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Access Denied: Ministry of Environment Vetoes Interview Request on Oilsands Toxins in Animals
Access Denied: Ministry of Environment Vetoes Interview Request on Oilsands Toxins in Animals
Documents obtained by DeSmog Canada reveal that Canada’s Ministry of Environment vetoed an interview request on toxins in fur-bearing animals in the oilsands, even though the federal scientist was “media trained and interested in doing the interview.”
The Environment Canada scientist in question, Philippe Thomas, had asked members of the Alberta Trappers Association to send him samples of fur-bearing animals caught across Alberta in 2012. Thomas needed a broad range of samples to gain deeper insight into the contaminant load in animals living near the oilsands.
In late 2012, DeSmog Canada submitted a request to interview Thomas, and provided several written questions to Environment Canada to review.
Documents obtained via Access to Information legislation show that pre-scripted responses were prepared for Thomas should the interview be approved at the upper levels. The request was approved at the deputy general level, but denied in the office of former Environment Minister Peter Kent.
The request was also sent to the Privy Council Office for review, but was denied by the minister before requiring a decision by the prime minister’s top-level advisors.
Media requests involving controversial subjects such as the Alberta oilsands, climate change or species at risk are often subject to upper level political review and are routinely approved or denied at the ministerial level or in the Privy Council Office.
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Bloom Lake hit with record environmental fine – Business – CBC News
Bloom Lake hit with record environmental fine – Business – CBC News.
A mining company has plead guilty to 45 charges under the fisheries act and will pay a $7.5-million fine for improperly releasing pollutants into fish-bearing waters.
Bloom Lake General Partner Ltd. has been ordered to pay the fine because the Triangle Tailings Pond dam breach in May 2011 and other environmental accidents over a period of 18 months, Environment Canada said Wednesday.
The iron ore mine is located southwest of Labrador City but is in Quebec. In one instance, more than 14,500 litres of ferric sulfate was dumped into water frequented by fish. “On a number of occasions,” Environment Canada said in a release Wednesday, “the company did not inform the Department of releases, contrary to regulatory requirements and omitted to take samples and conduct analyses as required under the regulations.”
Of the total fine, $6.83 million will be directed to a federal government fund that’s aimed at making sure those who cause environmental damage or harm to wildlife take responsibility for their actions by supporting projects that benefit the environment. That’s the biggest amount that a Canadian company has ever been ordered to contribute to that fund.
The mining operation was supposed to be expanding following a $5-billion deal in which the company changed hands. But earlier this year, the U.S.-based owner, Cliffs Natural Resources, cancelled those plans because of plunging commodity prices.
