Tyler Irving: On Tuesday, about 1000 demonstrators gathered outside Queen’s Park to protest the construction of new natural gas power plants in Oakville, just west of Toronto. The plants are scheduled to be built just off Royal Windsor Drive in the southeast part of the city. That would put them less than 400 metres from a residential neighbourhood that includes a school.

The protest was organized by a group called “Citizens for Clean Air” and was attended by many public figures, including Oakville’s mayor Rob Burton, Toronto Argonaut Michael “Pinball” Clemons, and Liberal MPP Kevin Flynn. Mr. Flynn said his boss, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, is willing to take a second look at the issue. Mr. Flynn also said he will introduce a private member’s bill next week that will create a 1.2 km buffer zone between any new power plant and residential buildings. However, the law would only apply to new projects, and would not stop the Oakville plant.

Premier McGuinty told reporters that while it’s always a challenge to find sites for power plants, the province needs the new generation and that the plant will go ahead as scheduled. He said his main focus is addressing the public’s concerns over safety and health effects. That may prove difficult; many protesters cited an explosion that occurred a few weeks ago at a natural gas power plant in Connecticut, killing 5 people. If the plant goes ahead, it is expected to be operational by 2014. [ index ]

Shak Haq: Wednesday’s speech from the throne referred to a “commitment to principled policy, backed by action …” regarding climate change. However, few measures were mentioned directly in the federal budget announcements related to reducing Canada or the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The “Next Generation Renewable Power Initiative” aims to set aside $100 million over four years for clean energy projects in the forestry sector. The government will put $18.4 million over two years into Canada’s annual reporting on environmental indicators and $8 million annually for an ongoing program to protect the Great Lakes.

However, other environmental programs are set to lose funding. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency will no longer conduct assessments on major energy projects, if they are already undergoing review by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The production incentive for producers of clean energy such as wind and hydroelectricity is not being renewed. Climate Action Network Canada had estimated Canada should be spending $320 million to $420 million a year over the next two years to comply with the promise it made at the Copenhagen climate talks to help the developing world cut emissions. That promise was reiterated in the throne speech, but no money was earmarked in the budget.

Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, did not mention climate change at any point in his budget speech despite him describing it in the past was one of the major challenges of the age. [ index ]

Tyler Irving: Almost two years after the death of 1600 ducks at a tailings pond operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd., the trial is underway.

On April 28, 2008, Todd Powell, a senior wildlife biologist working for the Alberta government, was called to Syncrude’s Aurora site, just outside Fort McMurray. He discovered hundreds of ducks covered in bitumen that floated on the top of the tailings pond, which itself was filled with toxic effluent. While workers at the site were able to rescue and clean three of the ducks, the rest either drowned, were killed by predators, or were euthanized by Mr. Powell. Pictures taken by Mr. Powell appeared in court this week.

Syncrude is charged being negligent and failing to protect migratory birds under both federal and provincial legislation. Robert White, a lawyer for the company, argues that the ducks were migrating earlier than usual that year, and that a freak snowstorm prevented the deployment of scarecrows and air cannons that are normally used to scare birds away from the site. Those measures are now employed year-round. Mr. White characterized the situation as mistake from which the company has learned, rather than a crime for which it should be punished. Syncrude pleaded not guilty to the charges last fall.

Two months of time are reserved for the trial, which is taking place in St. Albert, Alberta. If convicted, Syncrude could face fines of up to $800,000. [ index ]

Shak Haq: Every spring, a hunt on black bears and grizzly bears takes place near Vancouver Island. Kermode bears, also known as Spirit bears, are white-coated genetic variation of black bears. Their population is concentrated in an area known as the Great Bear Rainforest, on the central coast north of Vancouver Island. Approximately one in 10 black bears carry the recessive gene that would give their cubs white fur. Although hunting is allowed in only 2 per cent of the rainforest, hunters can legally shoot black bears, which could include those carrying the recessive gene.

Official estimates of the Spirit bear population are around 400, however according to Doug Neasloss, a bear viewing guide, he estimates the population to be around 200. Neasloss claims shooting the bears is fairly easy in the rainforest as bears are accustomed to a human presence due to the tourists that pass through.

Using media momentum from the Olympics, a collection of environmental groups from Canada, Sweden, Croatia, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and the U.S. bought full-page ads in local Vancouver newspapers decrying the bear hunt. The ads read: “There is one sport that British Columbia does not want the world to know about,” which is written over a picture of a grizzly bear with a bull’s-eye on its shoulder.

