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Embro Dam Class Environmental Assessment – Alternatives

By Linda Heron on Thursday, February 9th, 2023
Posted in Brook Trout, Climate Change, Dam Removals, Dams, Fisheries, GHG Emissions, Impacts, ORA Submissions, Removal, River Concerns, Spring Creek, Urban Development

There are very few thriving Brook Trout populations left in southern Ontario, and it is especially surprising to find them present as far south as London, Ontario. Brook Trout are a sentinel species – the canary in the coal mine. In southern Ontario, Brook Trout populations have seen an 80% decline in their numbers over the last 50 years. Their populations have been under increasing pressure from a warming climate as well as agricultural, urban, rural and industrial development.

Removing the Dam and headpond to create a free-flowing and healthy coldwater Brook Trout fishery would be the perfect place for a family to go for walk, play or picnic in the Embro Conservation Area. It would provide a healthy riverine ecosystem and a beautiful natural environment for the entire community to enjoy!!

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Ministers Guilbeault and Duclos: Expand the single-use plastic ban – Joint

By Linda Heron on Thursday, January 26th, 2023
Posted in Government, Joint, Plastics, Pollution, River Concerns, Water Quality

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are deeply concerned about the plastic waste and pollution crisis and its devastating impacts worldwide. As responsible ministers for the Canadian Environmental Protection Act – “an Act respecting pollution prevention and the protection of the environment and human health”, we urge you to take bolder and urgent action to tackle the crisis by expanding the single-use plastics ban to include a more comprehensive list of problematic plastics and substances.

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Hydropower is destroying our rivers, biodiversity and fueling Climate Change

By Linda Heron on Friday, January 13th, 2023
Posted in Algae, Aquatic Life, Climate Change, Dams, Energy, GHG Emissions, Heavy Metal Contamination, Hydro Impacts 101: The Trade-offs, Hydroelectric, Impacts, Media, Pollution, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Video, Water Quality

Dams and hydropower facilities harm the environment and, when headponds or reservoirs are flooded, can produce carbon dioxide and methane for the life of the dam. Ontario is about to embark on a whole new era of dam building. Ontario has 224 operating hydropower plants and only 3 with fish passage.
By the way, Ontario Power Generation has been selling Clean Energy Credits for hydroelectric since 2013.   
NO MORE NEW HYDROELECTRIC DAMS IN ONTARIO!! 

ERO-019-6177 – Review of A Place to Grow and Provincial Policy Statement

By Linda Heron on Thursday, December 29th, 2022
Posted in Bill 23, Climate Change, Conservation Authorities Act, Environmental Registry, Fisheries, Flooding, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Greenbelt, Land Use, Municipal, ORA Submissions, Planning Act, Provincial Policy Statement, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Stormwater, Urban Development, Waste Water Treatment Facilities, Water Quality

Photo by Al Oman

The province claims that “Ontario needs more housing, and we need it now. That’s why the Ontario government is taking bold and transformative action to get 1.5 million homes built over the next 10 years.”  This Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) posting is only one component of a large series of other interconnected ERO postings relating to Bill 23. Due to the short comment period at this busiest time of year for such a complex, vague, poorly considered, and destructive policy and legislative “streamlining”, it is impossible to fully understand the full scope or depth of resulting effects to provide any kind of meaningful input. It is crucial that all ERO postings are well planned, concisely written and defined in clear policy language so the public fully understands what is being proposed and its potential positive and negative effects.

The Ontario government, through Bill 23 and its multitude of complex and interconnected legislation and policy amendments, has:

  • Removed municipal jurisdiction from upper-tier municipalities to make policy decisions on land use planning matters that are based on local community interests.
  • Removed a significant financial source (permits/building fees) in which to help pay for water and wastewater services, sewers, transportation infrastructure, and community parks needed to service 1.5 million additional homes.
  • Prohibited Conservation Authorities all across Ontario from providing practical advice to municipalities, their ability to issue permits, or provide input into environmental concerns.
  • Failed to provide adequate public and Indigenous consultation relating to Bill 23 matters.
  • Is proposing to streamline the qualifications program for Building Practitioners (ERO-019-6433).

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ERO-019-6161 – Conserving Ontario’s Natural Heritage

By Linda Heron on Monday, December 26th, 2022
Posted in Bill 23, Environmental Registry, Fisheries, Land Use, ORA Submissions, Species at Risk, Urban Development

One prime example of ecosystem services is our fisheries which depend on strong and healthy ecosystems. In 2015 the Ontario Government launched a Provincial Fish Strategy – Fish for the Future, which indicated that Ontario’s recreational fisheries support robust sport fishing and tourism, which are a mainstay for many of the northern communities. It also reported that 1.5 million anglers spend $1.75 billion dollars in the province each year, supporting approximately 1,600 resource-based tourism businesses each and every year.[i]  These are just a fraction of the ecosystem services that must be weighed against the full life cycle costs and benefits derived from any project that will impact our wetlands, wildlife, air, land or water.

