TYLER IRVING: Ontario’s Environment Commissioner Gord Miller is “very concerned” that media controversy and public confusion over the so-called eco-fees could jeopardize the future of waste diversion in Ontario.

In a special report released Tuesday, the commissioner emphasized that the idea of making producers responsible for the environmental costs of their products is “a good plan that should not be scrapped.” However, he criticized the rollout of the program, particularly the decision of some retailers to pass these costs on to consumers as a separate line item. Charging in this way, he said, gave the impression that the fee was a tax on recycling, which was not the case. He also said that the fees should be adjusted to more accurately reflect the environmental cost of individual products.

Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted there were problems with implementation of the program, and welcomed the recommendations of the report. Currently, eco-fees are suspended while the government and Stewardship Ontario carry out a 90-day retooling of the Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste Program. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Ontario, Quebec, and British Colombia moved a bit closer to a regional cap-and-trade program this week, by releasing a draft plan on what such a program might look like.

The plan was released under the auspices of the Western Climate Initiative, an 11-member group of provinces and U.S. states committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions within their borders. However, only 5 of these members, including the aforementioned provinces, are currently committed to implementing the plan by their self-imposed 2012 deadline.

The plan builds on a similar document released two years ago. While it provides some new details, it is vague on specifics, such as the price per tonne of carbon emitted. Part of this is due to the inherent flexibility the agreement is designed to have; although all jurisdictions will be working from the same blueprint, they will draft their own individual regulations. However, there is also some doubt as to whether or not the coalition will hold together; several state legislatures are pressuring their governors to withdraw from the agreement. The draft plan comes less than a week after the U.S. senate set aside a climate change bill to focus on legislation aimed at cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Canadian company Enbridge is working frantically to contain an oil leak from one of its pipelines.

The pipeline runs from Griffith, Indiana to Sarnia, ON, carrying 30 million litres of crude per day. The leak occurred on Monday near Battle Creek, Michigan, and is estimated to have released 3.7 million litres of crude into a tributary of the Kalamazoo river. The oil quickly coated Canada geese and other birds in the area, while dead fish floated to the top of the creek. Two homes near the source of the leak were evacuated.

Enbridge has closed off the pipeline and deployed over 400 workers to contain and clean up the oil using booms, oil skimmers, and vacuum trucks. Local conservation groups and government officials involved as well, and Michigan has enacted its emergency operations centre. However, the oil is still advancing down the river, and environmentalists warn of a disaster if it hits Lake Michigan. Workers have also begun digging up the pipe to determine the cause of the leak, which is as yet unknown.  [ index ]

CHRIS HANNAY: Microscopic marine plants are steadily disappearing from the world’s oceans, according to a new study by researchers from Dalhousie University. These phytoplankton’s population has been declining about 1 per cent a year, or about 40 per cent have disappeared since 1950. The phytoplankton form the basis of the ocean’s food chains, and are the main diet of tiny animals called zooplankton, which are then eaten by small fish and other sea creatures. Like all food chains, stress on one link can have an effect on all the other animals – even up to large marine creatures, such as whales. Phytoplankton also supply about half of the world’s atmospheric oxygen.

So what’s making the phytoplankton steadily vanish? According to the researchers, it’s probably warmer oceans. Phytoplankton live higher up in the oceans closer to the surface, where they can get sunlight needed for photosynthesis. But phytoplankton also need nutrients, which tend to settle in the colder, deeper layers. As the climate changes and oceans get warmer, the layers of water of different temperatures become stratified, and the layers don’t mix as much – meaning fewer nutrients from the bottom get up to the top, where the phytoplankton need them.

The research was published in two studies in this week’s edition of Nature. [ index ]

CHRIS HANNAY: State of the Climate report indicate 2000s were the hottest decade on record. Our oceans – and the rest of Earth – are indeed getting warmer, according to this year’s State of the Climate report, from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The annual report is compiled from data collected by 300 scientists across 48 countries. The scientists measured various indicators, from temperature, sea ice and precipitation, to humidity and cloud cover.
The report concludes that the 2000s were the hottest decade on record – the third decade in a row to top the previous decade’s temperature.

