EnviroNewsandIssues Newsletter - Edition 7

April 21, 2005
Chinook salmon collapse alarms West Coast - Globe and Mail

Portland, Ore. � An agency that regulates the U.S. West Coast's biggest river has halted sport and commercial fishing for three kinds of fish after scientists became alarmed about a
mysterious collapse in the population of salmon.

The Columbia River Compact voted this week to shut down sport fishing for salmon, steelhead trout and shad to avoid losing too many salmon that are preparing to spawn. Officials also s
uspended commercial fishing on selective stocks of hatchery fish.

The Columbia River and its tributaries in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana have historically been the world's largest producer of Chinook, the biggest of the Pacific salmon species.

Scientists had predicted that more than 200,000 Chinook salmon would return to the Bonneville Dam east of Portland. As of Tuesday, however, only 2,030 had shown up.

Darfur: I know this is not environmental in the strictest sense, but it is about the human environment, and something Canada should be working on instead of the rush to another expensive election. Imagine what the upcoming $200 million dollars to be used for the next election, could be used for in Darfur?

Sudan discovers �abundant� oil in war-torn Darfur - AlJazeera
Geological studies and surveys proved that there are �abundant� quantities of oil in the western region of Darfur, Sudan�s Energy and Mining Ministry said.

Energy and Mining Minister, Awad Ahmed al-Jazz, said that the newly discovered oil field is expected to generate 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day by August this year.

Mohamed Siddig, a spokesman for the energy ministry also announced that drilling for oil has
started in Darfur �on the basis of the geological studies and surveys which proved the presence of oil in abundant quantities in Darfur,"

Australian troops in Sudan to stay clear of Dafur - Radio Australia
Australia's Foreign Minister says Australian troops being sent to Sudan as part of a humanitarian aid mission won't be working in the troubled region of Darfur.The 15 soldiers will be involved in the United Nations' operation in southern Sudan, which has been troubled by civil war for more than 20 years.The government is sending logistics experts and military observers to help with the mission.Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says Australia remains concerned about the situation in Darfur."It's been heading towards Rwanda proportions as a humanitarian catastrophe, and the international community's response has been very slow. And we look forward to a much stronger response now from the United Nations to dealing with the problem of Darfur."

Politically Active Teens Campaign Nationwide to Bring Justice to the People of Darfur
On April 22, 2005 at 4 p.m., Teens 4 Peace and Amnesty International USA will sponsor a rally by youth activists to express outrage at the indifference to the atrocities being committed in Darfur Sudan.

Jaime Bergerson, with Teens 4 Peace said, "We call for the immediate enforcement of the UN Arms embargo, implementation of a no-fly zone across Darfur and increased support for the African Union mission in Darfur that will enable it to protect the citizens of Darfur.

"The rally will start in Dupont Circle, where we will have speakers from Amnesty International, Africa Action, and the Institute for Policy Studies. We will march to the Embassy of Sudan in commemoration of those murdered, tortured, and raped at the hands of the Sudanese government and their proxy militia, the Janjaweed.

"We must speak out on behalf of the 70,000 people who have lost their lives and the nearly 2 million who have been forced to leave their homes. The Sudanese government must know that the world is watching and will NOT allow the atrocities in Darfur to continue. We, as teens, will not sit by idly and bear 1/4 witness to this senseless brutality."

Teens 4 Peace aims to:
-- Empower teenagers across the nation and utilize their energy, interest and resources to fight social injustices such as the one in Darfur.
-- Build an ongoing organization of young people to address ongoing issues of social justice.
-- Clearly articulate issues of social injustice and work toward their resolution.
-- Educate teenagers as well as the general public about these issues.
-- Raise consciousness and become involved in providing solutions to these issues.
For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview email Jaime at Jaime(at)teens4peace.net .

Looking beyond the bottom line - Toronto Star

Most of the corporate leaders Roger Martin meets would like to make the world a better place. But they're not prepared to jeopardize their company's health, their workers' jobs or their shareholders' money to do it.
What they need, the dean of the Rotman School of Management says, is a way of thinking about their role in society as rigorously as they think about making profits.

April 20, 2005
Inuit leader wins environment prize - Globe and Mail

Oslo � Canadian Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier won the 2005 Sophia environment prize Wednesday for drawing attention to the impact of climate change and pollution on the traditional lifestyles of the Arctic's indigenous people and others.

The $100,000 (U.S.) prize was created in 1997 by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder and his wife, Siri Dannevig. It is named after Mr. Gaarder's book Sophie's World, a surprise international best-selling novel based on philosophy for young people.

'Ballast-free' ships threaten Great Lakes - Globe and Mail
Muskegon, Mich. � Ocean-going freighters that claim to be empty of ballast water before entering the Great Lakes routinely carry dangerous foreign organisms, including saltwater algae, invertebrates and deadly bacteria, a new report says.

The University of Michigan and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted a five-year study of freighters that enter the lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The study found that ships that register as having no ballast on board routinely carry thousands of viable organisms in muddy water that sloshes around in empty ballast tanks.

STEINBACH, Man. -- Manitobans will have the opportunity to discuss strategies to improve water quality in Lake Winnipeg at public meetings organized by the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board.
Meetings run at six different locations in the province between April 19 and May 17, starting in Brandon and ending in Norway House. (3 p.m. at Legion Hall, 294 Lumber Ave.)

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Ed Trippel, a biologist with Canada's Fisheries Department, receives an award from the International Smart Gear Competition for his invention to help prevent wildlife from dying in commercial fishing gear.

Provincial park added to Lois Hole's legacy - Edmonton Journal
ST. ALBERT - The province of Alberta will dedicate the 1,420-hectare natural area around Big Lake to former lieutenant-governor Lois Hole, cabinet documents confirm.

The Klein government agreed with a plan submitted by Community Development Minister Gary Mar to name the planned park the Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.

