Category Archives: 2007 Media releases

2007 Media releases | Climate and energy |

Canada under fire for flouting federal global warming law

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release
November 29, 2007

“Canadians must insist on enforcement of the KPIA, our domestic law, so that we lead by action, rather than bullying other nations.”

(Ottawa, November 29, 2007) Just days before Canadian Environment Minister John Baird leaves for the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Canada is facing a second legal challenge for missing a key deadline under global warming legislation passed into law earlier this year. The government was served late yesterday with a second Application for Judicial Review for violating the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act (KPIA), the Canadian federal law that requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions according to the Kyoto Protocol commitment.

The application was filed on behalf of Friends of the Earth Canada by Chris Paliare of the firm Paliare Roland Barristers and Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal). The application alleges that the federal Minister of the Environment and the Governor in Council, consisting of federal cabinet ministers, are ignoring the rule of law by failing to comply with yet another requirement of the KPIA.

The federal government was legally required to publish draft regulations by October 20, 2007 that would enable Canada to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. By failing to do so, it is out of compliance with the KPIA, thus triggering the second legal challenge

“This new application, while relevant to climate change, is all about holding the Government of Canada accountable under Canadian law,” says lawyer Chris Paliare. “Despite a clear requirement to publish draft regulations, no action whatsoever has been taken. Once again, we are simply asking the court to require the government to comply with its legal obligations.”

“Missing this deadline demonstrates that Canada continues to be missing in action on global warming,” says Ecojustice lawyer Hugh Wilkins. “We cannot sit idly by while the government drags its feet and flouts our laws. The government must be held accountable to the will of the Canadian people and the will of Parliament.”

“The Canadian Government is ignoring its obligation to uphold its own laws, while seeking to undermine global negotiations on the defining issue of our lives,” says Friends of the Earth Canada Chief Executive Officer Beatrice Olivastri. “Canadians must insist on enforcement of the KPIA, our domestic law, so that we lead by action, rather than bullying other nations.”

For more information, please download the application at www.ecojustice.ca.

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Media contacts:

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, FOE Canada: (613) 241-0085 x26, cell: (613) 724-8690
Chris Paliare, LL.B., LL.M., LSM, Lawyer, Paliare Roland: (416) 646-4318
Hugh Wilkins, Staff Lawyer, Ecojustice: (416) 368-7533 x34, cell: (416) 573-4258

2007 Media releases | Climate and energy |

Canada facing legal challenge for breaking global warming law

Media release
September 20, 2007

Canada facing legal challenge for breaking federal global warming law

OTTAWA — The Government of Canada is once again facing a legal challenge for failing to take action on global warming — this time for refusing to respect a federal law that requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Late yesterday an Application for Judicial Review was filed with the Federal Court seeking to force the Government to comply with the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.

Filed by eminent Canadian lawyer Chris Paliare and Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal) on behalf of Friends of the Earth Canada, the application alleges that the federal Minister of the Environment is ignoring the rule of law by failing to comply with the Act, passed by Parliament in June 2007.

Under the legislation, the government was legally required to publish, within 60 days, a plan to comply with the country’s commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The Harper government responded in late August with a plan that the applicants allege plainly fails to meet the requirements of the Act.

“This case is about being accountable to the will of Parliament,” says lawyer Chris Paliare. “By failing to comply with this law, the federal government is neither acting in a manner that is accountable to Parliament nor showing respect for the people of Canada. We are simply asking the court to declare that the government is bound by the Act’s requirements and to require the government to comply with it.”

“Just as parents have clear obligations under the law to protect their children, the Government of Canada has clear obligations under this federal law to protect families from a grave danger,” says Friends of the Earth Canada Chief Executive Officer Beatrice Olivastri. “Canadians will not tolerate a deadbeat dad approach to climate change.”

“Canadians have made it clear they want action on climate change — in fact, our domestic law requires it,” says Ecojustice lawyer Albert Koehl. “Most Canadians don’t care what the current government can’t do — or what the previous government didn’t do; they just want the government to act now to reduce emissions and to live up to our obligations.”

In May 2007, on behalf of Friends of the Earth, Ecojustice launched a lawsuit against the federal government alleging that it had contravened the Canadian Environmental Protection Act by not meeting its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. After the unexpected passage of Pablo Rodriguez’s private member’s bill into law this summer, however, Friends of the Earth and the Ministers of Environment and Health agreed to stay the litigation pending the outcome of the new act.

