An approval too far: Cumulative effects must be considered prior to approving activities The Government of Alberta (GOA) has started down the road of managing cumulative effects. It won’t be easy, but...
Closed waters: Managing toxins in Alberta’s surface waters will be far from simple A recent study about high microcystin concentrations in lakes across the country hit the media recently. The study found that lakes across Canada and many...
Rio + 20 = 1867? Canada’s interesting math On the verge of the end of Rio +20 and the passage of the federal budget bill (C-38), I felt it worthwhile to do some...
Failing Grade: New Federal Approach to Environmental Assessment Leaves Canadians at Risk and Without a Voice West Coast Environmental Law released a report card yesterday that “measures the final content of Bill...
ATV roundup: Managing motorized recreation in Alberta Published in Wildlands Advocate, April 2012 By Adam Driedzic, Staff Counsel, Environmental Law Centre The first time I went into the Ghost watershed there were 15 centimetres...
The land gives us more than food, but can the law give back? Published in LawNow, May/June 2012 By Adam Driedzic, Staff Counsel, Environmental Law Centre Set foot on Ruzicka Sunrise Farm and...
Environmental shock doctrine The 2012 federal Budget Bill is out. Once again it will change environmental laws in ways not directly related to government spending or savings. The bill is certain...
Environmental groups respond to federal budget changes What exactly are the changes to environmental law proposed by the 2012 Budget (Bill c-38)? Combing through a massive bill deters people from learning what it...
Environmental assessment and duplication: “Don’t we have a photocopier?” There is significant rhetoric around how the federal and provincial governments have duplicative and therefore inefficient environmental assessment processes. The federal government has fully...
Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development issues its report on the CEAA seven year review Last week, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development issued its report entitled Statutory Review...
Core principles for environmental assessment Following on the heels of a disappointing process for the seven-year review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (“CEAA”), core principles for environmental assessment laws have been endorsed by...
Is basic science taking a back seat in policy development? There is a mantra that I hear all too often in reference to environmental management. “We can’t manage what we don’t...