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CMAJ on PMRA, November 2023 |
EV as empty vessel in car sewers, Eric Reguly, Globe & Mail, May 20, 2023 |
Comic Piccini opera, Redux, Ontario auditor general Env Report, Globe & Mail, May 18, 2023 |
Venal or Venial? letter to Globe, May 16, 2023 |
"Cry me a river over a few bats", Redux, Globe & Mail, May 12,2023 |
Greenbelt "Scam": Barbarian Ford invasions, Globe & Mail, May 12, 2023 |
Barbarian Ford invasions case: City of Belleville Bell Creek dvlpt, Intelligencer, April 25, 2023 |
Road building projects in Wales, UK, cancelled as climate clangers, the Guardian, Feb 14, 2023 |
Unpublshed letter to Globe, 1996 opioids revisited, February 6, 2023 |
Cathal Kelly on climate charade, Globe & Mail, January 27, 2023 |
Ontario Bill 23, letter to the Premier, and Todd Smith MPP, Nov 24, 2022 |
Canola conundrum, letter to Globe & Mail, October 2022 |
3rd (Canadian) arm of U.S. Air Pollution Health Effects Study, the Guardian, Aug 12, 2022 |
Atomic awe and Boris blight, letter to Globe, July 11, 2022 |
Your !!*^%! car, Part II, Globe and Mail editorial, July 16, 2022 |
Your !!*^%! car, Part I, Globe and Mail, June 20, 2022 |
CAPE report on fossil fuels, Globe and Mail, June 9, 2022 |
Traffic Air Pollution Health Effects report, CAPE, April 2022 |
EU Bans Toxics, the Guardian, April 2022 |
Comic Piccini opera: Ontario Auditor General Environment Report, November 2021 |
......RIP Trillium...... November 16, 2021 |
Covid-19 Parlour Sessions 2020/2021, April 1, 2021 |
Mitch Podoluk, Obituary, Globe and Mail, September 2019 |
Notice to (Big Bay) Mariners, August 2019 |
Air Head, Globe and Mail, August 2019 |
Leon Redbone, RIP, June 2019 |
Ontario Endangered Species Act at risk, letter to Rod Phillips, April 2019 |
Slide to Extinction, Chris Humphrey, letter to Globe, October 31, 2018 |
Peter Galbraith, FRCP, obituary, October 2017 |
White Pines on Death Bed, Bruce Bell, Intelligencer, July 17,2018 |
Thucydides Trap, letter to Globe, May 2018 |
Great Lakes toxics down, SUNY Oswego/Clarkson U, April 2018 |
Machine subversion of democracy, letter to Globe, April 2018 |
Air Pollution overrides Ancestral Genes, Globe, March 2018 |
Olympian Cathal Kelly, letter to Globe, March 2018 |
Environmentalists seeking unemployment, letter to Globe, February 2018 |
Less is more on Bike Lanes, National Post, January 2018 |
Tramadol, 10 years on, Globe and Mail, November 2017 |
White Stripes: Belleville bicycle lanes, letters, November 2017 |
Occupational Cancers, CCO research results, Globe and Mail, October 2017 |
Big Pharmoney and Canadian Drug Use Guidelines, Globe and Mail, June 21, 2017, Kelly Grant |
Oxycontin, 20 years on, letter to Globe, May 2017 |
Lake Ontario wind turbines to remain on hold? Feb 2017 |
Obituary, Raold Serebrin, September 2016 |
Sartorial slip or signal? letter to Globe editor, October 2016 |
Weapons of mass distraction, letter to Globe editor, Oct 2016 |
Point O turbines 99% Down the Drain, CCSAGE, July 7, 2016 |
Point O turbines Dead and Damned, PECFN, July 6, 2016 |
Rabid diplomat, letter to Globe, May, 2016 |
More on bats: rabid rocker? letter to Globe, January 2016 |
Lighthouses of eastern Lake Ontario, new book by Marc Seguin, March 2016 |
Continuing corporate windpower malfeasance: Windstream and Trillium Corp, Feb 2016 |
Amherst Island: the next fine mess, Feb 2016 |
Valerie Langer: Thirty years of effort pays off on the B.C. coast, Feb 1,2016 |
Trillium log, 6th annual ELO expedtion, September 2015 |
Trillium Wind Corp intent on Spoliation of eastern Lake Ontario and Main Duck Isle, June 2015 |
Turtles rule? Ontario Court of Appeal Decision: Turtlegate, April 2015 |
Obituaries, Mary Terrance (Luke) Hill, January 2015; Valerie Ingrid (Hill) Kaldes, July 2015 |
Ontario Court of Appeal turtle hearing, December 2014 |
Trillium Log, 5th annual ELO expedition, September 2014 |
Planetary public health manifesto, The Lancet, March 2014 |
Ostrander Bioblitz, butterfly inventory walk, August 10, 2014 |
Victory at Cape Vincent: British Petroleum withdraws turbine proposal, February 2014 |
Stay of execution granted by Ontario Court of Appeal, March 2014 |
Never say die: Will the Court of Appeal let the Ostrander Phoenix fly free again? March 2014 |
Divisional Court ruling in Ostrander: turtles belly up, Trojan horses win, February 2014 |
Lafarge 2020, pushing the air envelope again, Hazardous waste as cement kiln fuel proposal, Jan2014 |
