GreenWatch

B. McPherson Crude oil is a complex substance that contains deadly toxins.   In the news again is the pipeline company consortium Enbridge. Again we have a pipeline spouting a leak. This time about 1200 barrels of crude escaped into the environment. Enbridge is touting its fast reponse and is working hard to clean up the mess. The company is trying to show that this toxic spill is of little environmental consequence. “An image of the site posted on Enbridge’s website showed a patch of damp, blackened earth near a stand of trees about one-third the size of a football field. It found some oil on two small farm ponds, but said they did not connect to moving waterways and that drinking wells did not seem to be affected.” Edmonton Journal Notice the waffle words. Gosh, why did the farms have ponds? – maybe as drinking water for their livestock, maybe for irrigation of their fields. If the black goop hit the ground, how do they know it won’t affect water wells. ...

B. McPherson Sharks maintain the delicate balance of life in our oceans. Shark finning threatens to make them extinct. Paul Watson, the face of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has apparently left Germany. He was being detained in that country on a charge from Costa Rica. Watson has been out on bail, but was subject to stringent conditions. He failed to fulfill his bail conditions and his attorney now confirms that he has left the country. The incident for which Costa Rica was requesting extradition was for an incident that occurred in 2002. The basis for the arrest and extradition request was a charge of “violation of ships’ traffic”. Watson maintains that the incident in question took place in Guatemalan waters and he acted on the request of the Guatemalan authorities to stop illegal shark finning. Since the encounter, there are conflicting stories. For many years the Costa Rica request was ignored as it was generally accepted that it was politically motivated. ...

B. McPherson It's not if a tanker spill will occur, but when. Late Sunday night workers testing a valve at an Enbridge p ipeline reported a failure of the valve. The important pipeline which moves oil to Sarnia Ontario failed. There were unconfirmed reports that oil leaked and water escaped from the pipeline, but Enbridge officials were quick to point out that the problem was a valve failure, not a leak. In any case, if oil fouls the inside the fenced off area and does not foul the area beyond, the oil transport company is not obligated to report it as a leak. Enbridge has been under increasing pressure from residents of British Columbia who oppose the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline through the wilderness area of the Great Bear Rainforest. Indigenous people have spoken against it, environmentalists and people who work on the coastal waters have all expressed dismay at the thought of punching an oil pipeline through the pristine wilderness. Since the damning re...

B. McPherson Taseko Mine’s proposal to open a mine in the Williams Lake area that would destroy Little Fish Lake and compromise Fish Lake(Teztan Biny)  for years has been rejected by the Feds as second time. This comes at a time when the federal Conservatives have loosened restrictions on industry and downgraded environmental protection practises. “Citing more than 200 issues with the draft EIS, the federal agency scolds Taseko for missing information, editorial comments, poor data quality and incorrect statements .” SierraClub The proposal would see the development of a rich deposit of gold and copper. The company estimates that the payoff would be about $3 billion with the added bonus of jobs during the life of the mine. The cost to the environment and to the aboriginal people who live there is incalculable.  The first proposal was reviewed by both the BC Provincial government and given a green light. It was also reviewed by the feds and given a red light....

The following is from Forest Ethics Advocacy . If you are interested in preventing disastrous oil spills like what we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico and the Kalamazoo River, please take the time to read and respond. What do you know about Enbridge’s proposed 1,170-kilometre Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project? Imagine passing through the Rocky and Coast Mountains, over major wild salmon watersheds to our stunning coast - how many rivers, species of wildlife and communities would you cross? Let’s zoom in a little. What are residents (who call the areas at risk home) saying about this proposed pipeline project? CHECK OUT THE NEW TOOL WE'RE LAUNCHING TODAY that allows you to see the pipeline route, hear the voices of the people affected by it, and see for yourself the risk that Enbridge's proposed pipeline presents. Conduct your own investigation into the proposed pipeline as you tour the pipeline route through western Canada. The company claims that ...

B. McPherson The oil spill into the Kalamazoo River in 2010 left much of the riv er dead, wetlands ruined and people sick. The clean up which is ongoing cost nearly $1 billion. Federal regulators in the US have slapped Enbridge with a $3.7 million fine for their part in the mess. You do the math. People have been sickened, a river system is still not healthy and some areas are still not open to the public two years later. The clean up so far has cost the state of Michigan nearly $1 billion in money it doesn’t have and health issues are not being met in many cases. Some of the early clean up efforts seemed more like cover ups than anything else. A concerned citizen exposed the dumping of clean, white sand over oil saturated soil in Talmadge Creek. He also exposed the coverup of oil saturated wetlands – literally covering the area in floating mats and planting on their surfaces to hide the pollution beneath. The list goes on. This man has been harassed for his efforts to the e...

B. McPherson Are you one to buy and eat farmed Atlantic salmon? You know, the kind that you can buy in nearly every supermarket and Costco? It comes with a lower price tag than our diminishing stocks of wild salmon. You may get a bonus with the farmed fish – a parasite that can turn fish flesh into mush. When farmed salmon first hit the supermarket coolers, some people remarked on the cheapness of it while others turned their noses up saying that the flesh was “too soft”. It was speculated that the fish didn’t get enough exercise to develop firm muscles. Then a nasty little secret started to leak out. Some farmed salmon contained a bacterium that turned the flesh to mush. Now, due to a local TV station doing some undercover reporting, it’s no longer an industry secret. The bacterium is Kudoa thyrsites and it has been described as rather like a time bomb that affects the farmed salmon flesh after the fish has been killed and cut up for sale. This is, of course, different ...