It appears that more than 90 per cent of this warming is going to the oceans, which retain the heat longer than air. As the oceans warm, they also expand – contributing to higher sea levels, along with melting glaciers. The report also highlights many instances of extreme weather in 2009, such as unusual rainfall, more tropical cyclones in the central Pacific and multiple intense heat waves in Australia. The report does not speculate on what could be causing the warming climate. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Last week, we reported on the media circus that was ignited in Ontario over the so-called “eco-fees” that were expanded to 13 new categories of items on July 1. This week, Environment Minister John Gerretsen took the program back to the drawing board. He cancelled the fees and announced a 90-day period during which the program will be re-tooled.

The program mandates an industry organization called Stewardship Ontario to collect fees from manufacturers or retailers that sell products with hazardous ingredients, such as batteries, solvents, and pesticides. The fees pay for programs that co-ordinate collection, recycling, and safe disposal of the products, keeping them out of landfills. However, the program was plagued by confusion and misunderstandings over how the fees were meant to applied, as well as public anger over the lack of warning before they kicked in.

During the next three months, the government will work with Stewardship Ontario to make the program less complex and more transparent. In the absence of any fees, the program will receive $5 million of government money to keep it afloat. In a news release, the environment ministry repeated its commitment to “develop a new system that works for consumers.” [ index ]

CHRIS HANNAY: The planned Keystone Pipeline to transport crude oil from the Alberta oil sands to refineries in the United States has hit another roadblock.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is recommending against building the pipeline, because it says the environmental impact would be excessive.
According to the EPA’s calculations, refining crude brought in from the Alberta oil sands would produce 82 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than the average crude refined in the States.
The EPA also questions the timeline of the project, in a letter to the U.S. State department.
The agency notes that the pipeline is being built based on projections of what the country’s oil needs will be over the next fifty years.
But with more fuel-efficient vehicles and alternate energy sources, that demand could go down.
In the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast and its rather long clean-up, the EPA also says there are inadequate plans at the moment for how to deal with something similar happening to the Keystone Pipeline.
This letter is part of a broader effort by the EPA in recent months to regulate carbon emissions.
The agency is believed to be taking a harder stand because of how federal climate legislation has stalled.
The Alberta government is supportive of pipeline construction, and says it will boost the province’s economy. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Sylvie Lemieux has declared that she wants to be the next leader of the Green Party of Canada, and she could contest the position by the end of the year.

According to the party’s constitution, a leadership contest must be held every four years, which means Elizabeth May’s term would end in August. However, a fall federal election currently looks likely, and many within the party feel that having a leadership race this summer would leave the party unprepared. Members are currently voting on a resolution that would delay a leadership race until after an election is held.

Ms. Lemieux, however, has stated publicly that she hopes the resolution fails. The former army lieutenant colonel ran for the Green Party in the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russel, just outside of Ottawa, in the 2008 election. She says holding a leadership campaign now would generate public interest in the party and bring in more members. If elected leader, Ms. Lemieux said her goal would be to increase the party’s appeal among mainstream Canadians.

Party members have until August 2 to vote on the resolution that would keep Ms. May at the helm. The party’s annual convention will be held in Toronto on August 20-22. [ index ]

CHRIS HANNAY: More natural habitat will be under the protection of the Canadian government.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada added five new projects to protect land across Canada.
The areas include small habitats in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The largest acquisition was the Rockland Bay property near Stettler, Alberta, just east of Red Deer.
The 60 hectares were purchased for $380,000, most of which came from Environment Canada.
Some of these properties are home to wetlands and water fowl, while others are sites needing new tree planting.
The Forestry Silviculture Initiative in the South Nation watershed region of Ontario is getting funding to plant 2,000 tree seedlings and 200 pounds of wild rice over 540 hectares of land.
The government says this is part of its contribution to International Year of Biodiversity.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada announced a slew of other projects last month, in advance of Canada Day. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Officials in Prince Edward Island’s Department of the Environment have begun a long-term investigation into anoxia, a condition that is killing off sections of the province’s waterways and appears to be on the rise.