School's unique program gets green thumbs-up - CBC.ca
WINNIPEG - A one-of-a-kind horticulture program is getting some high marks in a North End school in Winnipeg.

Horticulture students at R.B. Russell Vocational High have transformed the courtyard of the Dufferin Avenue school into a garden with pathways, stonework, flowers and trees.

When teacher Louise Shachtay took over the program four years ago, she says, boys cut the lawn and girls planted seeds, and that was it.

Top environmentalist may quit over colleague's extremist comments - CBC.ca
OTTAWA - Elizabeth May, one of Canada's leading environmentalists, is threatening to resign from an animal rights group over comments made by a senior member threatening assassination as a valid means to protect animals.

Dr. Jerry Vlasak of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was recently arrested in Canada during protests at the East Coast seal hunt.

Lots of reasons to vote May 17 - Times-Colonist
Fixed election dates don't make campaigns more exciting -- just longer. The starting gun went off Tuesday, but the politicians have been running for weeks.

Kyoto delays unacceptable - Canoe-CNews
Looking at the media coverage of Canada's recently announced Kyoto plan, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the country's biggest polluters and environmental groups are on same side - but nothing could be further from the truth.

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA RELEASES INTERNATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/ips/ips-en.asp

(government spin -----> This document articulates a vision for Canada's global engagement. Our first comprehensive, integrated international policy framework, the Statement delivers on the Government's commitment to invest in our international role.The Statement sets out an action plan for transforming Canadian diplomacy, to better serve Canada and Canadians.The new diplomacy is about opportunity, empowerment and vision, enabling Canadians to create the society they want-safe, prosperous and proud of its role in the world.

Announcement of new Canada Research Chairs highlights research to fight obesity, keep rivers clean, prevent outbreaks of new disease and make cities safer.

WINNIPEG, MB, April 20 - On Friday, April 22, at 15:45 p.m. Central Daylight Time, Industry Minister David L. Emerson will announce the next round of Chairs appointments. These prestigious faculty positions at universities across the country will contribute to world-class expertise to research in such areas as ecosystem pollution, animal and human diseases, and safety in large Canadian cities.

The event will also highlight research conducted at the University of Manitoba to develop healthier versions of common foods that help fight obesity and heart disease. The Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canada Research Chairs program will be joined by the Honourable Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, and other distinguished guests. DATE: April 22, 2005 TIME: 15:45 p.m., Central Daylight Time PLACE: Agriculture Building Atrium 66 Dafoe Road University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba

April 19. 2005
Study election issues carefully, then make the most of your vote - Vancouver Sun
Elections are by definition crossroads in history. Over the next four weeks, Liberals will be asking you not to turn back and New Democrats and the Green Party under leader Adriane Carr will try to lead you off in a new direction.

Conservatives won't say whether they would withdraw from Kyoto treaty - The Recorder
The Conservatives say they don't support the Kyoto treaty but won't say if they'll withdraw from it, a stand that has environmentalists scratching their heads.

"I've been noticing what seems to be some contradictory positions being taken in the last few days," Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute said Monday. "The impression is that the Conservatives are bit unclear themselves as to what their position is," he said in an interview.

"That needs to be cleared up before the election. If they don't intend to implement (Kyoto), they need to say that clearly to the international community."

Termite guts can save the planet - EurekAlert
The way termite guts process food could teach scientists how to produce pollution-free energy and help solve the world's imminent energy crisis. Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick today, Nobel laureate Steven Chu urged scientists to turn their attention to finding an environmentally friendly form of fuel. In an impassioned plea to some of the world's brightest minds, he explained how he's leading by example, and encouraged others to join the effort which "may already be too late."

Chu, who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, has begun studying termite guts in one place in nature, where a key hurdle for a carbon-neutral energy supply has already been solved.

Termite guts take indigestible cellulose, which makes up the bulk of all plant material grown on earth, and convert it to ethanol, which even today is a versatile and popular fuel.

April 18, 2005
Climate of Denial - MoJo Journal
One morning in Kyoto, we won a round in the battle against global warming. Then special interests and pseudoscience snatched the truth away. What happened?

It was around eight in the morning in the vast convention hall in Kyoto. The negotiations over a worldwide treaty to limit global warming gases, which were supposed to have ended the evening before, had gone on through the night. Drifts of paper�treaty drafts, industry talking points, environmentalist press releases�overflowed every wastebasket. Delegates in suits and ties were passed out on couches, noisily mouth breathing. And polite squadrons of workers were shooing people out of the hall so that some trade show�tool and die makers, I think�could set up its displays.

Some Like It Hot - MoJo Journal
Forty public policy groups have this in common: They seek to undermine the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth to overheat. And they all get money from ExxonMobil.

WHEN NOVELIST MICHAEL CRICHTON took the stage before a lunchtime crowd in Washington, D.C., one Friday in late January, the event might have seemed, at first, like one more unremarkable appearance by a popular author with a book to sell. Indeed, Crichton had just such a book, his new thriller, State of Fear. But the content of the novel, the setting of the talk, and the audience who came to listen transformed the Crichton event into something closer to a hybrid of campaign rally and undergraduate seminar. State of Fear is an anti-environmentalist page-turner in which shady ecoterrorists plot catastrophic weather disruptions to stoke unfounded fears about global climate change. However fantastical the book�s story line, its author was received as an expert by the sharply dressed policy wonks crowding into the plush Wohlstetter Conference Center of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI). In his introduction, AEI president and former Reagan budget official Christopher DeMuth praised the author for conveying �serious science with a sense of drama to a popular audience.� The title of the lecture was �Science Policy in the 21st Century.�

This is not strictly an Environmental issue, but is something that we need to look at as a country, as it is related to the Environment of the Human body. I am also a Vancouver native boy.
North America�s First Heroin Prescription Program Introduced in Canada - World Press Organization
In February, Vancouver became the first city in North America to begin clinical trials for heroin prescription. This step, which required an exemption of Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, came a year and a half after Vancouver had opened North America�s first safe injection site.