[i] Fisheries in Ontario – Information about recreational and commercial fisheries in Ontario. Online: https://www.ontario.ca/page/fisheries-ontario

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Delayed Decision to List American Eel Under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) – Joint

By Linda Heron on Friday, December 9th, 2022
Posted in American Eel, Aquatic Life, Fisheries, Hydroelectric, Joint, Species at Risk

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 We are a coalition of Indigenous Peoples and conservation and environmental non-governmental organizations concerned with the conservation of American Eel and write to ask that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans take all necessary steps to immediately list this important species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). 

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ERO-019-6216 Proposed Amendments to Greenbelt Plan & ERO-019-6217 – Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Area boundary regulation – Joint

By Linda Heron on Thursday, December 1st, 2022
Posted in Bill 23, Environmental Bill of Rights, Environmental Registry, Greenbelt, Joint, Municipal, Urban Development

West Credit River. Photo by Steve Noakes.

We, the 78 undersigned organizations, are strongly opposed to the Ontario Government’s proposal to remove 7,400 acres of land from the Greenbelt. Opening these lands to development would destroy vital wildlife corridors, negatively impact woodlands, wetlands and watercourses, and result in the loss of over 5,000 acres of farmland. The government’s rationale – that these lands are needed for housing – is unfounded and untrue. We urge you not to proceed with this proposal for the reasons outlined below…

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Environmental Accountability in Ontario – Consultation Paper

By Linda Heron on Friday, November 25th, 2022
Posted in Environmental Bill of Rights, ORA Submissions, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk

Big Falls – Victory – stopped a proposed hydroelectric project on a sacred site!

The current government has gutted multiple key pieces of environmental legislation and policy that have taken decades to assemble. We are in a perilous state now where the requirement to consult with the public and Indigenous communities has been minimized, and the red tape cutting has gone to such extremes that public health and safety and the natural environment will be at increased risk as the climate continues to warm. 

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ERO-019-6160 – Proposed Updates to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System – Joint

By Linda Heron on Thursday, November 24th, 2022
Posted in Bill 23, Environmental Registry, Flooding, Joint, Planning Act, Provincial Policy Statement, Regulatory, River Concerns, Species at Risk, Urban Development, Water Quality, Wetlands

“Blandings Turtle” by tcmurray74 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

As you know, the OWES is a science-based ranking system that provides a standardized approach to determining the relative value of wetlands. OWES assessments are necessary to designate Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSWs). This designation in turn results in a high level of protection under provincial law and policy such as the Provincial Policy Statement (sections 2.1.4, 2.1.5 and 2.1.8). Yet the complete overhaul of the OWES, as proposed, will ensure that very few wetlands would be deemed provincially significant in the future and that many if not most existing PSWs could lose that designation. As a result, very few of Ontario’s wetlands would benefit in the future from the protection that PSW designation currently provides. We urge you not to proceed with the proposed changes to the OWES, for the reasons outlined below. 

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ERO-019-6141 – Legislative & Regulatory proposals affecting Conservation Authorities

By Linda Heron on Thursday, November 24th, 2022
Posted in Bill 23, Conservation Authorities Act, Endangered Species Act, Environmental Registry, Industry, Municipal, MZOs, Ontario Water Resources Act, ORA Submissions, Planning Act, Provincial Policy Statement, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Urban Development, Water Quality, Watershed Planning

“Consider This” by Storm Crypt is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The Ontario government’s own 2020 report, “Protecting People and Property: Ontario’s Flooding Strategy,” which resulted from the 2019 flooding disaster, states very clearly that “Flood risk management is achieved through multiple provincial acts, regulations, policies and technical guides and a wide range of provincial programs and services. Successful implementation relies on partnerships between provincial ministries, municipalities, Indigenous communities, conservation authorities, stakeholder organizations and the federal government.” 1

Instead, this proposal seeks to do the very opposite. It proposes to exempt the CAs from their authority under ten crucial Acts and their associated regulations; it blocks the CA partnership with municipalities and stakeholders and takes the authority of CAs away from permitting so they cannot properly fulfill the recommendations of this report that was commissioned by the Ontario government only a few short years ago.  Now, where is the wisdom in that?

[1] Protecting People and Property: Ontario’s Flooding Strategy, 10 March 2020. P-7/42

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