Media backgrounder

For more information, please download the Application at www.ecojustice.ca or contact:

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada: (613) 241-0085 x26, cell: (613) 724-8690

Chris Paliare, LL.B., LL.M., LSM, Lawyer, Paliare Roland (416) 646-4318

Albert Koehl, Staff Lawyer, Ecojustice: (416) 533-1231, cell: (416) 573-4258

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2007 Media releases | Climate and energy |

First global warming lawsuit launched against Canada

(Ottawa, May 29, 2007) — Friends of the Earth Canada has launched a landmark lawsuit today against the Government of Canada for abandoning its international commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Filed in Federal Court in Ottawa by Canada’s foremost environmental law organization, Sierra Legal, the lawsuit alleges that the federal government is violating Canadian law by failing to meet its binding international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Because climate change is the most urgent crisis ever facing the planet, Friends of the Earth is resorting to the courts to require the federal government to respect its Kyoto promises,” says Friends of the Earth Canada Chief Executive Officer Beatrice Olivastri. “While the government talks about ‘Turning the Corner,’ in reality it has made a serious wrong turn that will affect the lives of generations to come.”

The lawsuit is an application for judicial review and alleges that the government’s failure to effectively regulate greenhouse gases is likely to violate the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. This violation of international law contravenes section 166 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which states that Canada must abide by its international agreements in preventing pollution.

Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol in December 2002, legally requiring a reduction of overall greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012 — a target of 563 megatonnes of greenhouse gases.

On April 26, 2007, the federal government announced its ‘Turning the Corner’ climate change strategy which set greenhouse gas reduction targets from industry and other sources to 20 per cent below 2006 levels by 2020. This would leave Canada approximately 39 per cent off target with Kyoto in 2012 and would not achieve the Kyoto target until 2025, if at all.

“Canadians expect the Government of Canada to live up to its domestic and international commitments to combat global warming, and our environmental laws require it to do so,” says Sierra Legal lawyer Robert Wright. “Our government shouldn’t have to be asked to put on a credible and lawful climate change cap.”

“The federal government has a legal duty to Canadians and the world to make ‘demonstrable progress’ in reducing greenhouse gases under the UN agreements, and to work with all Canadians to adapt to impacts of climate change,” says Christine Elwell, Friends of the Earth Canada Senior Campaigner. “Instead, we see important programs dismantled, terminated and slashed — all part of the pattern of Kyoto denial by the federal government.”

“The remedy we seek is clear,” continues Olivastri, “Canada must comply with our environmental laws and live up to our domestic and international commitments to combat global warming.”

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To download the history of the case, please visit www.foecanada.org. To download the Application, please visit www.sierralegal.org.

For more information, please contact:

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada: (613) 241-0085 ext. 26, cell: (613) 724-8690

Robert Wright, Senior Counsel, Sierra Legal: (416) 368-7533 ext. 25, cell: (416)  573-4258

2007 Media releases | Climate and energy | Environmental justice |

Dirty deal: Environment Minister exempts refinery from environmental impact assessment

Media release

For immediate release

Dirty deal: Environment Minister John Baird exempts colossal Canadian refinery from environmental impact assessment

Refinery is first to be built in Canada in a quarter century

(Ottawa, May 24, 2007) Following closely on the heels of Environment Minister John Baird’s decision to exempt industry from hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions, the Minister has today exempted from assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act the first Canadian oil refinery to be built since global warming became a concern.

Irving Oil plans to build a colossal $7 billion dollar, 300,000 barrel/day refinery adjacent to its existing refinery in Saint John. Irving’s existing refinery is the largest in Canada and therefore among the top 25 greenhouse gas emitters in the country at 3.3 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The gasoline is to be marketed in the northeastern United States. Six out of 10 cars on the road in Boston are already fueled by gasoline refined in Saint John, New Brunswick.

“We are appalled that Minister Baird does not plan to have Environment Canada assess the impacts of the new Irving refinery’s emissions on global warming and smog,” said David Coon, Policy Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. “The carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides will cross provincial and international boundaries, one of the triggers for a federal environmental assessment,” said Coon. “Clearly, the federal government has legal obligations for the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on global warming.”

