Friday 22 July 2011

$50-million plan for monitoring oilsands

The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday, July 21, 2011, ran the following article:


OTTAWA - The federal government will set up a monitoring system to watch over the environmental fallout from the expanding oilsands industry.

Environment Minister Peter Kent says the "world-class" system will monitor air, water and biodiversity in the Athabasca region of Alberta, in co-operation with provincial authorities.

The main aim, he says, "is to provide assurance at home and abroad that development of the oilsands is being done in an environmentally sustainable manner."

The oilsands have been unfairly targeted by foreign governments and activists, Kent said. The new monitoring system will use science to fight back.

"Industry is expanding production," he said. "And with its environmental footprint, we need evidence that growing production is environmentally responsible."

The plan will cost $50 million a year to ensure industrial development is done in a responsible way, but the industry itself will be cover the costs, Kent said.

The costs will likely fall over the years as the system becomes more efficient.

Environmentalists welcomed the increase in monitoring, but criticized the new system as toothless.

“While we welcome Environment Canada’s release of new monitoring design for tarsands pollution and biodiversity, the plan needs to be complemented with legally binding regulations if we are to see progress on the ground," said Gillian McEachern of Environmental Defence.

"More data alone will not stop the growing pollution problem. Ottawa already has the legal authority to act."

The Canadian Press


http://www.thespec.com/news/canada/article/566931--50-million-plan-for-monitoring-oilsands


What's your take on this?

Hamilton 350 blog

Sunday 10 July 2011

U.S. Debt Crisis

The world is finally waking up to the fact that the U.S. is in debt to the tune of $14 trillion, that's $14,000,000,000,000, meanwhile the U.S. government spends $10 billion a month on its "war" in Afghanistan. The White House must come up with a deal by the August 2nd deadline. Never mind Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Iceland and the U.K.  Is the U.S. too big to fail?

Read the CBC news posted on Sunday July 10:
Crucial U.S. debt talks to resume Monday

Corporate leaders, bankers and politicians would like us all to think it is business as usual and to have faith in the globalized free-market economy while they make themselves rich and trash the planet in the process. We know that the house of cards is about to collapse. Time will tell.

For for a viewpoint from Paul Chefurka, read 50,000-Foot View of the Global Crisis.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

Hamilton 350 blog