptly notify the Provincial Emergency Program.

The PEP is responsible for coordinating emergency evacuations. But, by they time they were on the scene in the late morning, the 15 local farm families affected, some having noticed the gas smell as early as 2:30 AM, had already cleared out.

Steve Simons, spokesperson for the BC Oil and Gas Commission said he could not understand why EnCana had not alerted the PEP until after the well had been shut down. The incident happened in an area near several recent pipeline bombings.

At a news conference in Calgary, Encana vice president Mike Mcallister sad they were very sorry this happened. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: Dr. Michael Mann has been cleared by an academic board of inquiry at Pennsylvania State University on charges of scientific misconduct. Dr. Mann came under scrutiny as one of the researchers whose e-mails were stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia last year. Those e-mails contained correspondence between climate scientists which climate change sceptics point to as evidence that scientists were fabricating evidence of global warming. In Dr. Mann’s case, he was scrutinized for an e-mail in which he refers to using a “trick” to amalgamate climate data from different sources. Sceptics highlighted this as an improper manipulation of data. In its conclusions on whether Dr. Mann did in fact improperly manipulate data, the board of inquiry stated “The so-called trick was nothing more than a statistical method used to bring two or more different kinds of data sets together in a legitimate fashion by a technique that has been reviewed by a broad array of peers in the field”. While the board did clear Dr. Mann of scientific misconduct, it has yet to rule whether his behaviour undermined public confidence in the field and the University. Of note is the fact that the hacked e-mails also implicated Dr. Mann in purposely interfering with information requests for climate data. The Privacy Commissioner of the UK found last month that researchers there broke laws pertaining to the Freedom of Information Act. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: France has recently joined other European countries in support for a ban on the fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna. According to environmental groups, the bluefin tuna have been extensively overfished, and a scientific report from last year estimated that the current number of bluefin tuna is down to 15% of its historical levels. All of this has raised fears that the bluefin tuna may soon be fished to extinction if no action is taken. Last year, the government of Monaco proposed that the bluefin tuna be protected by classifying it as an Appendix I endangered species under the CITES treaty, which governs trade in threatened species. France now joins Monaco and other European nations including Sweden and Italy in supporting a ban to save the species and, hopefully, the fishery. This news comes ahead of a general meeting of the 175 signatories to the CITES treaty next month in Qatar, and raises the possibility of a unified support for the ban from the 27 delegates of the European Union. Such a ban is likely to be opposed by the United States, as well as Japan which supplies the majority of the demand for bluefin tuna. France’s support for the ban does have conditions, however. It proposes implementing an 18-month delay on the ban, which would allow for two more fishing seasons, and would only ban the sale of bluefin tuna caught by purse seine fishing, the most common method. Though environmental groups have applauded the move as a step in a positive direction, they object to the 18-month delay, saying the poor state of the fishery demands an immediate ban. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, proposed the establishment of a global ‘Green Fund’ to help nations cope with the effects of climate change. The IMF already grants loans to poor and developing countries to aid with development. As climate change raises sea levels and affects rainfall patterns, nations will have to cope. At a panel discussion, Strauss-Kahn highlighted that poor and developing nations would be hard-pressed to find the money to adapt to these changes. A prospective green fund could provide financial assistance to mitigate negative changes and promote environmentally-responsible development. Strauss-Kahn proposed that the fund could reach 100-billion dollars per year. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: A study published this week has found that the growth of trees in the Eastern United States has accelerated. The study, published in the journal PNAS by scientists at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, analyzed the growth of trees from temperate forests in Maryland over the last 22 years. They found that the trees were growing faster than in previous years, and that an acre of forest grew an additional two tonnes of biomass per year than normal. The study correlated the increase in tree growth with higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, as well as longer growing seasons due to higher temperatures. These correlations strongly suggest that climate change is behind their findings. [ index ]