The bear hunt sparks controversy because of declining bear populations that were thought to be linked to poor salmon runs. A coastal grizzly and black bear study will resume this spring after the bears emerge from hibernation. [ index ]

Tyler Irving: On Monday, British Columbia’s Information & Privacy Commissioner ruled that records of sea lice infestations in salmon farms could no longer be kept private. The ruling was welcome news to environmental groups such as the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation and Ecojustice, who have been trying to get access to the records since 2004.

The data on sea lice infestations was initially gathered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands from visits to open-net salmon farms along the province’s West Coast. Despite Freedom of Information requests from environmental groups, the Ministry chose not to release the data to the public. The Ministry said that the companies have supplied the information in confidence and disclosure could bring harm to them. This sentiment was echoed by the salmon farming company Mainstream, who said that environmental groups would distort the data and use it to destroy their reputation. Many environmental activists suspect that sea lice that breed on salmon farms contributed to the disappearance of about 10 million wild salmon that were due to return to their breeding grounds last summer. However, the Commissioner ruled that possible misuse or distortion is not a valid reason to withhold data from the public.

Other companies, such as Marine Harvest, already post sea lice data on their website, and have no plans to challenge the ruling. The Ministry has 30 days to either make the data available to the public, or challenge the commissioner’s ruling in court. [ index ]

Shak Haq: The Durham Region’s plan for a $272 million energy-from-waste facility continues to move forward after the Ministry of the Environment released its environmental assessment study deeming the project as favourable. This facility marks the province’s first energy-from-waste facility in 20 years and would burn about 140,000 tonnes of trash a year. It is a joint project with York Region and would be built near Courtice Rd. and Highway 401.

Newcastle family physician Debra Jefferson is among the opponents to this plan. According to Jefferson, health and air quality will be affected ultimately leading to increased cancer rate, reproductive problems, learning disabilities, and premature death. Jefferson states that the Durham Region already suffers from the second highest incidence of asthma in Ontario.

The Ministry called the facility a “benefit” to communities and claimed, “any potential negative impacts will be minimized and managed.”

However, according to Newcastle resident and educator Wendy Bracken, only a handful of pollutants would be monitored, the most harmful of those being measured once a year. She noted that the Halton Region decided against an incinerator because of the potential negative effect on the community’s health.

Despite heated opposition to the facility, residents have found no support from their political representatives at all levels. After a period for public comments ending on April 2, the proposal goes back to the Ministry of the Environment for final approval. [ index ]

Tyler Irving: Last week, Montreal-based waste-to-fuel company Enerkem Inc. announced a partnership with Waste Managment Inc. to finance expansion of its operations.

Enerkem uses a proprietary thermo-chemical process to generate ethanol from waste products. Currently, its main feedstock is old telephone poles, but the technology could be adapted to use other forms of municipal waste, including some non-recyclable plastics. Currently, the company operates one plant in Westbury, Quebec, but it has plans to create a new facility in Edmonton in the coming year, and has also reached a deal with the United States to open a plant in Mississippi.

Although the latest $50 million investment was a joint venture between many firms, the involvement of Waste Management is significant. The Houston-based company is the North American leader in collection, transportation, and storage of waste. Currently Waste Management own and operates 273 landfills across the continent, and is increasingly investing in waste-to-fuel operations like Enerkem. It already harvests natural gas from 115 of its sites, and aims to add 55 more in the coming months. [ index ]

Shak Haq: Commercial honeybee colonies on southern Vancouver Island are dying off at alarming rates this past winter leaving beekeepers in the region scrambling to rebuild their devastated stocks in time for spring. According to Stan Reist, president of the B.C. Honey Producers Association, approximately 90-per-cent of the colonies have been lost. Many beekeepers are blaming the varroa mite, a parasite that began afflicting the Vancouver Island bee population around 1997, but this has yet to be confirmed as the cause for the recent declines. In 2007, the Island’s bee population was hit hard where about 65 per cent of hives died off. The number of commercial colonies has since dropped from 12,000 to 2,000. Part of the challenge for beekeepers is that the mites have developed a resistance to pesticides. Some beekeepers limited their losses to about 30 per cent last season by using organic acids to battle mite infestations.

