Latest news with #environment
CTV News
an hour ago
- General
- CTV News
Northern Ont. residents oppose plan to dump radioactive material near drinking water source
About 100 people attended a town hall in Nairn & Hyman Township to discuss plans to move radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to Agnew Lake. About 100 people attended a town hall in Nairn and Hyman Township to discuss provincial plans to move radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to Agnew Lake. The township hired a consultant to review the technical report, citing environmental and health concerns. Mayor Amy Mazey urged the province to reconsider, saying the plan isn't the best solution. Residents in Nairn and Hyman and surrounding communities met Monday to discuss concerns about a plan by the province to transfer radioactive material into the area. Concerns were first raised last summer after a local municipal councillor noticed newer back roads and inquired about the upgrades. Nairn and Hyman About 100 residents from Nairn and Hyman and surrounding communities met Monday to discuss a provincial plan to dump radioactive material into tailings area at Agnew Lake, 27 kilometres from the community's drinking water supply. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News) That's when the township discovered that the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Mines were planning to move 18,000 cubic metric tonnes of niobium radioactive materials from Nipissing First Nation to the tailings area at Agnew Lake. Agnew Lake is 27 kilometres from the township's drinking water. 'We felt we really hadn't been consulted,' Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey told the crowd. 'We were told the 'naturally occurring radioactive material' was just like gravel.' Last September, the municipality asked the province for more specific information about the project, which was scheduled to begin this summer. 'This is not 'NORM '–naturally occurring radioactive material,' Mazey said. 'It contains hazardous heavy metals -- uranium, niobium, radium 226, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver and manganese.' — Nairn and Hyman Mayor Amy Mazey 'It contains hazardous heavy metals -- uranium, niobium, radium 226, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, silver and manganese.' In April, both ministries provided the township with a massive report filled with technical and scientific details. So the township hired environmental consultants Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd. to interpret the report -- and determine what science was missing. That information was presented to residents on Monday, who were then asked for feedback and suggestions on what to do next. Mazey said there are eight studies missing from the report. 'The two most important are a cumulative risk assessment -- what's going to happen when you put uranium tailings on top and niobium tailings together,' she said. Nairn and Hyman Residents in Nairn and Hyman learned last summer that the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Mines were planning to move 18,000 cubic metric tonnes of niobium radioactive materials from Nipissing First Nation to the tailings area at Agnew Lake. (Angela Gemmill/CTV News) 'What will happen? And also a drainage study -- so where is the water going to go, how is it going to leech? All of those things that were outlined that should have been done already, we just haven't seen them.' Township CAO Belinda Ketchabaw said what it boils down to is that the province wants to put radioactive materials in a lake that's already struggling. '(Agnew Lake) site is already in crisis, and they want to bring in more radioactive material to 'fix' the site,' Ketchabaw said. 'It doesn't really add up to me. When the science isn't there, there's no trust. We need to trust what is best for our community.' Safe outcome Ketchabaw said they've learned that some of the niobium material will be taken to a Clean Harbors facility near Sarnia, made for hazardous waste. She said it raises the question that if the material is hazardous enough to be sent to this facility, shouldn't it all be sent there? 'Let's just bring it all there and have a safe outcome for everyone,' Ketchabaw said. Furthering distrust, Mazey said the two ministries often give the community contradictory information. 'It just raises a lot of red flags,' she said. 'I hope that the Ontario government listens to the residents and takes us seriously that this isn't an easy fix ... Just because this is the most convenient solution for the province, it doesn't mean that it's the best solution.' Margaret Lafromboise, who lives close to the Spanish River, said she's concerned about having 'an unsafe radioactive site increased in volume.' 'I think the most constructive and practical thing to do would be to see if the municipality could get financial help to hire a lawyer and initiate an injunction to stop the action immediately,' Lafromboise said. 'As a society, as a province, we are not taking good enough care of our environment, the water and I don't believe our current government is willing to take the action that is required.' Representatives from the provincial ministries were not invited to Monday's town hall. 'When they came to our first meeting, all they did was say 'this is safe,' 'this is gravel.' I don't want to hear that, I want science,' Ketchabaw said. Mazey said they've been told trucks will begin hauling the radioactive material from Nipissing First Nation to the Agnew Lake site in mid-August. 'I hope that we can stop them,' she said.