Dr. David Marsh, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Healthcare and Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, says, �Each research subject will be on either heroin or another approved treatment substitute such as methadone.� According to him, Switzerland and the Netherlands have already approved regular treatment with heroin maintenance as part of the continuum of care after over 20,000 patient years of research.

Marsh himself has worked for eight years in Canada to have the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (Naomi) study approved.

Writing in the Vancouver Sun, some addicts in the community have criticized parts of the study, which requires participants to give urine samples and reveal their medical histories and criminal records if they have one. They feel that there are too many barriers to enter the program and that it does not include enough participants.

Parks Canada Announces Funding for Cooperating Associations Program
OTTAWA, April 18 - The Honourable St�phane Dion, Minister ofthe Environment, today announced that Parks Canada will contribute $177,175 toits Cooperating Associations Program in 2005-2006. Sixteen associations willreceive funding to undertake projects ranging from developing sales outlets, creating publications, developing audio guides and numerous other activitiesand services.

"The more Canadians know about Canada's national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas, the more they are motivated tosupport their protection," said Minister Dion. "Cooperating associations acton Parks Canada's behalf by undertaking projects and activities in direct support of the Parks Canada mandate." Cooperating associations are non-profit charitable organizations whoseactivities complement national park and/or national historic site themes.

These "Friends" organizations run gift shops and other retail operations within national parks and national historic sites. They organize historical re-enactments and festivals, develop publications that educate the public onecological and cultural elements within the parks and sites, administer restoration projects, and more.

The revenues generated in the sales outlets and through various programs and special events organized by the cooperating associations enable them toemploy staff and to engage well-trained, highly motivated volunteers whoassist the parks and sites in carrying out their mandate. A portion of these revenues are directed back, in an agreed upon way, to the parks and sites. As non-profit organizations, the associations can utilize government grants tohire staff, and accept donations for parks/site projects from the private sector.

Parks Canada's Cooperating Associations Program was established in 1981.

There are currently 55 cooperating associations in the program, working withnational parks and national historic sites in every province. Using Parks Canada facilities, often under a lease arrangement, the cooperatingassociations annually generate an estimated $10 million in revenue and provide approximately 60,000 hours of volunteer effort which supports their ongoing contribution to Canada's national parks and national historic sites.

April 17, 2005

U.S. energy study finds greenhouse gas limits affordable - Globe and Mail
Washington � Mandatory limits on all U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases would not significantly affect average economic growth rates across the country through 2025, the government said.

That finding by the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of the Energy Department, runs counter to President George W. Bush's repeated pronouncements that limits on carbon dioxide and other gases that warm the atmosphere like a greenhouse would seriously harm the U.S. economy.

Power Play: Enron Canada found the loopholes in Alberta's power market -- and used them. Are other companies plugging in to the same opportunities? - Calgary Herald

In the spring of 1999, with power prices in Alberta approaching record heights, a senior executive at Enron Canada Corp. couldn't help but be frustrated.

"I'm so pissed," John Lavorato told a colleague at Enron in May, 1999, peppering his sentences with expletives as he watched Alberta's hourly power prices climb.

It wasn't the soaring cost of electricity that bothered him. After all, Enron was secretly manipulating those prices, at times inflating them to four and five times their normal levels.

Kyotoi: Where to now? - Winnipeg Free PressThe light is now 'Green'

With the launch of Project Green last week and February's federal budget, Canadians now have the fullest picture of how the Martin government proposes to meet Canada's Kyoto commitment to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by six per cent from 1990 levels for 2008-2012.

While the plan does have some regulatory and fiscal features, it relies most heavily on incentives to deliver on its commitment.

A Time for Action, or More Debate? - Winnipeg Free Press
ALMOST three years ago I wrote an opinion piece for View from the West on whether Canada should ratify the Kyoto treaty. I wondered aloud whether this was actually the right question, or whether we should be focused on this one:

What innovative approaches can Canadians develop to reduce greenhouse gases both in the short and long term?

Has a lot changed since then, or not?

Canada ratified Kyoto at the end of 2002 and, last week, after many delays, the federal government put forward a Kyoto plan, renewing the debate over what Canada can and cannot afford to do to address the climate-change issue. Canadians are good at debating.

Liberal's Kyoto plan full of hot air - Edmonton Journal
Remember those souvenir shirts that read "My parents went to (Vegas/Hawaii/Disneyland) and all I got was this lousy T-shirt?" Well, if Ottawa's Project Green plan for meeting Canada's Kyoto emission-reduction commitments were a souvenir, it would have to read "My government spent eight years designing this plan, and all it came up with is this lousy mirage."

Moving Forward on Climate Change: A Plan for Honouring Our Kyoto Commitment isn't a plan
so much as it is a wisp of smoke that seems to have shape until you actually try to touch it.

It's full of talk of reducing Canada's so-called greenhouse emissions by 270 megatonnes by 2012, just seven years from now -- a one-third reduction from current levels. It puts numbers on
where Ottawa intends to achieve reductions -- a 75-to-115 megatonne reduction from the climate fund, 55 to 85 megatonnes from the partnership fund, 45 megatonnes from large final emitters, GHG reduction programs (up to 40 megatonnes), carbon sinks (30 megatonnes), renewable energy (15) and so on.

BARRY COOPER - professor of political science at the University of Calgary and director of the Alberta Policy Research Centre at The Fraser Institute in Calgary.

OPPONENTS of Kyoto have long argued there are three things wrong with it: junk science, computer modelling based on wishful thinking, and huge expenditures for nothing.
At long last, the third objection, costs without benefits, has penetrated the ice fog that semi-permanently engulfs the bureaucratic minds of Ottawa.

