Department of Environment Archives - Page 2 of 5

Save our Seas and Shores Coalition: Moving toxic effluent from Boat Harbour to Caribou Harbour is not solving the problem

November 4, 2019 4 Comments

Very pleased to post the brief but well-argued Save our Seas and Shores submission in response to the Northern Pulp proposal to dump its effluent pipe into the Northumberland Strait. “Northern Pulp’s focus report reads as if they are dumping into pristine waters, rather than the deeply degraded fragile ecosystem the Northumberland Strait and Gulf of St Lawrence have now become in 2019,” write Mary Gorman and Percy Hayne.

Dale Andrew Poulette and Rachael Greenland-Smith: The fight to save the Shubenacadie River

October 8, 2019 2 Comments

Alton Gas water protectors Dale Poulette and Rachael Greenland-Smith did an amazing job filing Freedom of Information requests and identifying numerous serious flaws in the Alton Gas approval processes. Now they have compiled all that info into a report. Read a summary and download the report here.

Climate targets will create 15,000 new green jobs in Nova Scotia by 2030 – but what about climate justice?

September 17, 2019

Environmentalists have long argued that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not only an urgent and critical necessity for our planet’s survival, it’s also good for the economy. Now a new report by the Ecolgy Action Centre quantifies these benefits. It’s an excellent piece of work, and very necessary to help focus the discussion we need to have. However, the report does not go far enough in terms of environmental justice and tackling the dominance of car culture.

Province announces another summer of glyphosate spraying for rural Nova Scotia

August 16, 2019 5 Comments

Last week the province issued permits for the spraying of glyphosate on some 938 hectares (2300 acres) in rural Nova Scotia. Affected woodlots are in Hants, Cumberland, Guysborough, Inverness and Colchester Counties.

Warren (Gus) Reed: Hey Environment Minister! It’s about my health, just do your job!

August 12, 2019

Accessibility advocate Warren (Gus) Reed on the importance of not giving up when bureaucrats and politicians feed you a steady diet red herrings.

Restorative injustice: Still waiting for accessible restaurant washrooms one year after human rights decision

July 31, 2019

In a decision issued a year ago a Nova Scotia Human Right Board of Inquiry ordered the Department of the Environment in no uncertain terms to enforce food safety regulations that make it mandatory for restaurants to provide wheelchair-accessible washrooms. Almost a year later plaintiffs are still waiting for actual changes.

Ken Summers: A primer on Alton Gas and the politics of Indigenous consultation

April 25, 2019

Ken Summers takes a close look at the history of Alton Gas and Indigenous consultations. With so many players, the KMKNO, the Assembly of Mi’kmaq Chiefs, Millbrook First Nation, and Sipekne’katik, it’s complicated and things aren’t always what they seem.

Sipekne’katik makes strong case to UARB on Alton Gas consultation issues

March 1, 2019

In a recent letter Sipekne’katik makes a strong case to the UARB about its historic claims on the Alton Gas site and why the UARB rather than the department of Environment should make a decision on the issue of Indigenous consultation with the band.

Letter to Minister Furey on accessible washrooms in restaurants

February 18, 2019

Gus Reed is not happy about government inaction after the Human Rights Commission decision that Environment must enforce the requirement that restaurants provide accessible washrooms.

News release: Environment minister in conflict of interest, must step away from Northern Pulp assessment

February 13, 2019

News release: “The province’s Minister of Environment has a conflict of interest in relation to Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment facility and should step away from an environmental assessment of the project, environmental law charity Ecojustice said in a letter sent yesterday on behalf of Friends of the Northumberland Strait.”