Line in the Sand

Wilderness and Water Campaigner Eric Reder went on 680 CJOB with Kathy Kennedy to talk about brutal cuts to the Conservation and Climate Department in the Manitoba government. Staff are struggling to meet their job requirements with almost half of the staff team cut.

Doug Ford strongly opposing the quarry

Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney talks with Mike Smith and Adam Pankratz, UBC business professor about Canada's Supreme Court dismissed an appeal on Thursday from British Columbia's First Nations against the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion. The decision removes a potentially major obstacle to the pipelines completion that would nearly triple the flow of oil from Alberta to the Pacific coast.

The top court posted the decision on its website without further detail, rejecting the appeal from the Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Ts’elxweyeqw Tribe and Coldwater Indian Band, effectively ending the years-long legal battle over the project.

Some First Nations successfully halted federal approval of the project in 2018 when the Federal Court of Appeal said Ottawa had failed to properly consult affected First Nations, which argued that the project would damage their lands and waters.

But the same court in February dismissed challenges to the Canadian government's second approval of the project, which has faced years of delays.

They were based on concerns from British Columbia Indigenous groups that Ottawa had not meaningfully consulted them.

The Indigenous communities have raised environmental concerns, such as the risks of oil spills.

Climate Change Campaigner Peter McCartney debates Member of Parliament Elizabeth May's statement that "oil is dead" with Vivian Krause on the Mike Smyth Show.

Under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister’s government is ramming through harmful legislation with no opportunity for public discussion or explanation of the impacts on the province’s forests and parks.

While convening an emergency legislative session to pass COVID-19 response measures, the government is also moving forward with all bills that were introduced as the world was shutting down on March 19. That’s more than 600 pages of legislation across 25 new bills.

The British Columbia government has stopped all logging in a Canadian part of the Skagit Valley, which is part of a major salmon producing stream for Puget Sound. The area is known as the “Donut Hole,” or Silverdaisy, and was an unprotected area of land between Manning and Skagit Valley Provincial parks, which are on the Canadian-U.S. border.

In making the announcement, the B.C. government suspended all licenses to harvest timber in the 14,332-acre area.

Doug Donaldson, British Columbia’s forests minister, says the government will transfer logging rights to another area of the province.

"While we are committed to conserving the environment for future generations, we also need to protect forestry jobs as well,” Donaldson said. “To do this, we've been working with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy to secure access to new harvest areas.”

A stream near the area feeds into the Skagit River, which is a major source of salmon for Puget Sound. The area also is home to endangered wildlife, such as grizzly bears and spotted owls.

The announcement does not cover mining interests in the area. Possible sale or transfer of those rights are being negotiated with relevant mining companies.

Skagit Valley Provincial Park itself was created when Seattle City Light canceled construction of the High Ross Dam in 1984. In return, British Columbia agreed to sell power to Seattle, to compensate for what the hydroelectric dam would have generated.

In a statement, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan applauded the announcement, saying she will continue to advocate for total protection of the area from any future mining exploration.

One of the companies that own mining rights in the area is Imperial Metals. In 2014, a dam holding back mine tailings ruptured near Mount Polley, sending more than 6 billion gallons of mining waste materials into Quesnel Lake.

It's back! With Trans Mountain gearing up for construction again, we're launching season two of our Line in the Sand podcast. This week, we’re talking to the environmental monitors who’ve been keeping a watchful eye on the company’s work at the tank farm on Burnaby Mountain. Join us over the coming weeks and months for more stories from the frontlines of the fight against the Trans Mountain pipeline.

It’s been over five years since Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine tailings dam failed, sending millions of cubic metres of water, slurry, sludge and tailings thundering down Hazeltine Creek and into Quesnel Lake.

Along with the anniversary was the five-year deadline for federal Fisheries Act charges that expired Sunday, while the possibility of other charges under the same act remains with no timeline for a decision. British Columbia missed the three-year deadline to proceed with charges under both the province's Environmental Management Act and Mines Act.

Co-Executive Director Joe Foy talks about the endangered spotted owl and old-growth logging in British Columbia with Chris Cook of Gorilla Radio.

Gorilla Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.

Today, we talk to activists from near and far about a valiant action to prevent an oil tanker from leaving port.