Environment

A fly fisherman casts on the Kootenai River, downstream of the Koocanusa Reservoir, near the Montana-Idaho boundary and Leonia, Idaho, on Sept. 19, 2014. The agency that mediates disputes between Canada and the U.S. over shared waters is pleading with the federal Liberals to join an investigation into contamination from British Columbia coal mines.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - The Spokesman Review, Rich Landers

International commission asks Canada to join probe of selenium flowing from B.C.

Ottawa has already rejected a similar request from the Ktunaxa First Nation

A fly fisherman casts on the Kootenai River, downstream of the Koocanusa Reservoir, near the Montana-Idaho boundary and Leonia, Idaho, on Sept. 19, 2014. The agency that mediates disputes between Canada and the U.S. over shared waters is pleading with the federal Liberals to join an investigation into contamination from British Columbia coal mines.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - The Spokesman Review, Rich Landers
A sign opposing coal development in the eastern slopes of the Livingston range south west of Longview, Alta., Wednesday, June 16, 2021.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Alberta town endorses community-developed policy saying no to coal mining in Rockies

High River has joined 30 organizations in signing a document pushing prohibition of coal in Alberta

A sign opposing coal development in the eastern slopes of the Livingston range south west of Longview, Alta., Wednesday, June 16, 2021.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Marine biologist Colin Foord, rear, and musician J.D. McKay work at their Coral Morphologic lab, Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Miami. They have been on a 15-year mission to raise awareness about dying coral reefs with a company that presents the issue through science and art. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Coral reefs provide stunning images of a world under assault

Coral Morphologic shows real-world example of how coral communities can adapt at busy port of Miami

Marine biologist Colin Foord, rear, and musician J.D. McKay work at their Coral Morphologic lab, Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Miami. They have been on a 15-year mission to raise awareness about dying coral reefs with a company that presents the issue through science and art. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
This 2021 image provided by LeighAnn Ferrara shows Ferrara’s young son as he watches a rabbit on a grassy patch of his White Plains, N.Y., yard, which is surrounded by planting beds of flowers, vegetables and trees. Many people are converting parts of their grass lawns into more diverse plantings. (LeighAnn Ferrara via AP

North America’s love affair with the lawn is getting messy

Some homeowners seeing a well-manicured lawn as an anachronism, even a threat

This 2021 image provided by LeighAnn Ferrara shows Ferrara’s young son as he watches a rabbit on a grassy patch of his White Plains, N.Y., yard, which is surrounded by planting beds of flowers, vegetables and trees. Many people are converting parts of their grass lawns into more diverse plantings. (LeighAnn Ferrara via AP
Don Davidson pictured at Pigeon Lake Alta, on Sunday May 1, 2022. 2022. Thousands of Alberta cottagers and homeowners are waiting nervously to see if a provincial regulator will allow a large feedlot to be developed near the popular and environmentally fragile recreational lake. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Proposed cattle feedlot threatens popular but fragile Alberta lake, residents say

G&S Cattle of Ponoka, Alta., wants to pen 4,000 cattle about four kilometres west of Pigeon Lake

Don Davidson pictured at Pigeon Lake Alta, on Sunday May 1, 2022. 2022. Thousands of Alberta cottagers and homeowners are waiting nervously to see if a provincial regulator will allow a large feedlot to be developed near the popular and environmentally fragile recreational lake. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
A man walks in frigid weather at Rundle Park as emissions rise from the Imperial Oil Strathcona Refinery, in Edmonton, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019. The federal government is pushing legislation to enshrine the right to a healthy environment into law but is giving itself up to two more years to define what that means. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Feds enshrining right to healthy environment but no clarity on what that means

Government will have up to two years after bill takes effect to define that right’s implementation

A man walks in frigid weather at Rundle Park as emissions rise from the Imperial Oil Strathcona Refinery, in Edmonton, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019. The federal government is pushing legislation to enshrine the right to a healthy environment into law but is giving itself up to two more years to define what that means. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
This submitted photo shows Paul Cottrell, wearing the red jacket, helping to disentangle a humpback whale.

