TYLER IRVING: In Edmonton this week, construction began on what’s being billed as the world’s first industrial scale plant for converting municipal waste to biofuel.

The $80-million plant is the product of a partnership between the city of Edmonton and Montreal-based Enerkem Inc. The company uses a heat, pressure and advanced catalysts to recover carbon from waste products in a process called gasification. The gas produced can then be converted into fuels such ethanol. Since 2009, the company has operated a plant in Westbury, Quebec which produces fuel from old telephone poles. The Edmonton plant will accept non-recyclable plastics and other waste which would otherwise end up in landfills.

The plant is expected to be operational by 2011. When finished, it will accept 100,000 tonnes of waste from the city each year. Enerkem estimates this will result in the production 36 million litres of biofuel, and raise Edmonton’s waste diversion rate to 90 percent. [ index ]

JESSE ROGERSON: There is two more months left before the Toronto Municipal Election, marking the last legs of campaigning for the mayoral candidates. Earlier this week the networking group Toronto Greenhouse sponsored a debate at the National Club in downtown Toronto wherein the candidates were asked the key green questions that have so far been left on the sidelines. Moderator of the event was the Star’s Clean Break columnist Tyler Hamilton who asked the candidates to address such questions as ‘What are the top three environmental issues facing the city today…’ and ‘where do you stand on energy-from-waste technologies.’ Guest panelist Gord Miller who is the Ontario Environmental Commissioner opened the night by discussing the idea of road tolls on some of the major expressways in downtown Toronto, funds from which would be used to help build green public transit throughout the city. Official election day is October 25th 2010. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Marilyn Baptiste, chief of the 300-member Xenit Gwet’in (Ha-nay Gwet-een) nation, said this week that her people are willing to die in order to protect their land from the proposed “Prosperity” mining project. The open pit copper and gold mine would be built on traditional land 145 kilometers southwest of Williams Lake in the interior of British Colombia.

The proponent of the mine is the Vancouver-based Taseko Mines Ltd. The project would discharge mine tailings into Fish Lake, which contains thousands of rainbow trout used as food by the Xenit Gwet’in. According to an environmental assessment commissioned by the federal government, the mine will have significant adverse environmental effects on fish, fish habitat, navigation, and cultural heritage in the region.

Despite these warnings, the project was approved by the provincial government, which hopes that the jobs that could be generated by the $800-million project will be a boost for economic development in BC’s interior. Spokespeople for the Assembly of First Nations and several environmental groups, including ForestEthics, Greenpeace, and Sierra Club Canada, are vowing to stand behind the community’s attempt to block the mine. A decision from the federal environment minister, Jim Prentice, is expected this month. [ index ]

JESSE ROGERSON: A study to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers at the University of Alberta has found that the high concentrations of toxins in the Athabasca water system can be linked to mining the northern Alberta oil sands. The study collected water samples from over 35 different locations along the Athabasca waterways that shows clear increases in concentration of mercury and thallium near or downstream from the oil sand projects. Other contaminants include copper, lead, nickle, and zinc.

This finding goes against that of the Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program, or RAMP, an industry funded environmental monitoring program. In 2009, RAMP found in that the water quality had not changed as a result of the oil mining. They blame the increasing concentrations on natural erosion of the oil fields. The authors of the new study awaiting to be published has challenged these claims and are looking for the data so they may test it themselves. So far RAMP has not responded, however Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has announced his government will compare the two studies to determine the real cause of the increasing toxins. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: Environmentalists in Quebec are gearing up for a fight after an announcement on Sunday that the province will seek to develop a shale gas industry in the province.

It is estimated that 50 trillion cubic metres of natural gas lie locked in the rock underneath the St. Lawrence valley. Extracting this gas has recently become technically feasible through a controversial process known as hydraulic fractioning, or “fracking.” The technique involves pumping high-pressure water and other chemicals into the rock to break it open and extract the gas. Residents of areas where the technique has been used in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York state have complained of contaminated water supplies.

Environment minister Pierre Arcand has asked the province’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environment an advisory body, to hold public hearings on the exploitation of natural gas. However, the Liberal government has made it clear that the goal is to develop a framework in order to begin mining and extraction. The opposition Parti Quebecois is calling for a moratorium on drilling until a study is conducted on the safety of the extraction procedure. [ index ]

JESSE ROGERSON: Prime Minister Harper has made his yearly rounds through the Canadian North promoting investments, research, and environmental protection. While in Toktoyaktuk Harper announced that his government will be founding the first ever marine protected area under environmental law in the Arctic. The area to be protected totals 1800 square kilometer separated over three areas of the Mackenzie River Delta located in the Beaufort Sea. The protected area will serve as a beluga whale refuge; every summer the belugas use these areas to both socialize and raise their offspring. As part of the protection, the hunting and harvesting traditions of the native people in the area will be upheld. Currently the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the beluga whale as ‘near threatened.’ [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: An oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire Thursday, prompting the emergency evacuation of the rig’s 13 crew members.
The Vermillion Block 380 platform is located about 300 kilometers West of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the site of the oil spill that caught headlines for months.
As of this morning, all 13 crew members were rescued from the water and the fire on the rig was out. The US Coast Guard has also reported that there is no evidence of any leak, alleviating fears of another Gulf Coast oil spill.
All signs indicate that the safety mechanisms onboard the platform functioned properly, averting a potential repeat of this year’s disaster.
The oil platform is owned by Mariner Energy, a small American company based out of Texas. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: Underwater plumes of oil created during the gulf spill may be degrading faster than expected according to microbiologists at the University of California.
For months, millions of liters of oil gushed from a broken well 1.5km under the ocean, creating plumes of suspended oil that drifted up to a kilometer beneath the surface.
Though marine bacteria can naturally break down oil, the cold temperature of the water and the slow metabolism of the bacteria have scientists saying it could take years or decades to break down.
Scientists at Berkeley, however, have published a paper this month in Science arguing that the plumes seem to be disappearing much faster than previously thought.
The researchers followed one of the underwater plumes for two weeks in July after the well was capped. They reported that the plume disappeared in that time leaving behind a cloud of microbes. In laboratory tests, they have estimated that these unidentified bacteria consumed half of the oil in less than a week.
The report has skeptics, however, who point out that the researchers might have lost the plume they were tracking, and that scientists still detect oil plumes that have not diminished in size. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: An independent review of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its report this week and has recommended a number of changes.
The IPCC is a panel of scientists convened by the UN to put together periodic reports on the state of climate science in order to inform governments when making climate policy.
The review of the IPCC was called for after errors and oversights in its 2007 report were brought to light. These mistakes included faulty predictions as well as improper fact checking and citation of data.
Among the recommendations made by the review are that the IPCC should be made more professional by paying its top members, that senior officials should only serve for a single report, and that IPCC officials should refrain from advocating for specific policies to avoid undermining the panel’s credibility. [ index ]