Environmental Law Alert Blog

Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:

proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.

If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.

The ear of government and the mouths of the oil industry

Last April (2011) we wrote about media coverage from Quebec’s La Presse about the fact that senior Canadian government offici

First Nations from North, South and Interior stand against oil tankers and pipelines

December 1st marked a turning point in the effort to protect the Pacific coast and the watersheds that we all depend on from the threat of oil spills.

A climate change challenge to foresters, engineers and biologists

You know those little letters that come after people's names that indicate that they get paid the big bucks for giving people – and governments and corporations – advice? Letters like (in addition to LLB or JD), RPF (

With Keystone shelved, Northern Gateway must not go ahead

Throughout the debate about whether the Keystone XL Pipeline should be built, industry proponents have argued that if the tarsands bitumen doesn’t go to Texas, it will be shipped to Asia through Canada. So, with the Keystone XL Pipeline on hold

The legal arguments in favour of a cosmetic pesticide ban

Today (November 7th) I’m appearing before the BC Legislature’s Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides to argue in favour of a ban on cosmetic use of pesticides. We’ve made a brief video below of the powerpoint and presentation that I’m going to give them.

Prosperity Redux: a disappointing decision for the environment, First Nations and the EA process

Today, November 7, 2011, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) announced that Taseko Mine Lt

What I learned at the Climate Action Network’s Conference

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week (November 1st and 2nd) I was in Montreal, where I joined with elected officials, civil servants, labour activists, environmentalists, members of faith organizations and others to discuss climate change. The occasion was the Climate Action Network’s