One of Canada’s largest oil companies, Imperial Oil Ltd., has been ordered by Ontario to pay $1.125 million for a slop oil spill at its Sarnia, Ont. site in April 2021 that sickened nearby residents. The fine, levied by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, is the most substantial penalty under the Environmental Protection…
Indigenous leaders in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., are raising concerns the federal government did not inform them about contamination at a Transport Canada dock. The government says they looked into it in 2017, but the leaders say they just became aware of it this year. “This dock is in the middle of our community. Our kids…
Several communities have been levelled, more than 160 people are dead and hundreds more missing after hurricane Helene swept through various parts of the U.S. southeast. And experts say there were several factors that made the “monster” storm so destructive, so fast. The destructive potential of the storm had climatologists and meteorologists bracing before it…
Hurricane Helene unleashed a “catastrophic storm surge and life-threatening winds” as it battered Florida‘s Big Bend region before making its way to Georgia. More than four million people across five southeastern U.S. states were without power Friday morning, according to tracking website poweroutage.us. Helene made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm Thursday night, before…
A weekend fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke into the Georgia sky has led to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze several miles away across metro Atlanta, where some schools canceled outdoor activities and residents living near the fire sheltered at home. More than 90,000 people east of Atlanta were…
Every half hour, staff and volunteers at Oak Hammock Marsh check on the dozen nets scattered around the site. “We are fishing for birds,” said the marsh’s Resident Naturalist Paula Grieef with a chuckle. “It’s called mist netting for birds.” The netting is fine enough to trap small songbirds, like sparrows, robins, and warblers. Staff…
By this time, Jasper National Park’s caribou breeding centre was supposed to be nearly done, ready for pregnant cows to bed down behind its fence, safe from predators and working on replenishing the park’s diminishing herds. This summer’s wildfire had other ideas. “We’re still looking at putting together a restoration plan,” said Jean-Francois Bisaillon, the…
It’s a case where a picture is worth 1,000 words. Luckily for Kane Blake, president of the Okanagan Forest Task Force, he happens to have 68 pictures. The group was recently notified about a trailer dumped along Beaver Lake Road in Lake Country. Blake said they posted some photos on social media. “It didn’t take…
The City of Saskatoon has confirmed 11 positive cases of Dutch elm disease in several neighbourhoods across the city — a record high. “It is discouraging to see this record number of positive Dutch elm disease cases in our city; DED can have devastating consequences for our urban forest,” says Thai Hoang, director of parks….
A pair of First Nations in B.C.’s Fraser Valley say a recent toxic spill may have killed up to 1,000 juvenile salmon in a local waterway. The Cheam and Sqwá First Nations say they discovered the fish kill in the Hope Slough in Chilliwack on Monday while members were conducting routine water sampling. “When we…
