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 ]