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What’s really behind the Ford government’s push to pave protected wetland in Pickering

March 10, 2021

What’s really behind the Ford government’s push to pave protected wetland in Pickering

Rival developers competing to host Canada’s biggest retail warehouse, which sources say is for Amazon

Roughly half of this property in Pickering, owned by Triple Group, is classed as a protected wetland. If approved for development, commercial real estate analysts say it would skyrocket in value, potentially to more than $100 million. This view looks northwest from the corner of Bayly Street and Squires Beach Road. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)

Moves by Premier Doug Ford’s government to grant special permission to pave over a protected wetland in Pickering have generated headlines, but behind the controversy, there’s an untold story.

That story involves a battle between rival developers and rival municipalities to get the chance to build what would become the largest retail warehouse in Canada, a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars that multiple sources say is for Amazon.

The battle is playing out just east of Toronto near Highway 401, on two pieces of property less than one kilometre apart: one in the city of Pickering on a provincially designated wetland, the other in the town of Ajax on a golf course.

Whichever site clears all of its legal and zoning hurdles first will be in the driver’s seat. The landowner’s property value will skyrocket and the project will bring at least $50 million in new tax and development revenue to one of the municipalities.

While the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has vigorously objected to plans to build on the wetland in Pickering, it is not opposed to the plan for the golf course in Ajax.

However the Ford government has gone to great lengths to smooth the way for the warehouse to go on the Pickering wetland. That property belongs to the Triple Group of Companies, owned by the Apostolopoulos family, backers of the nearby Durham Live casino complex.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

With Water, Life Returns to the Colorado River Delta – Voices

December 24, 2014

With Water, Life Returns to the Colorado River Delta – Voices.

Last spring, on the eighth day of the release of Colorado River water into its channel at the US-Mexico border – an event known as the “pulse flow” – I witnessed something extraordinary.

Like most mornings, I headed out with my National Geographic team before dawn to find the leading edge of the river as it slowly made its way toward the sea.

This pulse of water, made possible by a historic agreement between the US and Mexico, was sending water through the Colorado Delta for the first time in many years. Once a 3,000 square mile (7,770 square kilometer) expanse of wetlands, lagoons and cottonwood-willow forests, the Colorado Delta was now a desiccated place due to a century of dam-building to supply water to burgeoning cities and farms in the American Southwest.

That morning, as often happened during those days tracking the river, I ran into a group of scientists who were studying this grand ecological experiment.

Along with Karl Flessa, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson and Co-Chief Scientist of the monitoring team for the pulse flow, were freshwater biologist Rebecca Lester and marine ecologist Jan Barton from Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. They were kneeling and staring hard into the dark green rim of the river’s edge as it inched its way along the channel.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Breaking: Fracking Permit Issued in Louisiana’s St. Tammany Parish | DeSmogBlog

December 20, 2014

Breaking: Fracking Permit Issued in Louisiana’s St. Tammany Parish | DeSmogBlog.

The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued a drilling permitfor Helis Oil and Gas today, bringing the company one step closer to realizing its ambition to frack in St. Tammany Parish.

Public outcry against fracking in St. Tammany Parish, an area known for its pristine water and picturesque wetlands 40 miles east of New Orleans, was not enough to sway the state agency. But the public’s input has led to unprecedented conditions being attached to the permit.

During a public hearing on the permit in November, representatives for Helis Oil made promises about measures above and beyond current regulations, including air and water monitoring. Lisa Jordan, legal counsel for the town of Abita Springs, asked if Helis would make those conditions legally binding during her cross examination. The representatives claimed none of them had the authority to make the conditions binding, that only a Helis Oil employee could do that.

“The level of disdain the company has for the citizens has been fairly clear all along,” Jordan told DeSmogBlog. But she was still surprised no one from the company came to the meeting. When she asked, “Is anyone here from Helis Oil?,” there was no answer.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

More laws needed to protect central Queensland wetlands near Barrier Reef, environmentalists say – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

December 20, 2014

More laws needed to protect central Queensland wetlands near Barrier Reef, environmentalists say – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Environmentalists are calling for more legislation to protect a large wetlands area in central Queensland that flows into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Environmental groups have released a report that they commissioned about the Fitzroy Delta area around Rockhampton, which highlighted flow-on effects to the Great Barrier Reef if ports were expanded.

Stretching out from Rockhampton, the Fitzroy Delta is abundant with wetlands and marine life.

Ginny Gerlach, from the Keppel and Fitzroy Delta Alliance (KAFDA), said the Fitzroy Delta area covered an area of more than 100,000 hectares extending out from the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton.

“This is the largest and the last untouched estuarine system that’s feeding into the Great Barrier Reef,” she said.

“It is largely undeveloped and it is the largest river system on the east coast of Australia.

“This area is proven to be so valuable to the state, to our region and Australia because of its connectedness to the Great Barrier Reef.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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