Harper’s war on the environment. The Vancouver Sun reports, “Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has washed its hands of environmental assessments of nearly 500 projects in British Columbia as a result of a revised Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The 492 wide-ranging projects include gravel extraction on the lower Fraser River, run-of-river hydro projects and wind farms, bridge construction as well as demolition of the old Port Mann Bridge, shellfish aquaculture operations, hazardous-waste facilities and liquid-waste disposal (as well as) various agricultural and municipal drainage works, log-handling facilities, small-craft harbour and marina development and expansion, the sinking of ex-warships as artificial reefs, the disposal of dredged material, and a 73-hectare mixed-use development on Tsawwassen First Nation lands. …The new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act also imposes timelines on the Site C (mega-dam) environmental assessment process…” The article is at http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Federals+dump+environmental+assessments+almost+projects/7125419/story.html.
This past March, the Council of Canadians joined with more than 40 groups (including MiningWatch Canada, West Coast Environmental Law and Greenpeace) calling for ten principles that should be the basis for stronger environmental assessment laws, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=13860.