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.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

“Regardless of your views on this particular pipeline (we are opposed, in case that wasn’t clear), anyone who thinks their locally-elected government or local First Nations shouldn’t get railroaded by a US corporation just because they have a federal approval should be very concerned about these recent developments.”

Plastics permeate all aspects of our daily lives. Now plastic pollution plagues the planet. Marine plastic debris is pervasive, persistent, and has grave consequences for marine ecosystems.   

Consider these facts:

“Politicians grant the permits, but communities grant permission.” – Justin Trudeau

It has been over two years since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued mandates to a handful of cabinet ministers to review, modernize and strengthen four important environmental laws.

Bio-waste spread on farmland threatens to contaminate local wells. Pesticide spraying by a logging company is destroying bird habitat. Odours and rodents from a composting facility disturb a rural neighbourhood. Logging on steep slopes threatens a community’s drinking water.

Shortly before the holidays, on Friday, December 15th, 2017, the BC government put out a press release about changes to the Water Sustainability Act Regulations.

Wild salmon just can’t seem to catch a break right now.

“WE STILL HERE!” belts out JB the First Lady in the Wise Hall. “WE STILL HERE!” echoes the audience.

The 2017 wildfire season in BC was the worst on record, both in terms of the total area burned and the costs associated with fire management and suppression.

Shocking video footage released this week by BC photographer Tavish Campbell and replayed by media across the country shows a disturbing torrent of bloody wastewater from fish farm processing plants pumping directly into the ocean.