E&E News
an hour ago
- Business
- E&E News
House appropriators OK cuts to Interior, EPA, other agencies
House Appropriations subcommittees approved three fiscal 2026 bills Tuesday with significant cuts to energy, environment and climate initiatives. The House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee passed its bill on a party-line 8-5 vote. The legislation would slash funding for the Interior Department, EPA and other environmental agencies, though not as deeply as proposed by President Donald Trump's budget plan. Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) noted the legislation has funding for EPA grants that support water infrastructure and reduce air pollution. In addition, it targets several agency rules for the power sector. Advertisement 'The bill doubles down on rolling back burdensome and costly regulations from the prior administration, and it helps unleash American energy and domestic mineral development,' Simpson said. Democrats decried its cuts for national parks as well as to EPA's efforts to combat climate change. The agency would receive $7 billion in fiscal 2026, a 23 percent drop. 'It has become clear to me that the administration has moved beyond climate change denial into actively dismantling the government's climate work,' said ranking member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). She added, 'If we are going to keep the public safe, then building resilience and fighting against the impact of climate change is a commonsense measure, yet Republicans have clawed back those funds so that they could give tax breaks to billionaires.' The GOP reconciliation package, which became law earlier this month, contained several tax cuts and rescinded unobligated dollars for various EPA grant initiatives under the Inflation Reduction Act. Commerce-Justice-Science Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, is seen Tuesday. | House Appropriations Committee/YouTube The House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee similarly cleared its bill along party lines, leaving amendments for the full committee markup. The legislation includes a 6 percent drop for NOAA and a 23 percent reduction for the National Science Foundation compared with current levels. Subcommittee Chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said 'flooding has inflicted much pain on the nation over the last few months, [from] my district in Kentucky to Texas. Now is the time to ensure the National Weather Service is equipped with the funding it needs to warn and protect our citizens. This bill does just that by appropriately funding NOAA's weather units.' Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) took issue with the proposed cuts, even though they are smaller than the White House requested. 'Weather forecasts are not waste, fraud and abuse.' DeLauro said. 'And I ask my colleagues, did anyone come to your town halls and complain that the Weather Service has too many meteorologists, too many people issuing advisories, watches and warnings on severe storms? I don't think so.' State Department, other bills Also, the House National Security-Department of State Appropriations Subcommittee passed legislation that would cut funding for implementing the Montreal Protocol and prohibit spending on the Paris climate deal and related efforts. A House-passed rescissions package pending in the Senate would claw back already-appropriated funding to implement the Montreal Protocol. On Monday, House appropriators advanced their Energy-Water and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development spending bills before a full committee markup Thursday.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Fixing Australia's broken environment laws hold key to productivity, ex-Treasury head says
Fixing the nation's broken environment protection laws is the most important reform the Albanese government can pursue to boost productivity, and holds the key to meeting climate and housing targets, according to former treasury secretary Ken Henry. Henry, now the chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, will use a speech to the National Press Club as a rallying cry to federal parliament to finally agree on a rewrite of the quarter-century old Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. 'We have had all the reviews we need. All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let's just get this done,' Henry will say in Wednesday's speech, according to extracts supplied to Guardian Australia. The environment minister, Murray Watt, is designing a new package of federal nature laws after Anthony Albanese shelved the earlier version ahead of the election amid lobbying from miners and the Western Australian government. In the speech, Henry will cast EPBC reform as critical to boosting productivity – the economic priority of Labor's second term. 'Reforming our broken environmental laws is an obvious lever to enhance resilience and lift moribund productivity growth. And reforms provide an opportunity to dramatically cut the cost to government,' he will say. 'Of course, I can think of other reforms to boost productivity. Some even harder, though none more important. And if we can't achieve environmental law reform, then we should stop dreaming about more challenging options.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Henry is best known as the author of the 2010 tax review for the Rudd government, which inspired the short-lived mining super profits tax. He has also advocated for a carbon price as the least economically damaging method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The idea of a carbon price has again been put on the agenda as the Productivity Commission examines options to lower the cost of hitting climate targets. In submissions to the inquiry, the Australian Council of Trade Unions said the commission should examine 'carbon pricing policies' for different parts of the economy, and the Australian Energy Council called for a carbon price to be modelled to help inform emission reduction policies. With most large-scale infrastructure developments requiring approval under the EPBC Act, from renewable energy projects to housing estates, Henry will argue the government will fail to reach its targets of net zero by 2050 and building 1.2m homes by 2030 without 'high-quality' national nature laws. 'These projects, be they windfarms, solar farms, transmission lines, new housing developments, land-based carbon sequestration projects, new and enhanced transport corridors or critical minerals extraction and processing plants, must be delivered quickly and efficiently,' Henry will say. 'And they must be delivered in a way that not only protects, but restores, nature.' The prospects for Labor's housing target are already under renewed scrutiny after Treasury officials conceded it 'will not be met' in advice to Jim Chalmers accidentally released to the ABC and published this week. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The government has recommitted to establishing a federal environmental protection agency but Watt has yet decide the scope of its powers. The fate of the main recommendation from Graeme Samuel's review of the EPBC Act – national environmental standards – is also unclear as the minister continues consultation with industry and green groups. However, Watt has signalled a desire to pursue the reforms in one package, rather than in multiple tranches as attempted by his predecessor, Tanya Plibersek. In the speech, Henry will back a streamlined approach before outlining what he considers the key elements for new nature laws. These include specific changes to preserve matters of national environmental significance, a suite of national standards, an independent EPA and 'genuine cooperation' between the commonwealth, state and territories. Henry will also call for a rethink of how the principle of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is applied under federal nature laws. 'It cannot be applied project by project, in the manner anticipated by the act. Project by project application of ESD is simply nuts,' he will argue. 'It is time we stopped pretending we have the cognitive discipline to choose a sustainable balance among economic, social and environmental goals, project by project.'
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Which states are best, and worst, at tackling plastic pollution
California received the highest score and Mississippi the worst in a new nationwide ranking of state laws designed to reduce plastic pollution. All 50 states still need to do much more to combat the country's staggering plastic pollution problem, according to the report released Tuesday by Ocean Conservancy, a U.S.-based advocacy group.
CBC
7 hours ago
- CBC
There's plenty of fish in the sea, but this Massey Drive pond is dealing with an infestation
Having a lot of fish in the water might not seem like a problem. But as the CBC's Amy Feehan explains, Link Pond in the western Newfoundland community of Massey Drive is full of dozens of unwanted visitors.
