For years, St. Catharines residents living near the former General Motors industrial site have raised concerns about potential health and environmental risks posed by the contaminated 55-acre property. For just as long, their concerns have been met with vague assurances from officials, insisting there is no cause for concern.   Nothing underscores the ongoing worry more […]

An ambitious plan in Nova Scotia to build North America’s first coastal refuge for captive whales may have hit a dead end. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press reveal the non-profit Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) has yet to secure approval from all five owners of property adjacent to where the group plans to build a […]

More than two months after being detected, the environmental cleanup of a massive diesel spill at an Irving truck stop on Beardsley Road in Woodstock continues. The full scope of the spill, initially detected on Dec. 12, 2024, only became evident in late February when CBC unveiled information garnered through a freedom of information request […]

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Environmental groups on Tuesday criticized Albania’s silence and lack of progress in analyzing 102 containers suspected of carrying a large amount of hazardous waste. Albanian prosecutors have put the containers in Porto Romano, 6 kilometers (4 miles) from Durres port, saying they would ask government institutions to conduct lab tests. The […]

Many of the toxic risks posed by the former GM site on Ontario Street in St. Catharines are clear.  As previously reported by The Pointer, Environmental Site Assessments obtained after a two-year fight with the City and GM officials who fought to keep the documents hidden from public view, revealed contamination of a number of […]

When Melinda Lortie became a mother, her perspective on much of her surrounding world shifted.  “Motherhood really has made me mad at the world. I love my daughter more than anything in this world, there truly is nothing else that tops her importance to me. I love every part of being a mom. My anger […]

Twenty-two days after being compelled by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner to release environmental reports related to the former General Motors site in the core of the city, St. Catharines officials addressed the matter publicly, admitting they have had the disturbing reports that show dangerous contaminants at levels thousands of times above set limits, since […]

British Columbia-based environmental activist Zain Haq was aboard a plane in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, awaiting a nearly 14-hour flight to Pakistan, where he said he was looking forward to seeing his family and eating the food. But Haq was not on the plane by choice. He was being deported following the expiry of a […]

(ANNews) – A recently released scientific study on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) poor monitoring of tailings spills merely confirms what Indigenous people have long known to be true, says the executive director of Indigenous Climate Action (ICA).  Sherwood Park-based geologist Kevin Timoney’s report, published in the peer-reviewed Environmental Monitoring and Assessment journal on Jan. […]

PUSLINCH – A flood of concerns has been raised about a longstanding gravel quarry’s application for a new water-taking permit and its potential impact on surrounding water sources and local drinking water.  Foremost, the effect the water taking could have on neighbouring private and municipal wells. The township is a commenting agency on the application. […]

The size, number, and environmental impact of oilsands tailings spills have been significantly underreported, according to new research. A study published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment compares information on reported bitumen tailings spills from the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) public database with documents from the AER released through freedom of information requests. […]

Three weeks have passed since the release of the environmental site assessments (ESAs) for the former GM site on Ontario Street, and the task of fully understanding the implications of the report’s findings is far from complete. After more than two years of resisting disclosure, the City of St. Catharines was ordered by the provincial […]