Another fine mess in Port Hope: municipal waste incinerator proposal, January 2014 |
Ostrander: fiasco, or snafu? you decide, December 2013 |
Ostrander rises again, Noli illegitimi carborundum, December 2013 |
British Petroleum backing off Cape Vincent after a decade of aggression? December 2013 |
Turbines best Bald Eagles in U.S law, December 2013 |
SARStock 10 years after, letter to Globe, August 2003 |
Trillium log September 2013: Surfin' USA: Hanging Ten in a Hughes 29 |
ERT Post mortem: Garth Manning lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
ERT post mortem: Cheryl Anderson lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
ERT Post Mortem: Ian Dubin lets it all hang out, August 2013 |
Great Lakes United turns thirty, goes down, RIP GLU, July 29, 2013 |
ERT decision, Ostrander turns turtle, goes down, July 3, 2013 |
PECFN Thankyou, and Appeal for funds, July 6, 2013 |
Minister of Env on Lake Ontario Off shore wind turbine status, June 2013 |
Lake Ontario water level control plan, June 2013 |
Play by Play, Part II, APPEC Ostrander ERT Appeal, June 2013 |
Ostrander ERT June 2013, Appendix VI, an indirect cause of human morbidity and mortality ? |
ELOERG Presentation to Ostrander ERT, Part II, Human Health, May 2013 |
The Dirty E-Word, Terry Sprague, Picton Gazette, April 2013 |
Toxics in Great Lakes Plastic Pollution, April 2013 |
Bill Evans on Birds and Wind farms, April 2013 |
Mayday, Naval Marine Archive, April 2013 |
Experimental Lakes Area, Kenora, Closing by Federal Gov't, March 2013 |
Fishing Lease Phase out on Prince Edward Point, March 2013 |
Windstream makes $1/2 Billion NAFTA claim, March 2013 |
Play by Play, PECFN Ostrander ERT Appeal, March 2013 |
Offshore Wind turbine moratorium 2 years later, The Star, Feb 2013 |
ELOERG ERT submission on Ostrander: Appendix V: Pushing the Envelope of the MoE SEV, Feb 2013 |
Wente on Wind and Bald Eagle mugging, Globe and Mail, February 2, 2013 |
Sprague on Wind and Bald Eagle mugging, Picton Gazette, Jan 25, 2013 |
Cry Me a River over a Few Bats: Submission to Env Review Tribunal, ELOERG, January 2013 |
Lake Ontario's Troubled Waters: U of Michigan GLEAM, January 2013 |
Letter to Minister of Environment re: Ostrander, January 2013 |
No Balm in Gilead: Ostrander IWT's as Trojan Horses, January 2013 |
Ostrander Turbines: another Christmas gift by the MoE, Dec 2012 |
Occupational carcinogens: Ontario Blue Collar breast cancer study, November 2012 |
Fresh water fish Extinctions, Scientific American,November 2012 |
Great Lakes Toxics revisited, November 2012 |
Frack the What ? November 2012 |
$ 2 1/4 Billion Trillium Power lawsuit knockback Appeal, November 2012 |
Canada Centre for Inland Waters decimated, October 2012 |
Birds, Bats, Turbines, and the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, October 2012 |
Ecological public health, the 21st centurys big idea? British MedicalJournal Sept1,2012 |
Trillium log, Sept 2012 |
George Prevost, Saviour of the Canadas, 1812 - 1814. June 2012 |
The Victory at Picton: Bicentennial Conference on War of 1812-1814, Differing Perspectives, May 2012 |
Carleton Island and the 1812, letter to the Globe, October 2011 |
Queen's Fine Arts Department Succumbs, letter to Principal, December 2011 |
Mr. Kumar and the Super 30, November 2011 |
Letters, Articles and Projects from the Nineties |
Alban Goddard Hill, web site manager |
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Here is Colin Perkel from the Canadian press's story from the first day court
TORONTO
-- An expert tribunal was entitled to conclude a proposed wind farm would devastate a population of already threatened turtles,
Ontario's top court heard Monday.
The case, which pits turtles against turbines, could have widespread repercussions
as to how endangered species are protected across Canada, and raises questions about the protection of unspoiled areas . At
issue is a proposed nine-turbine wind farm at Ostrander Point south of Belleville on the shore of Lake Ontario. Prince Edward County
Field Naturalists Club had successfully argued before the province's environmental review tribunal that the project on the
324-hectare site would threaten Blanding's turtles in the area.
Gilead Power, through its Ostrander Point Wind
Energy, had Divisional Court overturn that decision in February. It argued the tribunal had made a half-dozen errors in concluding
the project would cause "serious and irreversible" harm to the turtles.