On the first issue, the notorious hockey-stick graph -- which purports to show a rapid increase in mean global temperature -- has been replaced with a pie plate. That is, there were higher temperatures at the early end of the stick handle when Greenland was green and the Vikings named their Newfoundland landfall "Vinland" because of the grapes they discovered, but that no longer grow there. The handle may be flat, but there are "blades" at either end. Normal people would conclude that such science is anything but settled, and so the rhetorical power of the hockey stick is extinguished.

Fiction fuels global warming - Calgary Sun
Myth of Jurassic proportions has world mired in false State of Fear

Since facts and science can't seem to debunk the faulty notion of global warming being caused by humans, perhaps fiction can.

Virtually every month, new reports by the world's top climate scientists debunk the correlation between increasing CO2 emissions and the warming of the Earth.

Just this past week, as the federal Liberal government announced its plan (if you can call it that) to meet its impossible Kyoto targets, a weighty group of North America's top climatologists, paleoclimatologists, astrophysicists and oceanographers launched a video that points out the scientific flaws behind the premise that so-called greenhouse gases (GHGs) are behind global warming.

Kyoto plan lots of hot air - Edmonton Sun
Mere moments after the Liberals finally released their long-delayed plan to implement the Kyoto accord, Industry Minister David Emerson said that an early election could "knock things off the rails completely."

Well, sir, that's a risk we're willing to take. Emerson's protests are nonsense, of course, if we consider that the Kyoto accord has been around since 1997 and so the Liberals have had lots of time since then to bring forward an implementation plan.

Now that the scandal-plagued Grits have an imperilled minority government, though, suddenly everything that the Liberals have dithered on for years now is in jeopardy unless the opposition parties, in the Liberal view, do their duty to Canada and continue to let the Grits, who are plummeting in the polls with every new revelation at the Gomery inquiry, do whatever they want.

This newspaper has always been of two minds on the Kyoto accord, which is supposed to compel Canada to reduce its current levels of greenhouse gases by more than one-third.

On the one hand, we've never thought that the Grits were particularly serious about implementing the accord, hence the long delays in bringing forward a plan.

Deep down the Liberals know that any real effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions to actually meet our treaty commitments would be economic suicide that would cost the party dearly in Ontario's automobile-building heartland. (It wouldn't cost them much, if anything, in oil-rich Alberta only because they never get more than a handful of MPs elected in these parts anyway.)
But the Liberals put a premium on symbolism and rhetoric, so we've always figured that any implementation of the Kyoto accord would be the typical half-hearted, all-talk-and-no-action, money-wasting Liberal approach that the party seems to take on any and every issue, from health care to foreign policy, defence spending, aboriginal issues, national unity and on and on it goes.

Considering that the big complaint that followed the release of the Kyoto plan last week was that the thick document was too vague and lacked detail, it's apparent that the Grits are sticking with style over substance.

Just don't expect us to applaud. It would take courage for the Liberals to say that the Kyoto accord is an utterly ineffective way of reducing global greenhouse gases when China, India and the United States, which produce 40% of the world's emissions, aren't signatories.

It would be gutsy for the Grits to say that spending $10 billion (and, in reality, it's going to be way more than that) isn't worth it when Canada only accounts for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead, we're going to get the usual blundering approach from the Grits that, mark our words, will one day be considered a boondoggle of greater proportions than the gun registry.

Really, now. If the Grits can't take something as relatively simple as registering a firearm and doing that properly, then what hope is there that they'll be able to do something as complex as cajole, encourage and compel millions of Canadians and untold tens of thousands of businesses and industries to reduce their greenhouse emissions?

Good luck on that.

But the only thing worse than an incompetent government is one that regularly plays regions against one another to maintain its electoral dominance.

As we're well aware of in this part of the world, Alberta is usually the target of the Liberal government's wrath.

And Alberta will never forget the national energy program.

When it comes to Kyoto, then, this province is just a little jumpier than normal, particularly if the Ottawa rumour mill is to be believed that, in the mid-1990s, Anne McLellan stopped the cabinet from raiding our resource revenue again.

These are Liberals we're talking about. They may be profoundly incompetent most of the time, but the last thing we want them to do is actually find some focus and ensure that Canada does meet its Kyoto accord goals by nailing Alberta's petro-economy to the wall.

Of course, the best way to avoid even the possibility of that is to have Conservative Leader Stephen Harper capitalize on the current Liberal scandals by pulling the plug on Parliament and letting Canadians send the Grits to the opposition backbenches where they belong.

Kyoto is now a $10B boondoggle - Toronto Star
Canada's plan to comply with the Kyoto "hot air" accord now has all the makings of a $10-billion boondoggle.

That's the price tag Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government officially put on meeting Canada's Kyoto targets last week, double previous estimates.

The even worse news is that few familiar with the plan seriously believe Canada can meet its Kyoto commitments.

And the worst news is that if, by some miracle, Canada did, the actual effect on global warming would be almost undetectable.

That's because Canada produces less than 2% of the world's greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The U.S., the world's biggest emitter (23%), has refused to sign on to Kyoto, citing the potentially devastating effect on its economy. Other big emitters such as China (13%) and India (5.5%), are exempt because they're developing nations.

Indeed, complying with Kyoto may see us paying $1 billion (or more, no one knows) to buy hot air from Russia -- literally!

Under Kyoto -- Canada, which must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012 -- can purchase emission "credits" from Russia. Russia has lots of room to pollute under Kyoto because it has far less industry now than in 1990, due to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union.

By contrast, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions rose by 24% between 1990 and 2003. It's now estimated we will have to cut current emissions by 270 megatonnes by 2012, up from the original estimate of 240 to comply with Kyoto.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce fears that will cripple business while the Canadian Taxpayers Federation warns it will cost the average Canadian family at least $3,000 a year by 2010 in such things as drastically higher fuel prices and taxes.

Meanwhile, environmentalists complain the government has gone easy on big-time greenhouse gas emitters -- oil refineries and the like -- which produce half of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the latest Canadian plan, these 700 companies will only be responsible for doing 12% of the work needed to meet Kyoto's targets. Their earlier emission reduction target of 55 megatonnes has now been reduced to 36.

In addition, the feds have admitted their original predictions of how much greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced were too optimistic, including the "One Tonne Challenge" aimed at ordinary Canadians. It was supposed to reduce emissions by 7 million tonnes annually. Now that's been cut back to 5 million.

Finally, the credibility of the research on which Kyoto was based is under assault. Far from there being a consensus in the scientific community that global warning is mainly caused by man-made greenhouse gases, a growing number of scientists and experts -- 18,000 at last count -- have signed petitions opposing Kyoto.

Many argue the treaty is based on junk science, using flawed research that even failed to take into account that the Earth's climate has naturally heated up and cooled down over millions of years. Some contend the Earth's climate was actually warmer a few hundred years ago, long before large-scale industrialization became a reality.

Surely there are better ways to spend tax money cleaning up our environment than by throwing it down Kyoto's black hole.

Kyoto beyond Grits - Calgary Sun
Half-hearted plan sure to be another Liberal blunder

Mere moments after the Liberals released their long-delayed plan to implement the Kyoto accord, Industry Minister David Emerson said that an early election could "knock things off the rails completely." Well, sir, that's a risk we're willing to take. Emerson's protests are nonsense, of course, if we consider the Kyoto accord has been around since 1997 giving the Liberals lots of time -- eight long years -- to bring forward an implementation plan. Now that the scandal-plagued Grits have an imperilled minority government, though, suddenly everything the Liberals have dithered on for years is in jeopardy unless the opposition parties, in the Liberal view, do their duty to Canada and continue to let the Grits, who are plummeting in the polls with every new revelation at the Gomery inquiry, do whatever they want. This newspaper has always been of two minds on the Kyoto accord, which is supposed to compel Canada to reduce its current levels of greenhouse gases by more than one-third. On the one hand, we've never thought the Grits were particularly serious about implementing the accord, hence the long delays in bringing forward a plan. Deep down, the Liberals know any real effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions to actually meet our treaty commitments would be economic suicide that would cost the party dearly in Ontario's automobile-building heartland. (It wouldn't cost them much, if anything, in oil-rich Alberta only because they never get more than a handful of MPs elected in these parts anyway.) But the Liberals put a premium on symbolism and rhetoric, so we've always figured any implementation of the Kyoto accord would be the typical half-hearted, all-talk-and-no-action, money-wasting Liberal approach that the party seems to take on any and every issue, from health care to foreign policy, defence spending, aboriginal issues, national unity and on it goes. Considering the complaint that followed the release of the Kyoto plan last week was that the thick document was too vague and lacked detail, it's apparent the Grits are sticking with style over substance. Just don't expect us to applaud. It would take courage for the Liberals to say the Kyoto accord is an utterly ineffective way of reducing global greenhouse gases when China, India and the U.S., which produce 40% of the world's emissions, aren't signatories. It would be gutsy for the Grits to say that spending $10 billion (and, in reality, it's going to be way more than that) isn't worth it when Canada only accounts for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, we're going to get the usual blundering approach from the Grits that will one day be considered a boondoggle of greater proportions than the gun registry. If the Grits can't take something as relatively simple as registering a firearm and do that properly, what hope is there they'll be able to do something as complex as cajole and compel millions of Canadians and untold tens of thousands of businesses and industries to reduce their greenhouse emissions? Good luck on that. But the only thing worse than an incompetent government is one that regularly plays regions against one another to maintain its electoral dominance and as we're well aware of in this part of the world, Alberta is usually the target of the Liberal government's wrath. And Alberta will never forget the national energy program. When it comes to Kyoto, then, this province is just a little jumpier than normal, particularly if the Ottawa rumour mill is to be believed that in the mid-1990s, Anne McLellan stopped the cabinet from raiding our resource revenue again. These are Liberals we're talking about. They may be profoundly incompetent most of the time, but the last thing we want them to do is actually find some focus and ensure that Canada does meet its Kyoto accord goals by nailing Alberta's petro-economy to the wall. Of course, the best way to avoid even the possibility of that is to have Conservative Leader Stephen Harper capitalize on the current Liberal scandals by pulling the plug on Parliament and letting Canadians send the Grits to the opposition backbenches where they belong.
mailto:callet@calgarysun.com

B.B. King to get statue in his name - CBC Arts <---- The Editor is a big BB King fan LITTLE ROCK, ARK. - The Arkansas legislature has approved a motion to erect a statue in honour of B.B. King. King, 79, is the legendary bluesman known for songs like his 1970 version of The Thrill is Gone, as well as for naming his guitar Lucille. The legislature allocated $5,000 US for a monument that will commemorate King's lifetime of singing the blues. It will be located in the tiny town of Twist � the place where his guitar got its name. "B.B. put Twist, Ark., on the map," Allan Hammons, interim director of the planned B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Miss., told The Associated Press. "I think it's very important that the state of Arkansas took the opportunity to memorialize that great American story."

Change to the Clean Air Act Is Built Into New Energy Bill - New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 15 - Deep in the energy bill that was approved by a House committee this week, under a section titled "Miscellaneous," is a brief provision that could have major consequences for communities struggling to clean up their dirty air.

If it becomes law, it would make one of the most significant changes to the Clean Air Act in 15 years, allowing communities whose air pollution comes from hundreds of miles away to delay meeting national air quality standards until their offending neighbors clean up their own air.

The provision could especially affect states like New York, which has some of the nation's dirtiest air, and other Northeastern states that have always had difficulty meeting federal standards for ozone, a leading cause of smog, because much of any state's pollution originates in states to the south and west.

