Environment

Environment


Diwali fireworks advisory issued despite warnings it might be discriminatory: emails

OTTAWA — At least two Environment Canada meteorologists warned that linking Diwali fireworks to air pollution in an air quality advisory could be perceived as discriminatory, internal emails show, but the advisory was still published. Their warnings appeared well-founded. So many complaints had poured in by the end of the day that the department reissued […]

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Embattled energy company fights regulator over seizure of thousands of wells

CALGARY — An embattled Calgary energy company is fighting the provincial regulator’s decision to seize thousands of its inactive wells. AlphaBow Energy has complained to the Alberta ombudsman and the province’s information and privacy commissioner over the Alberta Energy Regulator transferring control of more than 6,000 wells, pipeline segments and other facilities to the Orphan […]

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EU trade regulations put forest degradation in the crosshairs

Shortly after a new EU law was introduced to crack down on the import of unsustainable forest products that result in “forest degradation,” Canada went to work defining the term. Deforestation is widely understood as the razing of forests, largely tropical, to create farmland. However, forest degradation doesn’t have a universally agreed-upon definition. The EU’s […]

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B.C. aware of dike problems before destructive flooding in 2021, documents show

Officials with the British Columbia government and the City of Merritt were aware of significant problems with dikes for several years before a series of atmospheric rivers flooded the community, documents released through a freedom of information request show. The documents obtained by the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives show a […]

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Alberta’s ‘war room’ is back with massive ad spend revealed in annual report

EDMONTON — New documents outline a massive increase in public funding for the Canadian Energy Centre’s campaign to change attitudes toward Alberta’s oil and gas. An agency founded by Alberta’s United Conservative government to fight what it calls misinformation about the province’s industry and otherwise known as the “war room,” the centre’s most recent annual […]

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With raging fires and extreme heat, more must be done to address the unequal impact of climate change, experts say

It’s an unprecedented wildfire season in Canada, with millions of hectares burned and hundreds of structures destroyed while extreme heat has had devastating effects on people’s health, especially for those from racialized and newcomer communities. At least 619 people died in B.C. during the 2021 heat dome when the province broke records and oppressive 40C […]

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Ontario housing minister violated integrity act in Greenbelt land swap: commissioner

TORONTO — Ontario’s housing minister violated ethics rules when the government removed land from the protected Greenbelt for development, the province’s integrity commissioner found, saying the process was marked by “unnecessary hastiness and deception.” In a report released Wednesday, the commissioner found Housing Minister Steve Clark violated two sections of the Members’ Integrity Act that […]

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Northwest Territories under threat by wildfires — and lack of local news

Residents of the Northwest Territories are feeling the effect of the news vacuum on Facebook as they flee communities that are under threat by wildfires. But industry observers say the regional media landscape was barren long before Meta — Facebook’s parent company — pulled news content from its platforms in Canada, and that the current […]

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NDP adds to Greenbelt complaint to integrity commissioner in light of auditor report

TORONTO — Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is asking the province’s integrity commissioner to consider within his Greenbelt investigation the premier and government staffers’ reported use of personal phones and emails. Stiles’ request comes in the wake of last week’s scathing auditor general’s report into the government’s decision to open up protected Greenbelt lands to […]

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Minnesota Supreme Court rules against disputed mine, says state pollution officials hid EPA warnings

UNDATED (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state’s Pollution Control Agency improperly granted permits to a fiercely contested copper-nickel mine and concealed environmental concerns about the project, which critics say threatens to pollute Lake Superior and hurt tribal lands. The proposed mining project, a 50-50 joint venture with PolyMet Mining […]

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As fuel taxes plummet, states weigh charging by the mile instead of the tank

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Evan Burroughs has spent eight years touting the virtues of an Oregon pilot program charging motorists by the distance their vehicle travels rather than the gas it guzzles, yet his own mother still hasn’t bought in. Margaret Burroughs, 85, said she has no intention of inserting a tracking device on her […]

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Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec join Ottawa in investigating ChatGPT

EDMONTON _ The governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec are joining the federal privacy commissioner in investigating the company behind the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. Alberta’s privacy authority says the joint investigation would see if OpenAI, which is the parent company of ChatGPT, obtained valid consent from Canadians to collect, use and disclose their personal information via its chatbot. ChatGPT, which […]

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