Environment

Environment


Billions in federal buildings, roads and other assets at risk from climate change

Canada’s auditor general wants to know whether the federal government is doing a good job protecting its assets — including dams, buildings, vehicles and more — from the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. The Department of National Defence received a notification letter — obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an access to information request […]

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First nation leads effort to monitor orca-threatening ship noise

Underwater noise is a serious threat to endangered Southern Resident killer whales, as ship and ferry traffic intensifies through some of the busiest waters off Vancouver Island. With ship traffic surging following the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline — and set to grow even more following a port expansion at Roberts Bank, south of […]

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Deep Blue Data: Canada’s G7 ambitions on AI and Oceans

Canada wants to leverage its G7 presidency to shape international objectives on the use of artificial intelligence to understand oceans, documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show.  Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) hoped to host meetings in the fall to develop shared priorities and a global blueprint for action in advancing AI to […]

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Furious Caledon residents push back against mayor’s plan to dump construction waste into lakes and other bodies of water

Frustration and unease are mounting in Caledon, where locals say their voices are being drowned out by a municipal process that lacks transparency, overrides its own rules and puts the environment, particularly groundwater, at serious risk. Residents were already reeling from a May decision put forward by Mayor Annette Groves’ motion to approve a fill […]

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Citizens for a Clean Coleman Township seeks individuals concerning Cobalt Refinery site

COLEMAN TOWNSHIP — The Citizens for a Clean Coleman Township are seeking help from two individuals who filed a formal request with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (EC) in 2012/2013 over the state of the Cobalt Refinery, located in Coleman Township. In a social media post last week, the Citizens group announced they were seeking […]

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Alberta seeking public input in establishing nuclear power industry

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she expects the private sector to lead the way on potentially bringing nuclear power to the province, but her government would set up a Crown corporation if needed. “Because we have a power market where generation is privatized, we would anticipate that the private sector would pay for it,” Smith […]

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Cold Lake council supports bid for multibillion-dollar petrochemical project in the Lakeland

permanent jobs to the region, at a special meeting held on July 15. The request for a letter of support came from Coun. Ben Fadeyiw of the MD of Bonnyville, who reached out to the Cold Lake mayor’s office directly.  The MD’s proposal is in response to a Request for Information (RFI) issued by Invest […]

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Charlotte County communities apply for wildfire resiliency plans

Some Charlotte County municipalities are working toward wildfire resiliency plans as part of the expansion of the FireSmart Program in New Brunswick.  In April, the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development launched the program, after an announcement from the federal and provincial governments for about $40 million to increase New Brunswick’s wildfire preparedness.  The […]

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Salmon group says aquaculture companies stashing garbage along Newfoundland coast

An eastern Canadian conservation group is calling for a moratorium on aquaculture expansion in Newfoundland and Labrador, alleging fish-farming companies are stashing plastic garbage along the province’s remote southern coastline. In a report summary released Tuesday, the Atlantic Salmon Federation said satellite images suggest aquaculture companies appear to have left broken cages, rope and other […]

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Oil giant broke deal to deactivate thousands of pipelines and faced no penalty, documents reveal

This investigation is a collaboration between The Narwhal and the Investigative Journalism Foundation. One of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies violated a deal it struck with B.C.’s energy regulator to address thousands of inactive pipelines in the province — and faced no financial penalties for doing so.  Internal government documents obtained by The Narwhal […]

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Major reports about how climate change affects the US are removed from websites

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legally mandated U.S. national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their backyards from a warming world. Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites […]

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Carbon budget to keep global warming at 1.5 C could be exhausted in 3 years: report

The world is on pace to emit enough greenhouse gas emissions over the next three years to blow by an international target to limit global warming to 1.5 C, according to a new study co-authored by a Canadian researcher who says the finding underlines the need for urgent transformational change.  The study by more than […]

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