Making News
Making News
Bruce Power pulls U.S. application as plan to ship generators on the Great Lakes put on hold
Bruce Power has withdrawn its application to the United States Department of Transportation for approval to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes.
Spokesman John Peevers says the company’s shipment plan has been put on hold — it is not cancelled — and Bruce Power’s goal remains to ship the decommissioned, school bus-sized vessels to a recycling plant in Sweden.
“We remain convinced and believe that this is the right thing to do and recycling these steam generators is going to reduce our environmental footprint, but we recognize there is still questions out there and we want to make sure that everybody has a chance to have their questions answered,” he said Tuesday in an interview.
Bruce Power announced in March it would delay its shipment plan “to allow for further discussions with First Nations, Metis and others seeking additional information.”
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Ontario's plans to store nuclear waste under Lake Huron have Michigan upset.
Politicians in Michigan are growing alarmed at Ontario’s plans to bury waste from a nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Huron. “What fool would put nuclear waste under the Great Lakes?” one local Michigan official has asked. For its part, Ontario Power Generation has said the rock the waste would be buried in is so stable it still contains water from 450 million years ago. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfectly safe.
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Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
For Immediate Release
March 8, 2011
TORONTO – The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and Sierra Club Canada (SCC) announced today that they have jointly commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Canada in relation to the controversial proposal by Bruce Power Inc. to ship radioactive waste to Sweden.
“Major policy changes in the handling of nuclear waste should not be made in an ad hoc fashion,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “Municipalities, First Nations, organizations and individuals all demanded to be heard on the shipping of 1,600 tonnes of nuclear waste through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, but their concerns were ignored.”... Read more »
As Harper heads to Washington, focus turns to energy
WASHINGTON — The visit will be short, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper comes to the White House Friday packing fresh arguments for Canada’s environmentally dubious tar sands — Alberta as a riot-free energy source.
Though the brief afternoon session with President Barack Obama is billed as a signing ceremony for a new border agreement whose details remain unclear, Canada watchers in Washington anticipate energy issues will win at least equal billing, given the searing scenes of revolution gripping the Middle East.
“There is no question the events in Egypt and beyond are once again focusing minds in this town on energy security for the United States,” said Canadian diplomat Paul Frazer, a Washington consultant involved in advancing Ottawa’s argument in the U.S.... Read more »
Statement on Canada’s failure to win a seat on the United Nations’ Security Council
Commenting on Canada’s failed bid to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada, states, “Canada’s unilateral withdrawal from the United Nations’ legally-binding treaty on climate change (Kyoto Protocol) may have played an important role in Canada’s lost bid for a seat on the Security Council. Leadership on the Security Council involves respect for the United Nations and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”
For more information contact:
John Bennett
Executive Director
Sierra Club Canada
Cell 613 291 6888
Canada, U.S. plan new emission standards for heavy trucks
The biggest gas guzzlers on the road will have to be sleeker and more energy efficient under regulations to be developed this year in Canada and the United States.
These will be the “new emission standards for the heavy trucks that are such a crucial part of our export-driven economy,” Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Friday in an announcement timed to coincide with a similar statement by U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.
“Just like passenger vehicles, manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks operate in an integrated North American market – so a closely harmonized approach makes sense for them,” Mr. Prentice said.
The new fuel-efficiency standards will apply to full-sized pickup trucks, delivery vehicles, buses, freight vehicles, garbage trucks, dump trucks and tractor trailers. They will be implemented between the 2014 and 2018 model years.
Additional excerpt: ... Read more »
Trade Justice Network releases secret draft of Canada-European Union free trade agreement
Ottawa, April 19 – As the third round of Canada-European Union free trade negotiations commence the newly formed Trade Justice Network today publicly released the draft text of the proposed Canada-European Union Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) – the most significant bilateral trade negotiation since the NAFTA. The network is raising serious concerns about the agreement’s potential impact on public and environmental policy, and public services in both Canada and Europe, among other issues, and has outlined a set of demands that must be met before negotiations are allowed to continue. ... Read more »
Canada-EU trade: And suddenly it was Christmas for policy geeks
A coalition of the usual suspects groups dedicated to defending the rights of workers and the downtrodden have this morning released very nearly the entire draft negotiating text of a proposed Canada-EU trade and investment agreement.
Coool.
Additional Excerpt:
I’m seeking comment from European member states and the European Commission, as well as from Canadian advocates of a CETA (and, just because I enjoy smacking my head against a wall, from the Government of Canada too). I’ll let you know, here or in the magazine, what I find. Advocates of enhanced Canada-EU trade have preferred to low-bridge the whole process since negotiations began. I believe that option just evaporated.
Local activists surprised by Clinton apology to Haiti
Nova Scotia activists are expressing surprise that former US president Bill Clinton has apologized for flooding Haiti with cheap American rice beginning in the mid 1990s. During testimony before a US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports made it impossible for Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced farmers off the land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself.
Additional Excerpt:
Janet Eaton, trade and environment campaigner for Sierra Club Canada, says members of the global democracy movement have long known about the failures of the globalized food system and Clinton’s apology to Haitians only reinforces what many activists have talked and written about for years.... Read more »
European Union fuel guidelines may give OK to oilsands crude: documents
Environmental groups are concerned that lobbying by the Canadian government may have persuaded the European Union to backtrack on a proposed fuel policy that would have targeted Alberta's oilsands.
"Canada seems to have been lobbying hard and they may have succeeded," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington, D.C.
She was referring to talks that are taking place among the 27-nation EU trading bloc with respect to fuel standards. The EU is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the use of low-carbon fuels.
Last fall, the EU released draft guidelines that distinguished between the carbon footprint of fuels derived from the oilsands and those that come from conventional crude. That distinction would have allowed regulators to penalize users of oilsands-derived fuel or reward those who didn't.... Read more »
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