Kinder Morgan put fish, porpoises, sea lions and other marine life in danger during recent construction work near an oil terminal in Vancouver, says a leaked federal letter that warns the company could face prosecution for its violations.

The letter from the federal Fisheries and Oceans Department (DFO) notes that the company also went months without filing mandatory monitoring reports to the government and First Nations before federal officials noticed the Texas company was breaking the rules.

A primary lesson in political communications is that there is room in the public mind for only one big political news story at a time, and whoever drives that one big story wins twice: their story sets the headlines, and stories they don’t like are pushed to the margins.

May 7, 2018

OTTAWA -- A number of Indigenous elders and demonstrators were arrested for trespassing Monday on Parliament Hill after breaching a designated perimeter for protests during a rally against the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador.

"The point we made here today is that it's poisonous; we're drowning," said Jim Learning, an Inuit elder from Cartwright, N.L.

Almost 20 protesters were escorted from outside of Centre Block to the East Block courtyard, where they were held for about 30 minutes.

May 3, 2018

The federal government has lost a court bid to overturn a NAFTA ruling involving a Nova Scotia quarry and marine terminal project, sparking renewed concerns about the trade deal’s effects on Canada’s environmental regime.

The U.S. firm that backed the proposed project welcomed the Federal Court of Canada decision, while environmental groups said it highlights how the North American Free Trade Agreement hamstrings Canada’s ability to protect its ecology.

April 13, 2018

Until now, I have hesitated to criticize the environmental policies of the Trudeau government because of its public commitment to improving transparency, re-establishing the role of science in policymaking, and advancing a pan-Canadian climate plan. But the showdown over Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain pipeline has exposed the fact that science has become a casualty of the policymaking process, making resolution of this dispute – and protection of the environment – less likely.

March 31, 2018

The images are alarming.  In photo #1 — a wetland with abundant green grasses, broad leaf plants and young trees, an ideal habitat for insects, amphibians, birds, and mammals.  In photo #2 — the same wetland gripped by a grey death after being sprayed from helicopters with the herbicide glyphosate.  Most of the vegetation (except for a few coniferous trees) is now dead and the insects and other animals gone.

24 Mar 2018

Two federal MPs among more than 100 people arrested challenging 1,000km line

One of Romilly Cavanaugh’s first jobs was an environmental engineering position at the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which carries crude and refined oil across western Canada.