Anoxia begins when large amounts of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are washed into rivers. These nutrients cause rapid blooms of algae, which soon overwhelm the river. As the algae die, they are digested by microorganisms which use up all the oxygen in the water. The low oxygen conditions can last for days, and lead to the deaths of fish and river invertebrates.

Anoxia events have increased in duration and frequency over the last decade. Fifteen rivers in PEI have experienced anoxic events at some point in the last year. Last week, thousands of dead fish washed up on shore of the Montrose river after a heavy rain. While the cause of the fish kill has not been determined, many environmentalists suspect that nutrients from farmland were washed into the river.

The Environment Department aims to work with land owners to determine the cause of the problem. The study will continue until December. [ index ]

CHRIS HANNAY: And in other oil sands news, the battle for public opinion has been in full force lately.
Last week, a group of American environmentalists began their “Rethink Alberta” campaign.
The campaign features a website and bombastic billboards in four U.S. cities, including Denver, Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis.
The campaign calls the Alberta oil sands the “Other Oil Disaster,” comparing it to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and urging American tourists not to visit Alberta.
The campaign is run by a group called Corporate Ethics International, who say the billboards were put in cities with the highest number of U.S. visitors to Alberta.
The campaign aims to hurt the province’s tourism industry.
Of course, the Alberta government isn’t happy about the campaign and is using its own tactics.
This week, it hosted a guided tour of the oil sands for U.S. legislators.
One politician, a Democratic member of Oregon’s state legislature, said in a statement:
“I am more comfortable buying oil from Alberta, which shares similar environmental goals with the U.S., than from foreign sources.” [ index ]

NAOMI JEHLICKA: In addition to being the largest man-made environmental disaster in recent history, the BP oil spill has also emerged as the greatest public relations catastrophe ever faced by the oil industry.

As a response to the public relations’ blunders, four of the five richest oil companies in the world announced a jointly funded 1 billion USD commitment to create a rapid-response system that would capture and contain oil in the event of a future underwater well blow out.

Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell promised this Thursday that the money will be invested in the research, development, and construction of oil containment equipment.

Furthermore, a non profit organization called the Marine Well Containment Company will be created and tasked with using the equipment if needed.

The companies involved are hoping that this initiative will renew the trust of the American public and dodge a series of industry-unfriendly bills currently being debated in Congress.  Sources also note that the companies are hoping these actions will lift the drilling moratorium, which is costing the energy market millions in lost revenue each day. [ index ]

NAOMI JEHLICKA: This past Monday, the Zoological Society of London reported that researchers from the University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka successfully photographed a male Horton Plains slender loris, a pug-eyed tree dwelling primate long thought to be extinct.

For the first time since 1959, the primate was sighted during a night excursion in the Sri Lanken forest in 2002. A search team was immediately dispatched, but didn’t get a photo of the animal until eight years later.

The Horton Plains slender loris is approximately 20 centimetres long and weighs around 310 grams.  It was thought to be extinct after British colonialists cleared large tracts of the Sri Lankan forest for tea and coffee plantations.

Just because the primate exists does not necessarily mean it is faring well. Craig Turner, a researcher at the Zoological Society of London, confirms that the Horton Plains Loris is the rarest primate the organization is aware of to date and is still considered extremely endangered.  

The society is now examining different methods of coaxing the population to grow in both number and health. [ index ]

NAOMI JEHLICKA: This past Monday, Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, the renowned climate scientist and environmental activist, passed away in London, England after a long battle with a rare cancer called mantle cell lymphoma.

Dr. Schneider ended his climate change research career with the publication of a co-authored paper that lays out the differences in climate coverage expertise. His career spanned almost three decades, during which he designed complex mathematical models for predicting future changes in temperatures and provided policy advice to every presidential administration since Nixon.

Dr. Schneider also served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won a Nobel Peace Prize, and was influential in other well known and productive climate talks since then.

His passion for environmental conservation shines through his articles, books, lectures, and interviews, which collectively created the argument that climate change is a reality that needs to be actively addressed by the government, industry, and individuals.

An academic activist known for his wit, brilliance, and passion for curbing climate change, Schneider contributed much and will be missed by all. Rest in peace, Dr. Stephen H. Schneider. [ index ]