ORA’s first Youth Engagement event!

By Linda Heron on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023

Posted in Alternatives, Aquatic Life, Climate Change, Dams, Energy, Environmental Registry, Events, Hydroelectric, Media, ORA Reports, ORA Submissions, Photos, Presentations, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns, Safety, Turbines, Water as a Commons

ORA collaborated with Engineers Without Borders (UW Chapter) to host a youth engagement workshop for 35 grade 11 students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School on March 31st. The group included students from the STEM Club and from the Environment Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Red Seal Program. ORA offered the students a Sector-Partnered Experience (SPE) focusing on real-world environmental issues to be solved.

ORA’s team consisted of a Fisheries Biologist, Civil Engineer and Environmental Sciences experts interacting with the students to present and discuss the significant and ongoing environmental effects of hydroelectric facilities, as well as the engineering principles behind them.

The students were then assigned to groups and encouraged to think of alternative eco-friendly solutions to meet the growing electricity demands of the country. We helped them consider several aspects of power generation including how electricity can be used more efficiently, its impacts on wildlife and communities, and the criteria we need to consider when constructing electricity generation facilities. The groups presented their innovative ideas and gift cards were awarded to the group with the most sustainable and feasible solution.

We were thrilled and amazed at the enthusiasm and ingenuity of the students!

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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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!!

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

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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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Mill Creek Weir Removal Project

By Linda Heron on Saturday, October 8th, 2022

Posted in Aquatic Life, Brook Trout, Dam Removals, Dams, Mill Creek Weir, Removal

The ORA is pleased to partner with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) in the Mill Creek Weir Removal Project. Mill Creek is home to an at-risk population of native Brook Trout, and the weir is a barrier to fish passage and prime habitat. Mill Creek is the lowest dam before its confluence with the Credit River.

The concrete weir is broken and cracked, and if individuals from the Brook Trout population were to breach the weir, they could be permanently trapped in a small pool on the other side, with no way back. Removing the weir will remove this hazard, open up 5 km of uninterrupted Brook Trout habitat, and increase Mill Creek’s resilience to a warming climate. The ORA applied for and received a $5,000 Lush grant towards the new detailed channel design. Continue reading →

Environmental Compliance Approval Number 7877-CALRZU – Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility – Joint

By Linda Heron on Friday, June 3rd, 2022

Posted in Aquatic Life, Brook Trout, Erin WWTP, Fisheries, Joint, Regulatory, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Sewage, Urban Development, Waste Water Treatment Facilities, Water Quality, West Credit River

Photo by Steven Noakes

First, the Coalition for the West Credit River (Coalition) would like to express our deepest appreciation that you and your staff worked with our Technical Team over the last several months to incorporate some of our recommendations into the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). However, we are concerned that our key recommendations for improvements to the draft ECA, received by you on 2 May, were not reflected in the ECA approved on 3 May 2022.

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Delegation Request – Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility – Joint

By Linda Heron on Friday, June 3rd, 2022

Posted in Aquatic Life, Brook Trout, Environmental Compliance Approval, Erin WWTP, Fisheries, Joint, Regulatory, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Sewage, Sewage, Urban Development, Waste Water Treatment Facilities, West Credit River

Photo by Steven Noakes

The Coalition is very appreciative of your strong support in recommending to the Honourable David Piccini, Minister of Environment, Conservation Parks (MECP) and Mayor Allan Alls, Town of Erin, that our draft Monitoring and Adaptive Management Plan be integrated into the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). As you are likely aware, the ECA for the Erin Water Resource Recovery Facility was approved on 3 May 2022 by Aziz Ahmed, P.Eng., MECP Manager of Municipal Water & Wastewater Permissions, appointed for the purposes of Part II.1 of the Environmental Protection Act.

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Ending Plastic Pollution – A Call to Action – Joint

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, February 8th, 2022

Posted in Aquatic Life, CEPA, Fisheries, Joint, Plastic, Pollution, Regulatory, River Concerns, Species at Risk, Water Quality

Canada has committed to ending plastic waste by 2030.i Reaching this goal will require ambitious actions that address the full life cycle of plastic.

Canada is a major—and growing—producer of plastics and the world’s second highest user of plastic on a per person basis.ii Production, use and disposal of plastics is an increasing contributor to climate change and habitat degradation. It also imposes disproportionate harm on those living next to production and disposal facilities, often low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities.

We, the undersigned, therefore call on the Government of Canada to commit immediately to implement the following actions on an urgent basis:

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Is it Renewable Energy if it Degrades the Environment?

By Linda Heron on Sunday, January 9th, 2022

Posted in Alternatives, Aquatic Life, Dams, Energy, Fisheries, Heavy Metal Contamination, Hydro Impacts 101: The Trade-offs, Hydroelectric, Nuclear Fusion, Pollution, Renewable Energy on Crown Land, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Safety, Species at Risk, Thorium, Water Quality

Is it really renewable energy when it degrades the environment and impacts on communities in a negative way?

There are 241 hydroelectric dams in Ontario, and only 3 facilities have provided any form of fish passage.

The effects of dams and waterpower facilities on fisheries have been well documented over the past century, and include the loss or serious decline of many iconic fish species, which are resources of importance to Ontario’s economy, biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage.

ERO-019-3268 – Strengthening our Environmental Compliance Approach

By Linda Heron on Monday, June 28th, 2021

West Credit River, Photo by Steve Noakes

The ORA offers strong support for polluters being held accountable; however, that isn’t what’s happening here. Rather than strengthening enforcement tools that hold polluters accountable, this government is systematically and persistently dismantling, weakening or bypassing all environmental policy and legislation that was designed to protect the environment and deter those industries, corporations or individuals who would pollute and/or destroy the environment.

These ERO postings consistently mislead the public, especially in the top several paragraphs and titles, which contain misleading introductions to the proposed policy the government is proposing. In fact, you can always count on these “modernization” policy changes to be a further attack on environmental policy and legislation. It is even more despicable that these attacks have largely been carried out during the government’s declared COVID Emergency, where no public consultation is required, and what consultation that does take place is meaningless when the main objective is to cut red tape and remove any roadblocks to development and pollution, in spite of the public’s strong recommendations to protect the environment.

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