Natural Resources Minister, Joe Oliver, recently stated that proposed changes to Canada’s environmental laws will (if passed) prevent anyone who is not “directly affected” from speaking at environmental reviews. Oddly enough, much of the media coverage characterized this as shutting out environmentalists, rather than shutting out everyone
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.
It’s easy to forget, with the current government’s overhaul of Canada’s environmental assessment laws, that it was another Conservative Government which, almost 20 years ago, committed internationally to developing a national environmental assessment process and to involving the public in environmental decision-making.
In 2004 the residents of the tiny community of Stillwater, near Powell River, learned that BC Timber Sales (BCTS) was planning to auction off the rights to clearcut 12.5 hectares in the Jefferd Creek watershed, which is the source of their drinking water. Well, it’s been a long fight, but after 8 years and a series of grants to the Committ
Or “What your Mom taught you about Canada’s environmental laws”
(Cross-posted at www.envirolawsmatter.ca)
Last week fisheries biologist, Otto Langer, went public with a leaked draft of proposed amendments to the federal Fisheries Act which would remove any mention of fish habitat from the Act. Wh
No, that title is not an invitation to donate to West Coast Environmental Law (although if you insist, you can donate here). This Environmental Law Alert is about what Canada can learn from the U.S.
For an hour or so on February 21st the most talked about issue on Twitter in Canada was an event about caribou, coal mining and Aboriginal Rights. I’m guessing that that’s a first in the history of Twitter. West Coast Environmental Law also had more hits on our website in a single day than we had ever had before – by quite a bit.
Public participation in the BC government’s recent public consultations on cosmetic pesticides exceeded all expectations, with an all-time record 8,700 people telling the Legislative Committee what they
Recently the federal Ministers of the Environment and of Natural Resources have publicly confirmed that major changes ma