Addressing the panel in the packed courtroom,
lawyer Eric Gillespie, who speaks for the naturalists, pleaded with the three justices to defer to the review tribunal.
"The
tribunal was squarely within its mandate," he said. "We are simply asking this court to respect and uphold that original decision." Gillespie
noted the tribunal heard evidence over 24 days but essentially based its decision on four duelling experts on the long-lived
Blanding's turtles.
The main issue, according to the tribunal, was that five kilometres of access road needed would lead
to more turtle road kill, poaching and predation, and degradation of critical habitat.
The turtles, which are already in decline,
can take up to 25 years to mature and survive for 75 years, court heard. "It's a highly vulnerable population," Gillespie
said.
Even a single individual matters, he said, when you're dealing with a small local population.
In an interview, Gillespie
said the Divisional Court decision -- if allowed to stand -- would harm protections for Canada's threatened and endangered
species given the limited data that exists for most of them.
In court, the justices were clearly troubled by the fact no detailed
turtle population study exists.
They repeatedly questioned how the tribunal could rely on expert evidence about the impacts of increased
turtle mortality rates without knowing how many of the critters there are.
"What good is the (expert) opinion?" Justice
Gloria Epstein asked.
Gillespie warned against turning the Appeal Court into a "science academy."
"We have to rely on
the opinions of experts," he said. "The tribunal did exactly what an expert tribunal is entitled to do."
Another lawyer, Chris
Paliare, said Divisional Court "subverted" the review tribunal by suggesting, as the project proponents maintain, there was
no evidence as to what "irreversible harm" means.
"It's parsing beyond belief," Paliare said.
"The evidence is overwhelming
this project will cause serious and irreversible harm."
Gilead, which will continue arguing its case on Tuesday, maintains
it can do what's necessary to protect the turtles.
Stephen Hazell, a lawyer with Nature Canada which is intervening in
the case, disputed that.
The proposed access roads are "directly" in the turtles' habitat, Hazell said as the justices pored over
maps of the area. "That is irreversible harm."
However, Gilead lawyer Neil Finkelstein said the tribunal didn't conclude
that access roads would necessarily be harmful to the turtles. The tribunal's reasoning, he said, simply didn't hold
together.
"Divisional Court was correct that the tribunal's decision was unreasonable and should be set aside,"
Finkelstein said.
and Garth Manning's analysis of the second day at Court
Now we know what the stacks of paper before the 3 Judges and 12 lawyers were all about. During the day, the lawyers
for Gilead and for the Ministry spent a mind-numbing three hours and six minutes concentrating on one theme. To do so, each
constantly referred the Judges to pages among the many thousands in those stacks, which contained the complete transcript
of the proceedings before the Environmental Review Tribunal and the Divisional Court.
The theme on which they concentrated was this: the duty of a Tribunal and of a Court is -as
a matter of law - to be reasonable in arriving at decisions. In their view, the decision of the ERT was unreasonable on its
face and therefore the decision of the Divisional Court to overturn it was its reasonable duty. In advancing this view, it
was necessary constantly to refer to many different phases of evidence given at the ERT and to comments of the Tribunal members.
This they did for the period indicated. In particular, the evidence given by Dr. Beaudry before the ERT and its effect on
the Tribunal came in for scathing criticism.
Towards the
end of a long day, the lawyer for CanWea (the trade association of the wind industry) struck a different and shorter note
by contending that the decision made by the ERT was completely beyond its powers to make, and that it should have been made
in the public interest, the requirement made of the Director under the Green Energy Act in whose shoes, it was said, the ERT
stood.
Rebuttal remarks were provided by Chris Paliare,
counsel for SSC, directed at the mortality to the turtles which would be caused by the nine access roads required, the amount
of concrete and heavy equipment which would be moved along those roads and installed in, under and on the land. Eric Gillespie
finished the hearing on behalf of PECFN with additional comments demolishing so-called points made by the opposition.
Justice Cronk thanked all counsel for their helpful submissions (a normal courtesy)
and asked them to return in one week for a preliminary discussion about costs.
Her final remark was possibly the most intriguing of the day - "our decision will not be ready before Christmas".
Given that the Court of Appeal decisions normally take up to six months, could this mean that it might be available in the
first month of the New Year?
We will see; meanwhile those
of us in the County who feel strongly can rest assured that our concerns were dealt with by a highly competent Bench in an
open and transparent manner, and by outstanding counsel for PECFN, SSC and Nature Canada.
And finally from this correspondent on behalf of us all, congratulations to Prince Edward County
Field Naturalists and to South Shore Conservancy for courage, devotion and a sense of what is right far above the norm.
Garth Manning.
Cheryl Anderson28 Low St., Picton ON K0K 2T0 613-471-1096 613-849-7743 (cell) @saveostranderpt www.saveostranderpoint.org
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Enter supporting content here
Eastern Lake Ontario Environmental Research Group
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