Sep 18 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A Canadian-led team of scientists has concluded that tropical coral reefs that feed millions around the world have lost about half their ability to support human communities since 1950. "I don't think any of us expected the declines to be as big as we found," said Tyler Eddy of Memorial University, lead author of the […]
Sep 14 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A fungus that is destroying bat populations in eastern North America has made its first appearance on the Canadian Prairies. Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society report that they've found the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in eastern Saskatchewan, despite hopes the western grasslands would prove a barrier. "We have found the fungus," said Cory […]
Sep 8 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — It was getting late and the team of paleontologists excavating a previously unexplored outcrop of the Burgess Shale was ready to call it a day. A camera crew filming the dig in Kootenay National Park had already packed it in. Then one of the team members split open a large plate of shale. "I just […]
Sep 3 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — Albertans want to talk about a lot more than coal when it comes to development in their beloved Rocky Mountains, says the head of the committee charged with collecting public opinion on the issue. "There was such a dam of public sentiment built up behind this issue, it's like opening a sluice gate," […]
Sep 1 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — Alberta's Canadian Energy Centre appears ready to be vocal again, planning a new campaign to "change perceptions" about the province's oil and gas industry and build what it's calling a social movement in its support. One year after the province's United Conservative government ended the controversial agency's outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, the […]
Aug 28 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A Canadian coal-mining giant is fighting new American environmental rules that tighten restrictions on the release of a contaminant toxic to fish. On Aug. 13, Teck Resources petitioned Montana to rescind a rule brought in last fall that dramatically cuts acceptable levels of selenium in Lake Koocanusa, a reservoir crossing the U.S.-Canada border that takes […]
Jul 22 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A second Alberta First Nation wants a court to allow it to appeal a review board's decision that an open-pit coal mine in the Rocky Mountains is not in the public interest. The Stoney Nakoda Nation has filed a request with the Alberta Court of Appeal to appeal the decision that blocks the development of […]
Jul 15 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — The continuing spread of a fatal wildlife disease in Alberta and Saskatchewan has a federal agency recommending a deer cull across a wide swath of the Prairies. And soon-to-be-published research on chronic wasting disease has raised new fears about whether the illness could infect humans. "I would say this question was answered with […]
Jul 7 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A recent heat wave in Western Canada that blew past records and contributed to hundreds of deaths could not have happened without climate change, an international group of scientists has concluded. And even if the world meets greenhouse gas reduction targets, weather that saw temperatures crest to 45 C in many parts of British Columbia […]
Jul 7 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Much of the taxpayer money that has funded oil well cleanup in Alberta may have simply replaced money that energy companies would have spent anyway, according to a new analysis. That means the public is likely paying for private companies' pollution, says the report from the Parkland Institute, a research group headquartered at the University […]
Jul 6 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Taxpayer dollars are heavily distorting Canada's financial marketplace in favour of fossil fuel pipelines, new research suggests. The International Institute for Sustainable Development says spending by provincial and federal governments combined with the value of loan guarantees and other fiscal instruments intended to help get the lines built is worth a total of $23 billion. […]
Jul 1 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — The Canadian Press — The Last Ice Area may not last. Scientists and conservation groups have counted on the icy ocean north of Ellesmere Island and Greenland to remain frozen year-round for long into the future, providing a last-ditch refuge for the complex community of plants and animals that depend on multi-year sea ice. Maybe not, according to new […]
Jun 29 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Most of Alberta's energy wells no longer hold enough oil and gas to pay for their cleanup and the public should take them over to ensure their remaining revenue funds remediation, a new report concludes. "It is a radical idea," said Regan Boychuk of the Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project, which produced the report. "It is […]
Jun 29 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Environmental groups and First Nations say they are pleased the federal government is adding another proposed coal mine in Alberta's Rocky Mountains to the list of projects it will review. "This decision should be applauded by all who believe environmental assessments should be inclusive, participatory processes,” said a statement from Ian Urquhart of the Alberta […]
Jun 28 2021 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Forestry experts hope clear, blue skies hold over Western Canada as unprecedented hot weather pushes wildfire risks to levels just as record-breaking. "The silver lining to this current heat wave thus far is that it's so hot and it's such a stable atmosphere that it's suppressing lightning activity," University of Alberta wildfire scientist Mike Flannigan […]