China's Problem With 'Anti-Pest' Rice - New York Times
UHAN, China, April 14 - The farmer reaches down into a sack he keeps stored on the second floor of his house in a small farming village south of here and pulls up a fistful of rice that he says has no equal.

"This is really remarkable rice," he says, forcing it into the hands of his guests. "All you do is plant it and it grows. You don't need to use all those chemicals any more."

The farmer and other crop growers in this area call this unique variety "anti-pest rice" because it acts as its own insect repellent in the rice paddies. But some Chinese growers and foreign specialists say they suspect much of this region's rice has been genetically modified.

And in China, it is illegal to sell genetically modified rice on the open market.

The environmental group Greenpeace, which had rice in this area tested by an independent lab in Germany, says the results show that some of the rice was altered with a gene that creates resistance to pests.

Strains on Nature Are Growing, Report Says - New York Times
OSLO, March 30 -- Humans are damaging the planet at a rapid rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or ''dead zones'' in the seas, an international report said Wednesday.

The study, by 1,360 researchers in 95 nations, the biggest review of the planet's life support systems ever, said that in the last 50 years a rising human population had polluted or overexploited two-thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, including clean air and fresh water. ''At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning,'' said the 45-member board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. ''Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.''

Fish Farms Tied in Study To Imperiling Wild Salmon By CORNELIA DEAN (NYT) 523 words Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 11 , Column 6
ABSTRACT - Canadian researchers suggest that fish farms are such prodigious producers of parasites that juvenile fish become very heavily infested just by swimming near them; their model suggest that young fish are so heavily affected that they may turn into secondary sources of infestation for other wild fish out at sea; findings add more fuel to intense debate over wisdom of turning to aquaculture to replace stocks of wild fish, many of which have crashed in recent decades under pressure of commercial and even recreational fishing (M)

April 16, 2005
U.S. judge says N.D. pipeline may continue - C-NEWS
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota may go ahead with plans to lay 24 kilometres of pipeline between Minot and Lake Sakakawea as part of an effort to supply lake water to northwestern North Dakota, a U.S. federal judge ruled.

In a decision filed Friday, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said North Dakota's Water Commission may continue building elements of the Northwest Area Water Supply project, if it can show the work will not affect the project's water-sanitizing options.

The natural solution to greenhouse gases - Edmonton Journal
OTTAWA - Although Canada will explain today how it plans to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets, scientists have already been working tirelessly in the background to find ways to cut this country's greenhouse-gas emissions.

While Canadians are waiting to find out what impact the protocol will have on their lives, researchers at the University of Western Ontario have been mapping ways to harness nature's immense power to correct errors made by man.

Construction will begin next month on a $30-million experimental climate-change research facility at the university, which received core funding from the federal government's Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Green Party in the news...

Conservatives up to 36% support in latest poll - CTV.ca
If an election were held today, 36 per cent of decided voters in Canada would cast their ballot in support of the Conservative Party, according to a new Ipsos-Reid poll.

... The Green Party is seeing its support unchanged on a national level at seven per cent
Third place in Alberta right now would be a tie between the Green Party , and the Liberals both at nine per cent. The Liberals have dropped by 12 points, while the Greens have gone up by three.

In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the Conservatives also have a commanding lead, at 44 per cent.

Here, too, the Tories have seen their support go up, by 13 per cent.

The Liberals, meanwhile are at 25 (a drop of five points), the NDP at 15 (a drop of eight) and the Green Party at three per cent (down one).

In Quebec,... the Green Party's support is unchanged at six per cent.
...in Atlantic Canada, the Green Party have seen their fortunes rise by four points to six per cent.

Liberals challenged over Duke Point - The Abbostford News (BC)

Chilliwack-Sumas Green Party candidate Norm Siefken is challenging the B.C. Liberal Party to scrap the controversial Duke Point power plant in Nanaimo.

The B.C. Court of Appeal this week upheld the approval of the 252-megawatt natural gas fired Duke Point power plant, which is to be constructed by Pristine Power.

The Liberals, however, aren't taking the Green Party's challenge too seriously.

Pettigrew eyed to lead Americas bloc - Toronto Star
WASHINGTON�A deadlocked Organization of American States is looking to Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew as a compromise choice for its next secretary-general.

Pettigrew's office issued a statement yesterday that left the door open for the minister to take the job if his potential candidacy gains momentum. And it would doubtless be an intriguing option for a Liberal whose prospects for re-election appear dim.

No Canadian has ever led the 34-member hemispheric organization and Pettigrew has indicated he would be agreeable to some type of international posting after his tenure at Foreign Affairs.

Pumping CO{-2} down, not up - (interesting to note where this is published and where it is not) - Toronto Star
OTTAWA�As the province responsible for producing nearly one-third of Canada's greenhouse gases, Alberta has led the fight against the emissions reductions proposed in the Kyoto climate change plan.

Yet, paradoxically, Alberta may also lead the way in demonstrating that it's possible for Canadians to have their cake and eat some of it, too � to generate electricity by burning coal without also pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and to reduce greatly the climate change price of extracting oil products from the tar sands.

The secret lies in carbon capture and storage (CCS), an approach long advocated by some experts and finally embraced in the new federal Kyoto plan unveiled this week.

Italian scientists clone second horse - Toronto Star
CREMONA, Italy � Italian scientists have reported cloning a horse for the second time, a new foal created from the DNA of a throroughbred Arabian gelding that was twice world endurance champion.

The foal, named Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion, was born Feb. 25, weighed 93 pounds and was pronounced "in excellent health" in a statement from scientists at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in the northern Italian city of Cremona, which claimed the cloning was only the second-ever of a horse.

The young stallion was cloned from Pieraz, retired to a stable in the United States after winning world endurance championships in 1994 and 1996.