A first as the world warms: New forecasts could help predict marine heat waves

Multiple marine heat waves have occurred since 2014 along the Washington coast

This submitted photo shows Paul Cottrell, wearing the red jacket, helping to disentangle a humpback whale.
A group of Canada geese stand on railway tracks as a plant operates in the background at Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Ont. Tuesday December 10, 2002. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer

Biggest emitters paying smallest price on pollution, critics say

Big companies with higher emissions pay the carbon price only on what they emit above a set limit

A group of Canada geese stand on railway tracks as a plant operates in the background at Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Ont. Tuesday December 10, 2002. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer
The Yukon provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. Yukon’s snow survey shows record high snowpacks in many of the basins the territory monitors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Yukon’s record snowpack adds potential for flooding during ice breakup

April survey usually represents the peak snow levels in most of the territory

The Yukon provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. Yukon’s snow survey shows record high snowpacks in many of the basins the territory monitors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A couple are dwarfed by old growth tress as they walk in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, B.C.,Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. An environmental organization is offering cautious support for an announcement that the largest private landowner in British Columbia will defer 400 square kilometres of old-growth stands from logging for the next 25 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Environmental group gives guarded support for company’s old-growth forest plan

Mosaic, B.C.’s largest private landowner, will defer logging in 400 square kilometres of old-growth

A couple are dwarfed by old growth tress as they walk in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, B.C.,Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. An environmental organization is offering cautious support for an announcement that the largest private landowner in British Columbia will defer 400 square kilometres of old-growth stands from logging for the next 25 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Mike Yip photo SNACK TIME: Marine wildlife of all kinds enjoyed a smorgasbord as the herring run arrives off Parksville’s shore last weekend. Here, photographer Mike Yip captures a sea lion getting in on the buffet.

Pacific herring spawn spectacle surfaces along West Coast

Seabirds and sea lions cry and bark while feasting on abundant herring return

Mike Yip photo SNACK TIME: Marine wildlife of all kinds enjoyed a smorgasbord as the herring run arrives off Parksville’s shore last weekend. Here, photographer Mike Yip captures a sea lion getting in on the buffet.
Coho salmon swim at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Capilano River Hatchery, in North Vancouver, on Friday, July 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Tire residue chemical in rain runoff kills fish in urban streams, research finds

Fish appear to gasp, swim erratically and in circles, then die

Coho salmon swim at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Capilano River Hatchery, in North Vancouver, on Friday, July 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney gives a COVID-19 update in Edmonton, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The premier has filed his defence in a defamation lawsuit brought against him over his remarks on the release of an Inquiry into supposed misinformation about the province’s energy industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

No victims, no foul: Alberta premier files defence in defamation suit

Statement of defence says groups that brought the lawsuit cannot be identified from his remarks

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney gives a COVID-19 update in Edmonton, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The premier has filed his defence in a defamation lawsuit brought against him over his remarks on the release of an Inquiry into supposed misinformation about the province’s energy industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
FILE - In this May 30, 2018, file photo, is the Grand Princess cruise ship in Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska. About two-thirds of the scrubber wastewater that enters Canadian waters comes from cruise ships, a World Wildlife Fund says. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Study blames federal delays for continued marine waste dumping

World Wildlife Fund says billions of litres of wastewater being dumped in Canadian waters

FILE - In this May 30, 2018, file photo, is the Grand Princess cruise ship in Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska. About two-thirds of the scrubber wastewater that enters Canadian waters comes from cruise ships, a World Wildlife Fund says. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
People who have declared themselves “Land Defenders” sing a song as they guard an area of a logging cut block called “Heli Camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Second judge to consider stay application of old-growth logging protesters in B.C.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested since Fairy Creek watershed blockade injunction

People who have declared themselves “Land Defenders” sing a song as they guard an area of a logging cut block called “Heli Camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Container ship MV Kingston was escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo following the loss of several containers and an on-board fire last fall. (Photo: Transport Canada)

MV Zim Kingston’s lost cargo containers still a deep concern for B.C. coast

Coast Guard says it is working with ship owner to investigate and respond to reports of debris

Container ship MV Kingston was escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo following the loss of several containers and an on-board fire last fall. (Photo: Transport Canada)
FILE - Matt Lisignoli walks through an irrigation canal that ran dry in early August after the North Unit Irrigation District exhausted its allocated water on Sept. 1, 2021, near Madras, Ore. The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest it has been in at least 1200 years and a worst-case scenario playing out live, a new study finds. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)

Western American megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years

Study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change

FILE - Matt Lisignoli walks through an irrigation canal that ran dry in early August after the North Unit Irrigation District exhausted its allocated water on Sept. 1, 2021, near Madras, Ore. The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest it has been in at least 1200 years and a worst-case scenario playing out live, a new study finds. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
Fresh cut sawdust is seen from a tree cut near the “heli camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C., Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Crown calls application to stay charges in B.C. old-growth logging case flawed

Lawyer: Fairy Creek protest group’s petition lacks ‘factual foundation,’ not the way justice is done

Fresh cut sawdust is seen from a tree cut near the “heli camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C., Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. forest protest accused ask court to stay charges due to ’ systemic police misconduct’

RCMP have made close to 1,200 arrests enforcing Fairy Creek injunction

The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward