VANESSA PURDY: On Wednesday, the House of Commons voted down a bill pushed by the Green Party, NDP and the Bloc Quebecois alike. Bill C-474, which would have required a research-based harm assessment of any new genetically modified seeds before they would be legal in Canada. Those for the bill cited it as an important step towards protecting the Canadian agricultural industry from the negative impact of genetically modified crops. Even though GM flax was taken off the market in 2001, many farmers in 2009 were seriously affected by their crops begin contaminated by GM seeds, taking much of Canada’s flax exports off the European market–which buys about 70% of Canada’s flax.

Many MPS in favour of the bill expressed concerns that if it did not pass, the Canadian wheat and alfalfa markets would face a similar fate as that of flax.

The bill was voted down 178-98, with all Conservative MPs and40 Liberals against it. Ironically, the majority of the members of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee were not present for the vote, and were instead attending a talk by the President of Monsanto Canada.” [ index ]

MARTIN WALDMAN: Yesterday in Hamilton, Environment Minister Peter Kent and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the federal government will follow through with its proposal to require an average of two per cent renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil. The announcement was made at Hamilton’s BIOX plant, which produces half of the biofuels made in Canada, and sends most of it to the United States. Supporters of the move say that biodiesel is a cleaner alternative to conventional diese fuel and less toxic than many household items. Biodiesel is usually made from extra waste such as animal fats and recycled cooking oils, and it contains no petroleum.

Despite the government’s optimism, a 2009 study carried out for Environment Canada showed the greenhouse gas reduction due to biodiesel use is negligible and is far outweighed by the costs. Members of the Canadian Trucking Alliance agree that the new measures will do little to reduce Canada’s carbon footprint, and could in fact have a negative effect on their day-to-day operations. The government is planning to have the new requirement come into force on July 1. [ index ]

VANESSA PURDY: A UK-based company has been granted permission by the government of Nova Scotia to test a tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy, it was announced on Thursday.

Atlantis Resources Corporation will be designing the AK-1000 Mark II turbine, in partnership with Irving Shipbuilding and Lockheed Martin. It will be one of the world’s largest turbines, costing between $10 and $15 million to deploy.

The sole prototype turbine that had been installed was damaged and removed from Minas Channel in December, only a year after it was deployed. The new turbine is set to be deployed in the summer of 2012.

Nova Scotia said in their press release that a minimum of half the project will include local content. Lockheed Martin and Irving Shipping combined employ over 1300 Nova Scotians. [ index ]

MARTIN WALDMAN: A new report from a national environmental magazine has given Toronto a positive review when it comes to environmental, social and economic sustainability. The national rankings from Corporate Knights puts Toronto ahead of most major Canadian cities, but well behind Vancouver and Victoria.

Using data from Statistics Canada, Environment Canada and city departments, several local initiatives were praised, but some of them could face major opposition from the newly-installed municipal government under Rob Ford. Toronto’s highly progressive green roof bylaw, retrofit programs and low-flush toilet rebates, have all been placed on hold since early December, and many environmental advocates are concerned the by-laws could be watered down, or tossed out completely. The Green Roof bylaw in particular has been set aside for a review that will make for looser regulations for large buildings. Members of the city’s environment office believe the key challenge during the next mayoral term will be to place retrofit programs and progressive environmental policies in a positive light economically. [ index ]

VANESSA PURDY: Environmental groups have raised concerns over licences allowing the tapping of dozens of BC mountain streams for the purposes of bottling and selling the water. The concerned parties, such as West Coast Environmental Law, consider these proposals water exploitation and have asked the government to assess the proposal, attempting to tap from over 40 streams, as a whole, rather than on the merits of the individual applicants.

The concern is that, due to the sheer quantity of applications for these licences, if granted individually as is done under the current system, the licences will allow for just over 100,000 litres of water to be taken each day. This amount would have a significant regional impact.

Groups submitting the applications, including many First Nations tribes, claim their operations will be low-tech and relatively small and would not necessarily lead to more. The Kwiakah First Nation, in partnership with a numbered company, has applied for water licences, despite having only 19 registered members, according to Indian Affairs statistics. [ index ]

MARTIN WALDMAN: A major player in the Alberta oil sands could be fined up to $11 million if it is found guilty of violating the province’s Water Act. Alberta Environment has laid 19 charges against StatOil Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of a Norwegian state-owned company. The charges stem from evidence that it contravened its water licence and provided false information about its water withdrawals in the oilsands just south of Forth McMurray. According to the province, separate incidents occured in 2008 and 2009, where water was diverted from bodies of water for use in plant operations. The company is due to appear in court in Edmonton on April 6.

A spokesperson for Greenpeace noted that the environmental group has been pushing for Statoil to withdraw from the oilsands since shortly after it began developments in Alberta. Greenpeace also called the charges troubling, and pointed to the fact that the government is only laying charges now, when many of the alleged offenses date back to 2008. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: The release of secret diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks has mostly touched on global politics and intrigue, but a new batch of cables released this week suggest that Saudi Arabia may not have as much crude oil as is believed. A cable from 2007 sent by the U.S. consular general in Saudi Arabia details conversations between the American diplomat and Sadad al-Husseini, who was the former head of exploration for the Saudi state oil company. The cable suggests that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves, pegged at 716 billion barrels, may have been overstated by as much as 300 billion barrels in order to attract foreign investment. The cables also suggest that Saudi Arabia may not be able to increase oil production enough to keep prices down. These revelations, if true, support the notion that the world may soon reach ‘peak oil’, in which global oil production peaks and then begins a permanent decline. [ index ]

BRYANT BOULIANNE: Prince Charles, heir to the British Throne, used a speech at the European Parliament this week to decry climate skeptics and their “corrosive” effect on dealing with climate change. He argued that climate skeptics were dangerous by sowing doubt among the public about an issue that is crucially important. He likened climate change denial to playing a reckless game of roulette with the future. The Prince also offered criticism of environmentalists who, he said, are too negative and focused too much on telling the public what they can’t do, thereby hurting the cause. Rather, he suggested that environmentalism needed to emphasize what people can do to get them involved. [ index ]