The hunt for 7,500 megawatts - Toronto Star
Of all the Liberals' many election promises in 2003, perhaps the boldest � some might say the rashest � was the commitment to close the province's coal-fired generating plants by the end of 2007.

No one (except the coal industry and the union representing the workers in the targeted plants) questions the need to get the province off coal. Even the previous Conservative regime agreed that the generating plants are a major source of air pollution and must be shut down.

Rather, the question is one of timing.

Taxpayers bear brunt of weak Kyoto plan - Green Party of Canada

(Montreal, 15 April, 2005) -- The federal government should be ashamed to have called its Kyoto plan the "Green Project" as there is little of anything "green" about it, said Green Party of Canada deputy leader Tom Manley today.The Government of Canada has slated $10 billion of the public purse for a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a document entitled, "Moving forward on Climate Change: A Plan for Honouring our Kyoto Commitment" released yesterday on Parliament Hill. Despite costing billions, the plan will do little to lower emissions without stronger penalties and incentives."It's great to see the government showing a commitment to reduce emissions," said Manley. "But the logical first step is to stop subsidizing the industries that are contributing the most to health and environmental hazards. The Liberal path is leading to a dead end. And in the end, the economy and the environment will pay the price."

The government spends at least $1.5 billion every year in direct subsidies to the oil and gas sector – the single largest contributor of carbon emissions in Canada. Rather than reducing emissions by 6 per cent as laid out in the Kyoto Accord, Canadian emissions have soared to more than 20 per cent above 1990 levels.

Green party also sees boost in polls - Green Party
As the NDP woos disenchanted Liberals, party leader Jack Layton should keep an eye on his rear-view mirror. The Green party got a boost as well ? it's at 5 per cent nationwide, according to a Toronto Star poll conducted by EKOS Research ? and an influx of cash thanks to new election financing rules. And in the battle for environmentally conscious voters, each party is trying to paint itself as the greenest.

Aussie elected under STV says the system is fairer - Green Party

British Columbians shouldn't pass up a rare chance to change the way they elect their government, says a high-profile Australian politician elected four times under the single transferable vote system being proposed for this province.Senator Bob Brown, who gained global attention in 2003 when he booed George W. Bush during the U.S. president's address to the Australian parliament, said the system creates fairer, more representative government.The Australian Greens politician urged B.C. voters to adopt the system, known as STV, on May 17."Options for electoral change don't come very often, because the big parties don't like it," Brown said during a meeting Monday with the Times Colonist editorial board. "And so I think [B.C.] voters should seize an opportunity for a fairer system when it comes, even if they don't think it's the best system."My experience is that STV, where it's been implemented, is complicated but it is extremely popular."

Editor's Note: There is an article in the September 2005 edition of the Canadian Journal of Political Science on the above issue. It is titled: The Political Consequences of the Alternative Vote: Lessons from Western Canada by Harold J. Jansen who is in the Department of Political Science at the University of Lethbridge.

Huge development proposed for Whistler - Vancouver Sun

little-known group of offshore investors has acquired the last large chunk of undeveloped private land in Whistler, with ambitious hopes of building an international college, multi-family housing and a golf course.

But the project appears to be on a collision course with Whistler's official community plan, and could become a test of the resort's commitment to controlling growth.

In a deal that closed this month, Chateau Nova Whistler Development Ltd. bought 113 hectares at the northwest end of Green Lake, on the resort municipality's northern boundary about a 10-minute drive from Whistler Village. The site of an old sawmill, the forested property was held for a number of years by B.C.-based owners and was on the market for about a year at a list price of $12.9 million, said listing agent and former mayor Drew Meredith of Whistler Real Estate Ltd.

Not so pretty: Most beauty routines include the use of carcinogens, allergens and other harmful substances - Ottawa Citizen
By the time the average woman grabs her morning coffee, she has spritzed, sprayed and lathered with 126 different chemicals in nine different products, everything from shampoo and hair gel to skin toner, foundation and perfume. Tweens and teenagers, just beginning a lifelong regimen, might use fewer products, while heavy-handed glamour queens will have lacquered themselves with even more chemicals.

But here's a beauty tip: far from being youth-giving lotions and elixirs, science is now telling us that some of the products we use to enhance our appearance can actually cause harm.

Conservation Voters snub Liberals' 'green' MLA - Vancouver Sun
GREEN APPLES AND ORANGES? Earlier this month, the Conservation Voters of BC endorsed five provincial election candidates as the most electable, environmentally responsible politicians in the province. But one surprising omission from that list was MLA Barry Penner, a former park ranger who occupies the Liberal safe seat of Chilliwack-Kent.

Penner is perhaps the greenest member of the Liberal caucus, having led the campaign against Sumas Energy 2 Inc.'s power plant project in Washington state and having introduced a private member's bill making it easier to collect park and wildlife infraction fines. As a result of those initiatives, the Conservation Voters informed Penner he was being considered for an endorsement. But, in the end, the organization decided against giving Penner, the government's alternative energy task force chairman, their stamp of approval.

The reason? Well, Conservation Voters founder and coordinator Matt Price was tight-lipped about that decision saying, "We don't talk about that stuff. All our conversations with our potential endorsees are not public." But those in the know say the organization took issue with Penner's support for selective helicopter logging in the Elk Creek area, east of Chilliwack.


April 15, 2005

Hydrogen fuel cell cars debut in Vancouver - Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
VANCOUVER -- To a world just getting used to the concept of buying hybrid-powered vehicles, the understanding of the whole hydrogen fuel cell thing lies somewhere between quasars and quantum physics for most of us. There just isn't a lot of that familiar internal combustion process going on under the hood -- none at all, in fact.

This consumer learning curve took a significant step forward last week, when the first factory-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV) for public use were delivered to Vancouver. The five Ford Focus FCVs took their place on a stage at Vancouver's Plaza of Nations and were feted by federal, provincial and municipal representatives. They were then delivered to various corporate, institutional and public service "customers," each of whom will log hundreds of driving hours in the unique cars over the next three years.

