Tag Archives: Ecojustice

Rivers & Oceans

Federal ministers sued over lack of action on endangered orcas

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For a second time, the world watched as Tahlequah, an endangered southern resident killer whale, struggled to keep her dead newborn calf afloat in the Salish Sea.

But with Ottawa failing to take urgent action to protect the 73 remaining orcas, a coalition of environmental groups is suing two federal ministers to push them to assume their legal responsibility and recommend an emergency order to save the West Coast icons.

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Animals, Energy, Rivers & Oceans

Feds urged to use emergency order to save endangered orcas

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Emergency protections for endangered southern resident killer whales are urgently needed because of increased oil tanker traffic from the expanded Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline, says a coalition of conservation groups.

Six environmental organizations are formally petitioning Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthillier, urging them to recommend that cabinet issue an emergency order under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to save the remaining 74 whales, said Margot Venton, nature program director of Ecojustice, a legal charity working for the environmental groups. 

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Energy

Court challenge dropped after Chevron surrenders offshore oil and gas permits in B.C. ocean conservation hot spots

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Environmental groups have dropped a court case against Chevron Canada after it surrendered a number of historical oil and gas permits posing risks to sensitive marine conservation areas on the B.C. coast. 

Chevron voluntarily gave up 19 permits in the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area north of Vancouver Island and in rare protected glass sponge reefs in Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound.

The fossil fuel giant made the announcement after the David Suzuki Foundation and World Wildlife Fund Canada, represented by the legal charity Ecojustice, launched a court challenge disputing the permits in July 2022. 

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Energy

Challenge to federal law that poses ‘existential threat’ to Alberta goes to Supreme Court

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Supreme Court of Canada this week will examine whether the federal law that evaluates the impacts of proposed resource projects is unconstitutional.

The Impact Assessment Act (IAA) looks into the environmental, health and economic impacts of proposed resource projects — like pipelines and mines — and came into force in 2019 when the federal government passed Bill C-69.

Soon after, the Alberta government brought a legal challenge against the law and its regulations, arguing it was federal overreach encroaching on provincial jurisdiction. The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the provincial government in May 2022, calling the IAA an “existential threat” to the provincial right to control and develop resources.

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Energy

ExxonMobil cuts bait on exploration rights for B.C. coast

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil is relinquishing its long-standing oil and gas exploration permits that threaten sensitive marine ecosystems on the B.C. coast — a heartening development, a coalition of environmental groups say. 

The move by the oil and gas company is encouraging, say the groups waging a lawsuit against the federal government over historical “sleeper” permits that expose B.C. waters — and marine protected areas in particular — to environmental threats from exploratory drilling. 

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