A (not so) Green Christmas Story
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- Published on Tuesday, 13 January 2015 14:00
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December 2014 | r44 | Donate | Leave a Legacy
In this issue: A (not so) Green Christmas Story | Déjà vu – again? Another omnibus budget bill rolls back federal environmental laws | Lost in translation on Burnaby Mountain | West Coast spurs dialogue about the 'big picture' on LNG development | The best of Environmental Law Alert for 2014
Dear PAOV,
What happens when a little girl asks Santa for healthy water, fish and wildlife for Christmas? Unfortunately, Santa can only do so much as Santa’s Legal Advisor, Elf Blackstone, explains in our darkly funny A (not so) Green Christmas Story.
Also this month we report on a successful First Nation’s legal challenge to the 2012 federal environmental law rollbacks, explain the serious threats to the environment under the latest federal omnibus bill, C-43, share lessons learned from Burnaby Mountain and Clayoquot Sound, look back on the top environmental law alerts of 2014 and highlight the first of many community dialogues that we are facilitating across northern BC in regions affected by multiple LNG proposals.
And finally, season’s greetings from all of us at West Coast!
A (not so) Green Christmas Story
With the holiday season fast approaching, Santa’s elves have been hard at work. But not everyone in the North Pole has spent the fall building toys for boys and girls.
- Click here to watch this video of Santa’s Legal Advisor Elf Blackstone explaining how rollbacks to federal environmental laws mean fish, clean water and a healthy atmosphere won’t appear in anyone’s stocking this year.
Déjà vu – again? Another omnibus budget bill rolls back federal environmental laws
Just days before a Federal Court decision that found that Canada acted unconstitutionally in ramming through 2012 environmental law changes, on December 16th the federal government gave Royal Assent to yet another omnibus budget bill that weakens environmental protection of Canada’s coasts.
- Click here to read how Bill C-43 amendments to the Canada Marine Act pose a serious threat to legal protection from environmental threats and public oversight of activities that occur in ports.
- BREAKING NEWS: The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that Canada failed to uphold its constitutional duties to the Mikisew Cree First Nation when it rushed through sweeping changes to federal environmental laws in 2012. Read the West Coast release and the judgment here.
Lost in translation on Burnaby Mountain
Judges and lawyers sometimes don’t speak the same language as environmentalists. Andrew Gage writes about his experience in Clayoquot Sound in 1993 and how the lessons he learned then, and since as a lawyer, apply to anti-pipeline protests in 2014.
- Click here for a crash course on translating protester-speak into lawyer-ease.
West Coast heads to northern communities to talk about the overall picture on LNG development
First Nations and communities in northern British Columbia are currently grappling with the potential for a large number of new resource development projects, and in particular more than a dozen liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Yet there is no framework in place for managing the cumulative impacts of these projects. Last week, along with the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research, we co-hosted the first of a series of community dialogue sessions in the north around LNG and cumulative impacts management.
- Click here to read about our first dialogue session in Prince Rupert, where there was strong agreement of the need for local communities to have a meaningful say in decision making that impacts their land and water.
The best of Environmental Law Alert for 2014
2014 was a busy year for our Environmental Law Alert blog. From warning about changes to laws governing parks, non-profits and agricultural lands, to explaining what the law says about the Enbridge pipelines and tankers project, we bring you the top 10 most-read alerts of 2014.
- Click here to read the top 10 most-read Environmental Law Alerts of 2014.
Legal e-Brief is a publication of the West Coast Environmental Law Association.
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