Toxics Watch Society of Alberta

On behalf of the staff members and myself, I would like to propose that the Toxics Watch Society engage in a campaign to remove the regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to net metering in Alberta.

Definition of Net Metering
Net metering is "A method of crediting customers for electricity that they generate on site in excess of their own electricity consumption." (epa website). In other words, it allows home and business owners to spin their electrical meters backwards using renewable energy that they produce from solar panels or wind turbines.

In November 2004, the CASA board approved recommendations from the Vehicle Emissions Team (VET) committing board member organizations to review and, if necessary, develop or improve their employer-based transportation demand management (TDM) plans. Employer-based TDM refers to any program or initiative that assists employees in working without requiring a private vehicle and can range from subsidized public transit passes to telecommuting or flex-time.

This afternoon the TDM Sub-group of the VET reviewed the latest draft of the Clean Commute Planning Document intended to assist board member organizations conduct their review. The members of the board range in size from our own 3-staff Toxics Watch Society, to the 8,000 employee City of Edmonton bureaucracy. The draft was amended in format and diction, and approved. Three CASA board member organizations will be invited to beta test the document.

"Alberta is solidifying its reputation as a leader in environmental management with its new Electronics Recycling Program, the first of its kind in Canada - and Tire Recycling Program. ...

Your members may be interested in knowing that Alberta has recycled over 33 million tires since 1992 and more than 20,000 computer monitors, 9,400 televisions and 12,000 printers (among other electronics) since the launch of its Electronics Recycling Program. ..."

For the members information.

As of July 2,2005, MATL is planning to build a 300-kilometre transmission line spanning the Montana-Alberta border says construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2006 and end in 2007.

The line is a project of Montana Alberta Tie Limited, consisting of Canadian companies Rocky Mountain Power Limited and Tonebridge, and an Oregon company, Lectrix.

The partners expect the line to be used by companies that want to move electricity from Alberta into Montana and markets south of Montana, or Montana power developers who want to sell electricity to buyers in Canada.

Presently, moving power between the two areas requires routing it through Saskatchewan or British Columbia, using routes that are crowded.

On May 5th, 2005 Custom Environmental Services, a hazardous waste handling facility in Edmonton mixed incompatible chemicals triggering an explosive fire. Alberta Environment deployed its mobile air monitoring unit to measure air quality surrounding the fire.

The results of the non-continuous monitoring parameters (those pollutants which required laboratory analysis) were released today.

The monitoring data shows that for many pollutants levels in the air rose. Alberta Environment compares these levels to ambient air quality objectives or effects screenling levels where these guidelines exist in order to draw conclusions of significance.

This commentary will appear in the Third Party Review section of Dow Canada's 2004 Public Report.

Dow Canada deserves to be recognized for the environmental initiatives it has undertaken in the past, and for the progress the company had made in emissions reduction over the past ten years as described in the 2004 Dow Canada Public Report.

As society moves forward into a world more constrained by environmental limits due to climate change and the need for sustainable use of resources, the demands for environmental preformance and direct contributions to sustainability will be higher. Cleaning up a littered or contaminated site, however innovative the method, will be viewed as simply doing what should be done and less and indicator of environmental leadership. More important will be increasing (and reporting on) the alignment of Dow's businesses with sustainable principles, which the 2004 report touches on when mentioning Woodstalkâ„¢ Gold MR Fiberboard.

We need an Alberta version of this: http://www.iatp.org/foodandhealth/fishcalculator/index.cfm

At the March 17th meeting of the CASA Board of Directors, the decision was passed to expand the board from 20 to 22 members to enable enlargement of the Government Sector of the CASA Board. An Aboriginal Government and alternate seat was created. The Toxics Watch representative (me) was sick that day and unable to attend, but I would have supported the expansion.

Tomorrow is the next meeting of the Liability Allocation Working Group of the CSSAC.

We will be turning our minds to these subjects:

· Confirm Allocation Factors & Responsible Person list
· Develop a broad framework for liability allocation process
· Allocation authority roles, responsibilities and scope

The members of the LA Working Group have been considering the Manitoba Contaminated Sites Act (myself included). http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/c205e.php

Reading the Manitoba Act, I have not yet found anything objectionable, and find much to support. I will support revising Alberta's Contaminated Sites provisions in AEPEA to be like Manitoba's.

Last night, New Democrat Party Environment Critic, David Eggen, convened a discussion panel at the New Unitarian Church in Queen Mary Park on the topic of: The Urbanite's Connection to the Environment. Here is the first draft of my comments:

I call myself an environmentalist, and I associate with many people who also call themselves environmentalists. But it's clear that, as an urban person, there is a difference between me and many of my peers. This difference is most obvious when we talk about our weekends and holidays.

For, I hug no trees.

I never go to a national park or a wilderness area. I watch no birds nor paddle canoes. The Willmore Wilderness is only a green area on a map. I don't even go to cabins at the lake.