These losses have left beekeepers looking to New Zealand and Chile for imported bees. However, Sol Nowitz, owner of Jinglepot Apiaries in Nanaimo, said bees imported from the southern hemisphere lack the genetic resistance to cold and disease they need for long-term survival in Canada. Mr. Nowitz, who has lost close to 260 of his 275 hives since 2007, called on the province to allow island apiaries to import “breeder queens” from elsewhere in Canada.

The bee colonies on the Island have suffered in recent years due to less than ideal climate conditions. The cold, wet winters weaken the bees’ resistance to disease and the hot, dry summers limit the amount of nectar blossoms can produce. When the quantity of nectar returning to the hive is low, the queens cut back on laying eggs as they would not be able to feed a larger colony. [ index ]

Bryant Boulianne: ##ibodyp1## [ index ]

Bryant Boulianne: You may have already heard of the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’: the giant swath of ocean in the North Pacific where floating plastic garbage has been accumulating for decades. But now, it’s becoming apparent that the Atlantic Ocean has a garbage patch of its own. The Pacific garbage patch is located within the North Pacific gyre; a circular ocean current which has acted to funnel floating debris into its centre. First predicted in the late 1980s, research over the last decade has shown that the patch has accumulated plastics and other floating garbage to high levels. Now, Karen Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole in the United States has looked over 22 years’ worth of data from plankton nets trawled in the North Atlantic to get an idea of garbage accumulation. Her results have found that in certain areas there are as many as 200,000 bits of garbage per square kilometre. Though some of the garbage is in the form of large pieces of debris, the majority is in the form of tiny particles of plastic that have broken down over time. This is worrisome to environmentalists, as tiny plastic particles are consumed by marine animals, allowing toxic chemicals to enter the food chain. This new research highlights the growing problem of ocean pollution. [ index ]

Bryant Boulianne: While the rest of the world is working hard to increase energy production from renewable sources, the Czech Republic may have to slow down, for the time being. The amount of electricity generated from solar power has increased in leaps in bounds in the Czech Republic, increasing by nearly 1700% from 2007 to 2008. This huge expansion of solar energy is in part due to the country’s innovative incentive program. While many countries offer tax incentives to get people to install solar panels to help power their own homes, the Czech government actually pays for any excess electricity exported to the power grid. This essentially means that homes and businesses can become mini-power generators if they can generate more electricity than they need. The bumper crop of solar energy that has ensued has engineers worried that the country’s current energy grid will be overloaded beyond capacity. This has led the state energy body to call for a suspension of new wind and solar connections to the grid until infrastructure upgrades can be made. [ index ]

Bryant Boulianne: A commonly used herbicide can change the gender of frogs, this according to a new study published in the journal PNAS. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that frogs housed in water contaminated with the herbicide atrazine began behaving abnormally. Some of the frogs, all of which were male, began behaving like females; even going so far as attempting to mate with other males. Further investigations found that some of these ‘feminized’ frogs generate viable eggs and were able to reproduce with other males. Of note is that the concentration of atrazine used by the researchers is comparable to what can be found in run-off from agricultural areas, and the effects on frogs occurred at concentrations less than the recommended limit for drinking water imposed by Health Canada. The herbicide was banned in Europe in 2004 due to evidence that it was contaminating and persisting in groundwater. It is legal for use in the US and Canada and remains one of the most commonly used herbicides worldwide. The study raises the question of what potential health effects atrazine may be having on human populations. [ index ]

Bryant Boulianne: The United States has declared that it will support a trade ban on the Atlantic bluefin tuna. This comes two weeks after France added its support to the growing number of nations in support for such a ban. Proponents argue the ban is needed in order to save the Atlantic bluefin tuna population from collapse. Such a ban on the fishery would take effect by listing the bluefin tuna as an appendix 1 species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. An appendix 1 listing would essentially prevent signatories from commercially selling the bluefin tuna. The 175 member nations of the CITES treaty will be meeting in Qatar later this month, and a two-thirds majority would be needed to approve the listing. A growing number of scientific and environmental groups have voiced concern that imminent action is needed to prevent the complete collapse of the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which has seen its numbers dwindle to critically low numbers over the last forty years. The new statement of support by the US has provided a huge boost to the bloc of nations hoping to get the listing approved. A notable opponent of such a move is Japan, which constitutes about 80% of the bluefin market. Japan has stated its intention to ignore such a ban if it is implemented. [ index ]