Category Archives: Environmental

Shell Jackpine JRP Report: Would the Real “Adaptive Management” Please Stand Up?

PDF version: Shell Jackpine JRP Report: Would the Real “Adaptive Management” Please Stand Up?

Decision commented on: Shell Canada Energy, Jackpine Mine Expansion Project, Application to Amend Approval 9756, 2013 ABAER 011/Decision 2013-011 (CEAA, 2012).

On July 9, 2013, the Joint Review Panel (JRP) for Shell’s Jackpine Mine Expansion Project released its long-awaited report (the Jackpine Report). Shell had applied to expand its existing Jackpine Mine, located roughly 70 km north of Fort McMurray, to increase bitumen production by 15,900 m3/day and bring total production to 47,700 m3/day. As further discussed below, the JRP concluded that the project, though likely to result in significant adverse environmental effects on several fronts, is nevertheless in the public interest.

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Justice for the Blanding’s Turtle at the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal

PDF version: Justice for the Blanding’s Turtle at the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal

Case commented on: Prince Edward (County) v Ontario (Ministry of the Environment), [2013] OERTD No 40.

Sometimes an exploration into what is missing will reveal more than a study of what is.  An examination of how differently things are done elsewhere can tell us a lot about our own ways.  Okay, perhaps it is just easier for me to say this comment looks at a recent decision of Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal to explore what it reveals about Alberta law governing energy projects and endangered species. In this case, Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) revokes an approval issued by the Director (Ministry of the Environment) under the Green Energy Act, SO 2009, c 12 for the construction of a wind turbine project on a peninsula of Crown land bordering Lake Ontario. The Tribunal’s decision is based on its finding that the project would cause serious and irreversible harm to the Blanding’s turtle – a species listed as threatened under Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, RSO 2007, c 6.

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The Petition of the Arctic Athabaskan Peoples to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights

By: Verónica de la Rosa Jaimes

PDF Version: The Petition of the Arctic Athabaskan Peoples to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights

Matter Commented On: Petition to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights seeking relief from violations of the rights of Arctic Athabaskan Peoples resulting from rapid arctic warming and melting caused by emissions of black carbon by Canada

The indigenous peoples of the Arctic, including the Arctic Athabaskan peoples, have contributed the least to the accelerated warming and melting of the Arctic through emissions of greenhouse gases yet they are among the first to face direct environmental, social and human impacts of climate change. On April 23rd, 2013 the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), represented by Earthjustice and Ecojustice Canada, on behalf of all the Arctic Athabaskan Peoples of the Arctic regions of Canada and United States, filed a petition with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) seeking relief from violations of their rights resulting from rapid Arctic warming and melting caused by emissions of black carbon for which Canada has international responsibility. The petition is a detailed and comprehensive memorial that includes a thorough analysis of international human rights law and case law, as well as the evidence of some Athabaskan people claiming violations of their human rights.

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Obama Climate Change Speech Sets New Standard for Keystone Pipeline Debate

By: James Coleman

PDF Version: Obama Climate Change Speech Sets New Standard for Keystone Pipeline Debate

Speech Commented On: Remarks by President Obama on Climate Change, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/remarks-president-climate-change

On June 25, President Obama unveiled a Climate Action Plan in a speech at Georgetown University (see here). This plan highlighted upcoming U.S. greenhouse gas standards for fossil-fuel power plants, directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue new proposals for both new and existing power plants. But the speech is making the most news for an unexpected reference to the Keystone XL pipeline, which is designed to transport oil sands bitumen from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska.

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Raising Questions About the Use of an Offset For Compliance with Carbon Emission Reduction Obligations

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: Raising Questions About the Use of an Offset For Compliance with Carbon Emission Reduction Obligations

Case Commented On: Citizen’s Climate Lobby and Our Children’s Earth Foundation v California Air Resources Board (Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, January 25, 2013, Case number CGC-2-519544)

This comment examines a recent judicial review decision by the Superior Court of California dismissing a challenge to the legality of the carbon emission offset regime established by California’s Air Resources Board (CARB). The petitioners in this case alleged the offset regime does not comply with its parent statute – the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, (California, AB 32) – and thus the CARB does not have legal authority to implement it. The essence of the claim was that a carbon emission offset created by the CARB regime would not necessarily represent the real and demonstrable carbon emission reduction required by the legislation. The Court ruled the offset regime created and administered by the CARB complies with the legislation.

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