“This decision is the first dirty deal to surface since the Harper Government delivered its Regulatory Framework for Air Emissions,” says Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada. “We are shocked and appalled that this government is dodging the responsibility to rigorously review the GHG and air pollution of the proposed new refinery.”

Speaking on The Current (CBC, April 27), Minister Baird said the Irving’s new refinery “will provide great economic benefits for the province, a lot of jobs, a lot of hope, a lot of opportunity will be created with that. If we didn’t have an intensity-based system (for regulating greenhouse gas emissions) that wouldn’t be able to go ahead.”

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced today that the proposed scope of the environmental assessment would be restricted to the potential impacts of the construction of a pier and breakwater to load gasoline and petroleum coke onto ships for export and the unloading of crude oil from supertankers. The public has until June 30th to comment on the proposed scope of the federal environmental assessment.

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Contact:

David Coon, Policy Director, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, (506) 458-8747, email: dcoon [at] conservationcouncil.ca

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada, (613) 241-0085 ext. 26, cell: (613) 724-8690, email: Beatrice [at] foecanada.org

www.conservationcouncil.ca
www.foecanada.org

2007 Media releases | Environmental justice | Water |

Independant inquiry exposes Canada’s lax enforcement on water pollution

For immediate release

Press release
February 5, 2007

Independant inquiry exposes Canada’s lax enforcement on water pollution

(Toronto, February 5, 2007) Environmental groups commend the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) for the integrity of its work in the independent inquiry into Canada’s lax enforcement of the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER). The Factual Record released today, documents byzantine processes and questionable decisions in what should be straightforward measures to enforce a pollution law in place since 1992.

As far back as 2002, the Sierra Legal Defence Fund submitted a formal request for investigation to the CEC asserting that the Federal Government was in breach of its commitment under the environmental branch of NAFTA to effectively enforce federal anti-pollution laws governing Canada’s pulp and paper industry.

Submitted on behalf of Friends of the Earth Canada, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Ecology Action Centre (Nova Scotia), Union Saint-Laurent, Grands Lacs, and Environment North, the demand for investigation showed that many pulp mills in central and eastern Canada continued to violate the federal Fisheries Act and the PPER with impunity for a decade.

The meticulous Factual Record reveals on a mill by mill basis the Government of Canada decisions and rationale to rarely, if ever, prosecute key polluters targeted by the environmental groups.

“This Factual Record shows the underbelly of environmental regulation today — and its not a pretty sight. Its message is that industry self-reporting and lack of allocation of government resources emasculates the Federal Government’s duty to protect the environment and take timely and effective enforcement action against polluters,” says Robert Wright, legal counsel with Sierra Legal.

The Factual Record details the ineffective Canada-Quebec Agreement on enforcing the pulp and paper effluent regulations and rings a loud warning bell today for the pending discussions between Canada and the provinces on the proposed Clean Air Act.

“The agreement between Canada and Quebec to enforce the pulp and paper law is clearly dysfunctional — not one prosecution of a polluter, and chronically late delivery of violation reports that should have led to action. This is what happens when the Federal Government abandons its duty to protect the environment. Given this shameful track record, we call on the Federal Government to explain why it plans to use similar agreements with the provinces to combat climate change and dirty air,” says Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth.

“I think Canadians will find it beyond belief that both the federal and provincial governments rarely prosecute pulp and paper companies when they break the laws,” commented David Coon, Policy Director, Conservation Council of New Brunswick. “Governments have to set clear targets and schedules for polluting industries and strictly enforce them, rather than hold their hands and offer gentle words of encouragement.”

Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, signed by Canada, the United States and Mexico as a side agreement to NAFTA, citizens can submit complaints if one of the member countries fails to effectively enforce its environmental laws. After reviewing the 2002 complaint, the CEC Council directed the preparation of a Factual Record of Canada’s failure to effectively enforce the Fisheries Act in relation to the pulp and paper industry.

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For more information, contact:

Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth, (613) 724-8690

Robert Wright, Counsel, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, (416) 368-7533, ext. 31

David Coon, Policy Director, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, (506) 458-8747

Mark Butler, Policy Director, Ecology Action Centre (Nova Scotia), (902) 429-5287