Oil companies and environmental groups are working together to press the Canadian government to support renewable energy. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly has more:
Transcript
Oil companies and environmental groups are working together to press the Canadian government
to support renewable energy. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly has more:
It’s not often that an environmental group like Pollution Probe finds itself in the same camp as
companies like Shell Canada and Suncor Energy. But they agree on one thing: Canada is lagging
behind other developed countries in its financial support for renewable energy projects.
Diane Humphries is with the oil company Suncorp.
The company’s investing in wind power.
But electricity is so cheap in Canada, Humphries says such projects need government help to
make them affordable.
“Canadians are enjoying least cost electricity… We need additional incentives to be put in place to
match, or become more competitive with the current price of electricity.”
Humphries believes the combined voices of environmentalists and business people will convince
the federal government to increase its investment.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.
A recent report looked at the potential health effects of climate change on people in the Niagara region. The report predicts increased exposure to malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever in coming years. The report was released by the environmental group Pollution Probe, and was done in partnership with the health and environment departments of the Canadian government. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports:
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A recent report says people in the Niagara region expect increased exposure to malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever in coming years because of climate change. The warning is contained in a new report by the environmental group, Pollution Probe. The report was done in partnership with the health and environment departments of the Canadian government. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports from Toronto:
The report says the diseases are projected to spread because climate change favors the northward movement of disease carrying birds, insects and rodents. Quentin Chiotti of Pollution Probe says the sudden spread of the West Nile Virus is an example of what to expect.
“Now though, there’s some uncertainty about predicting just when that will happen, without a
doubt the conditions are going to be ripe for these kinds of disease outbreaks.”
Chiotti says there are already twenty confirmed cases of the West Nile Virus in Canada, compared
to none last year. And more than three thousand in the U.S.
Chiotti also says the number of excessive heat days could double to thirty each summer by the
year 2030. He says that could lead to more deaths – as many as four hundred people each
summer in the region.
Pollution Probe says the predictions show the need to tackle greenhouse gas emissions as soon as
possible.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.
The government of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien recently outlined a new long-term political agenda. It includes a proposal for major changes to transportation that would affect traffic bottlenecks at crossing points like the Ambassador Bridge. The Bridge is the biggest trading corridor between Canada and the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports:
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The government of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien recently outlined a new long-
term political agenda. It includes a proposal for major changes to transportation that
would affect traffic bottlenecks at crossing points like the Ambassador Bridge. The
Bridge is the biggest trading corridor between Canada and the U.S. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports:
Prime Minister Jean Chretien calls it part of his Kyoto plan, which is intended to reduce
traffic congestion on the main highway link along the north shore of Lake Ontario all the
way to the U.S. border for almost 24 hours a day that highway looks more like a moving
warehouse as goods travel by truck north and south of the border.
But the emissions from thousands of trucks each day are creating smog from Toronto to
Buffalo to Detroit.
Chretien’s plan is to shift more truck traffic to rail and water.
Ken Ogilvie of the environmental organization, Pollution Probe, says it’s a positive step
but it needs more government incentives similar to those in the U.S.
“What the United States is ahead of us on and should and could do a lot more is on the
policy side of tying some of this funding to make sure there is improved rail and transit
systems.”
Ogilvie says further study would be needed to determine whether the plan would simply
shift environmental problems to the Great Lakes and to rail infrastructure on both sides of
the border.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.
A new environmental study has found toxic emissions increased in Canada during the late 1990’s, while pollution in the United States decreased over that same period. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, critics say the findings reflect the differences in the governments’ commitment to cleaning up the environment:
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A new environmental study has found that toxic emissions increased in Canada during the late 1990’s while pollution in the United States decreased over that same period. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, critics say the findings reflect the differences in the governments’ commitment to cleaning up the environment:
Between 1995 and 1999, the amount of toxic waste released into the environment by American manufacturers decreased by about seven
percent. However, in Canada, toxic releases increased by six percent. That’s according to a new study conducted by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. It was established under the North American Free
Trade Agreement. The study compares industrial pollution in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, where the system is voluntary. Ken Olgivie is the executive director of Pollution Probe, an environmental group based in Toronto. He says the findings reflect the tightening of environmental regulations during the Clinton years. And the simultaneous
budget-cutting that was going on in Canada.
“When the U.S. is going down and we’re going up, I think that raises a serious question on Canadian policy and Americans should be aware of that because I’m sure you’re told all the time by our politicians how we do such wonderful things and we’re ahead of you, but I don’t think that’s true.”
For instance, the Ontario progressive conservatives cut their
environmental budget in half in 1995. Such cuts are significant because the regulation of air and water pollution in Canada lies with the provinces, rather than the federal government. That leads to different laws all across the country. An independent inquiry blamed the Ontario cutbacks for the deadly E. coli outbreak that occurred in the town of Walkerton in 2000.
The NAFTA report found Ontario had the largest increase in pollution of any state or province – at 19 percent. It remains the fourth largest polluter in North America and is the biggest recipient of American toxic waste. But it’s not the only place in the Great Lakes highlighted in the report. The study’s director, Erica Phipps says the region is responsible for a significant amount of North America’s pollution.
“Five Great Lakes jurisdictions, Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, represent one quarter of the facilities and one quarter of the total releases that we’re looking at in this report…when we’re looking at the toxic releases and transfers coming from that region, it is certainly of concern.”
Phipps says that close to half of the landfill disposals of toxic waste occur in this region. Landfills in Ontario, Michigan and Ohio are the
biggest recipients. But at least one government is considering a change. Ontario’s new premier, Ernie Eves, is promising to pour new funding into the province’s environment ministry and tighten its enforcement.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.