Today the Pembina Institute, the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta and the Fort McMurray Environmental Association (FMEA) formally withdrew from the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA). After eight years of effort and consistent failure to meet deadlines for recommending systems to protect the region’s environment, CEMA has lost all legitimacy as an organization and process for environmental management in the oil sands.

EDMONTON — Environmental groups are headed back to court tomorrow to defend a precedent-setting court victory that has drawn further attention to the massive environmental impacts of Alberta’s booming tar sands. Earlier this year the groups had argued that the environmental assessment of Imperial Oil’s massive Kearl Tar Sands Project was legally flawed and that the province should put the brakes on tar sands development until proper safeguards are in place.

Court finds gaping holes in environmental assessment

Edmonton March 05, 2008

The Federal Court of Canada today released a judgment finding fatal legal errors in the environmental assessment of the Kearl Tar Sands Project, north of Fort McMurray.

Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon was in court in January on behalf of the Pembina Institute, Sierra Club of Canada, the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta and the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition .

“This is a huge victory,” said Nixon. “The Court accepted our position that the environmental assessment was flawed, and that the Joint Panel failed to explain why it thought the Kearl Project’s environmental effects were insignificant. We will now consider whether to bring another lawsuit to challenge the project’s federal permit that was granted without legal authority.”

While Alberta Premier goes to Washington, the Kearl Tar Sands Project is going to court 

January 14, 2008

EDMONTON - While Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is in Washington this week seeking to assure Americans that there are no environmental problems associated with dirty tar sands development, Canadian environmental organizations are going to court tomorrow to challenge a massive tar sands operation north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Imperial Oil's proposed Kearl Tar Sands project includes an open-pit mine that would strip 200 square kilometres of Boreal Forest and contribute to the devastation of the region's landscape and wildlife.

Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon will be in court on behalf of the Pembina Institute, Sierra Club of Canada, the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta and the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition, arguing that the environmental assessment of the open-pit mine project was flawed and that the project should be halted until a proper assessment has been completed.

Water for Life:  Alberta’s Strategy for Sustainability (2003) is a positive step forward for water management in Alberta.  It embraces a watershed approach to water management planning that allows for water and land issues to be dealt with in tandem.  It advocates a collaborative multi-stakeholder governance model. If implemented it has the potential to greatly improve the ways Albertans use and think about water and poises Alberta as leader in protecting watersheds.  Water for Life is a well-designed strategy but unbalanced progress in implementing the strategy’s actions has limited its effectiveness to date.  Implementation of the strategy requires a renewed focus.

A coalition of citizen-based organizations, including Toxics Watch, came together and submitted a report (click to download) to the Alberta Water Council outlining its analysis and review of the strategy, and presenting recommendations for the renewal of the strategy. Issues addressed in this report include: funding, protection of drinking water sources, progress made on protecting healthy aquatic ecosystems, watershed planning, shared governance, and water conservation.

Over 6,000 Canadians suffer from acute pesticide poisonings every year. That is one of the findings from research conducted by David Boyd for the David Suzuki Foundation report, Northern Exposure: Acute pesticide poisonings in Canada.

To download executive summary or full report (PDF-328 KB, 18 pages) go to: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Publications/Northern_exposure.asp

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government fended off opposition accusations Tuesday of favouritism for the Alberta oilpatch as various industry groups started raising questions about new federal environmental regulations that make the oilsands the only Canadian sector allowed to increase pollution linked to smog over the next decade.

Alberta’s Biggest Budget Ever Overlooks the Environment

The Stelmach Government’s first budget does little to acknowledge the accelerating environmental impacts of an overheating energy sector, let alone begin to address them, three leading environmental organisations said today.