TYLER IRVING: In a surprise move yesterday, Jim Prentice has stepped down from the post of Environment Minister in the Conservative federal government.

Prentice made the announcement from the floor of the House of Commons. In a short speech, he said that he always intended to leave politics after 8 to 10 years, and that this week marks almost exactly 9 years since he was first elected in 2002. In addition to the environment file, Prentice has been minister of Indian Affairs and Industry. He is leaving his post to accept a job as a senior vice-president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Prentice was praised by government and opposition MPs alike for his dedicated service, although NDP leader Jack Layton raised ethical questions about how easily a senior politician can move to a post at one of Canada’s top banks. Prentice will be replaced in then environment post by current Government House Leader John Baird. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: A lawsuit has ensued between an Ontario first nation’s community and the Ontario government. The first nation community, which resides in the heart of Ontario’s Chemical valley, is claiming that the province is not taking enough action to protect and address the health issues that has overcome the region. Researchers have discovered various health effects likely resulting from chemical manufacturing by-products. The study discovered that the mothers who live in the Sarnia region are producing an anomalous ratio of female births. Scientists suggest that this phenomenon is due to local contamination by industrial pollutants. Ron Plain, an environmental activist of the first nation tribe insists that despite The Ministry of Environment having talked about dealing with the issue for years, that there are still persistent health effects in his community. It is unlikely that any single company to blame, and research does not seem to point to any single contaminant and that these effects are due instead to a combination of exposures. Making the problem more difficult to solve is the provinces strict criteria for regulating specific substances that does not explicitly deal with combinations of contaminants occurring within human tissues. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: This week, Environment Minister Jim Prentice chose not to approve the proposal for the Prosperity Mine Project near Williams Lake in northern British Columbia. The decision came as welcome news for the Xeni Gwet’in (han-nay gwet-een) and Tsilhquot’in (chill-coat-in) First Nations, who had long warned that the mine would devastate the local environment.

According to the proposal by Taseko Mines, the project’s proponent, the copper and gold mine would have generated $5 billion in revenue over 20 years. However, the project would have destroyed nearby Fish Lake by turning it into a toxic tailings pond. The province of British Columbia had already approved the project, citing the strong need for economic development in the area. The local forestry industry has been devastated by the mountain pine beetle, as well as the global recession.

Minister Prentice cited the federal environmental assessment report, which warned of major and irreversible damage, as the major reason for not approving the project, calling it “probably the most condemning report that I’ve seen.” Shares in Taseko Mines dropped 25% following the announcement. [ index ]

DARYN CAISTER: The World Health Organization has invited researchers to Ottawa for a 5 day convention to discuss the potential risks of known endocrine disrupter Bisphenol A also known as BPA. The WHO meeting to review the toxicological and health aspects of BPA is taking place from November 2nd to the 5th in Ottawa. BPA is used in the epoxy liners of a wide variety of food and beverage containers. Health Canada clarifies that the goal for this meeting is to bring together some of the foremost experts in the world to review the most recent scientific information available on BPA. Health Canada has said its aim is to ‘try to establish an international consensus on the safety of BPA, with a particular focus on food applications.” BPA is a suspected reproductive inhibitor with potential reservoirs including human blood, umbilical cord blood, soil, water and dust. The main reason WHO is concerned about BPA is that recent studies have shown that more than 90 percent of Canadians carry detectible levels in their body. While there is currently a lack of conclusive evidence the weight of the existing evidence is that BPA it does pose a developmental health risk especially for infants and newborns. Animal test subjects have among other effects, developed obesity problems, neurobehavioral and reproductive problems and various mammary and prostate cancers. [ index ]

TYLER IRVING: The government of the Yukon has enacted an emergency ban on hunting for caribou in order to protect the Hart River herd, which the government estimates has dwindled down to about 2,200 animals.

The area affected by the closure includes much of Tombstone Territorial Park and the Dempster Highway between North Fork Pass and the Ogilvie River bridge. This region is shared by two herds of caribou, the Hart River, and the much larger Porcupine herd, which is estimated to contain approximately 100,000 animals. When both herds are in the area, hunting is allowed, as the chance of catching Hart River animals is small. However, radio tracking collars on some Porcupine caribou indicate that they have already moved further north to their winter range in Alaska, which means that the caribou that are left are almost all from the endangered herd.

The ban will last will come into effect on Friday and last until Jan. 31. The ban does not affect two First Nations in the area, whose hunting rights are guaranteed by land claim Final Agreements. [ index ]

JESSE ROGERSON: Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited has launched a campaign to encourage its customers to use electricity on off-peak hours and reduce phantom power.  To kick start the campaign, Toronto Hydro gave away 50 000 pre-programmed power bars in the last two weeks of October.  Each power bar is programmed to coincide with the off-peak hours of Toronto Hydro where the energy prices are reduced, allowing users to take better advantage of price breaks.  This design also helps to reduce phantom or standby power, the power drained from electronics or appliances which are not in use or fully charged but still plugged in, such as cell phones and MP3 players.  The Ontario Power Authority has measured that phantom power can account for up to 15 percent of a household’s total power usage. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: A ballot initiative that sought to counter California’s ‘Global Warming Solutions Act’ has been defeated in this week’s U.S. midterm elections. The ‘Global Warming Solutions Act’ was passed by California in 2006, and stated that California must reduce its carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The act was a unilateral move by California to initiate action on climate change at a time when the U.S. as a whole was avoiding emissions cuts under the Bush White House. A ballot initiative, called ‘Proposition 23′, sought to indefinitely delay the emissions cuts by suspending the act unless California’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5%. This was seen by many as a veiled attempt to delay the act until it was too late to meet the 2020 deadline. California’s voters went to the polls on November 2nd and voted to reject Prop 23 by a 23% margin, thereby saving the ‘Global Warming Solutions Act’ California is due to start implementing its emissions cuts in 2012, and will need to reduce current emissions by 25% to meet the target. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: The 10th meeting of the UN Convention on Biodiversity in Japan wrapped up this week with a final, last-minute agreement on protecting the world’s biodiversity. Delegates agreed to protect 17% of the world’s land and 10% of the oceans by 2020. This would from the creation of protected areas by member nations to preserve wildlife and ecosystems. The Convention also agreed on the sharing of genetic diversity, which would allow for scientific access between nations to animal and plant species important for developing medicines and for research. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: The White-Tailed Eagle, hunted to extinction in Scotland, has been making a successful comeback according to this year’s breeding numbers. 46 new eagles hatched this year, 10 more than in 2009, and marks a so-far successful recovery for a bird that had been extinct in Scotland until its re-introduction 25 years ago. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimates that there are 52 breeding pairs of eagles, which they believe puts the species on track to recover to 19th century levels. The success of the White-Tailed Eagle bodes well for the Sea Eagle, another species which conservationists are now attempting to re-introduce to Britain’s East coast. [ index ]