McKenna calls for intensified softwood fight - Vancouver Sun
Canada's lumber producers must launch a never-ending American softwood lobbying campaign designed to win the current $4-billion trade war and prevent another one from ever starting, Frank McKenna, Canada's ambassador to the United States, said Thursday.

Bigger oilsands deals ahead, Chinese executive predicts - Calgary Herald
Two of China's largest state-owned oil companies will soon follow the lead of counterpart China National Offshore Oil Corp. into the Canadian oilsands -- and with bigger deals -- aiming to satisfy the Asian country's mushrooming need for both oil imports and domestic development of its oil industry, according to a senior executive with one of the firms.

"This is just the first deal, I think, for the oilsands and China," Hou Hongbin, vice-president of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. said after a speech to a group of high-powered money managers and investment lawyers in Calgary.

"The second one will be bigger, the third one much bigger."

Funding hike for parks applauded - Calgary Herald
'I can't buy a park, or maintain it, with my own money'

Kananaskis Country enthusiasts are applauding the province for a significant funding boost into parks and protected areas, stressing the increased level of funding needs to be maintained to save Alberta's unique environment.

"Some Albertans wanted to see provincial money go back into their pockets. But I can't buy a park, or maintain it, with my own money -- that's something the government has to do," said Linda Vaxvick, spokeswoman for the Kananaskis Trail Users Association.

As part of the $247-million community development budget, parks and protected areas will get $36 million in operating money for refurbishing and maintenance, 35 per cent more than they received last year.

Opponents challenge exports of power from Alcan smelter - Calgary Herald
ELECTRICITY - The City of Kitimat has launched a legal challenge to force the British Columbia government to prevent aluminum giant Alcan Inc. from exporting power from its smelter in northwestern B.C.

The city and community leaders filed the action in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday, claiming that ministerial orders allowing for the power exports are illegal.


Fighting bad trade rules - Calgary Herald
This week, 10 million people in 70 countries are taking to the streets to protest unfair trade rules.

The Global Week of Action is the largest ever mobilization for trade justice. Campaigners and people living in poverty will join forces to demand changes to the trade rules that force the world's poorest people further into poverty and deny them the right to defend themselves.

A Dirty Little Footnote to the Energy Bill - New York Times
WOODBURY, Conn., April 12 - A freshly painted, six-foot-high steel tank is this rural town's hope for cleaning up a smelly gasoline additive that is fouling its water system. The additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether, has seeped into two of three wells that supply water for 2,000 residents.

In a few weeks, the carbon filtration system housed by the tank will begin treating the well water. The water company plans to expand treatment to a reserve well, 1,000 feet away, where the level of the chemical tested last September at more than twice the federal recommended limit. The filtration unit is expected to cost about $1 million the first year and $250,000 to operate each year afterward, said Rich Henning, a spokesman for United Water, a private company that supplies Woodbury and three other communities in Connecticut.

The question is who will pay for the cleanup. United Water, a subsidiary of Suez S.A., has sued the manufacturers of MTBE to recover its costs. And as hundreds of communities from coast to coast are finding the additive in their water systems, the issue of paying for the cleanup is becoming increasingly contentious.

If oil and chemical companies have their way, a majority of lawsuits like United Water's will be thrown out by Congress as part of the energy bill backed by the Bush administration. The bill, which won easy approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Wednesday, includes a waiver that would protect the chemical makers, which are some of the biggest oil giants in the United States, from all MTBE liability lawsuits filed since September 2003.

The House majority leader, Tom DeLay, and Representative Joe L. Barton, who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee, are staunch supporters of the waiver. Both are Republicans from Texas, where more than a dozen MTBE manufacturers are based.

Canadian economy more dependent on oil, China - Ottawa Citizen

Canadians had better hope the price of oil stays high and the Chinese economy remains strong, because their economy has become increasingly dependent on both, a new Statistics Canada
study suggests.

"Canada's surplus in trade in energy is now almost as large as all other resource exports combined, including forestry -- for long our largest export -- food and metals," it said, crediting the surge in world oil prices.

Energy now accounts for more than 16 per cent of Canada's exports, more than double the 7.3 per cent in 1998, an increase that has mostly been at the expense of exports of autos, machinery and equipment.

Acadian forest vanishing, N.B. group warns - Globe and Mail

Fredericton � An environmental group is warning that New Brunswick's ancient and unique Acadian forest is vanishing because of overcutting and government indifference.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick, a non-profit environmental lobby group, said Thursday in a new report that the province must act quickly and decisively to stop the loss of old-growth forest and with it, numerous wildlife species.

�Mature Acadian forest is disappearing at a frightening rate, and along with it the habitat of a large number of species,� said Karen DeWolfe, co-ordinator of the council's Campaign to Save the Acadian Forest.

It's Not Easy Being 'Green' - New York Times
In his Saturday column in The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof promoted nuclear power as the "green" solution to our energy woes. In addition to the risks of fatal accidents and terrorist attacks, he also left out the not-so-green hidden environmental damages -- and risks to human health. In his April 9 column in The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof claimed it was time for environmentalists to �drop the hostility to nuclear power� because it is relatively clean when compared to the greenhouse gases produced by burning coal. His article, coupled with Judith Miller�s recent piece in the Times about the new Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, took me back more than 25 years, to when I lived in northern New Mexico and reported on one legacy of the nuclear age that was -- and apparently still is -- greatly overlooked, and which was deadlier to Americans than the radiation exposure from the atomic bomb tests of the 1950s. An editorial in the Times on December 23, 1979, addressing the safe production of nuclear power, perhaps offers an explanation as to why this aspect of the industry -� uranium mining and milling and the many disasters associated with it -- remained virtually unknown nationally.