Planet Ark: New Tropical Storm Forms Over Caribbean

2 August 2011

Tropical Storm Emily formed near the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles islands on Monday, far from oil and gas-production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Emily, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour.

It was located about 50 miles west-southwest of Dominica and was on a track across the northeastern Caribbean to approach the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, on Tuesday night, the hurricane center said.

The storm threatened to dump heavy rain on both Hispaniola and Puerto Rico but posed no immediate threat to oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane center said Emily could intensify to hurricane strength by the end of this week. Even if that happened, the storm was unlikely to strengthen into more than a low-level Category 1 hurricane, however.

The National Post: Putting the fizz into recycling
2 August 2011

PepsiCo Beverages Canada currently has the largest share of the soft drink market in Canada, and has recently enhanced its production facilities to boost recycling while lowering carbon emissions and energy consumption. President Richard Glover spoke recently with Hollie Shaw about beverage industry trends and why the company has been promoting a new 7Up 'EcoGreen' bottle, North America's first soft drink bottle made from 100% recycled PET plastic.

Consumers are going to go from one beverage to another beverage to another beverage, but consumers wake up every day thirsty and wanting to drink. We as the leaders in the Canadian marketplace are proud of the fact that we are able to satisfy the needs of Canadian consumers. We don't necessarily define ourselves as a carbonated soft drink company, we define ourselves as a beverage company. Soft drinks are a big category and an important category and a category that Canadians still enjoy.

But the Canada of 20 to 30 years ago is different from now. We have a different makeup of Canadian consumers and so as a result of that we have to make sure that we are delivering products that satisfy all 34-million Canadians and we can remain number one and the market leader.

The National Post: Canada lagging U.S. on climate, Kent warned

2 August 2011

Global warming is the world's greatest environmental challenge and Canada is falling behind the United States in reducing the pollution from industry that is causing the problem, say newly released briefing notes prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent.

The warnings, submitted to Mr. Kent in January when he took over the environment portfolio in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, say global warming will have significant social, political and economic implications, putting Canada on the hot seat over its own record and commitments.

"Climate change is the most serious environmental issue facing the world today and carries with it significant impacts on human health and safety, the economy, natural resources, and ecosystems in Canada and throughout the world," say the briefing notes, which were released under access-to-information legislation.

"Going forward, Canada will face domestic and international pressure to demonstrate progress toward its Copenhagen target."

The briefing notes included a chart that revealed existing measures introduced by federal, provincial and territorial governments would still leave Canada about 30% above a new target level for emissions set by Mr. Harper to reduce annual greenhouse gases by 17% below 2005 levels.

The federal government has said it set this target to align itself with the United States in the North American marketplace.

But the briefing notes told Mr. Kent the United States was moving forward on setting standards for new industrial facilities with a plan that was not being matched in Canada. The plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would require new industrial facilities and major renovation projects in industry to adopt the best available technologies for capping their pollution.

Information from the briefing notes coincides with a new report by a government advisory panel, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, which suggested Environment Canada is overestimating the effectiveness of existing climate-change policies in the country.

Mr. Kent was not immediately available to answer questions about the briefing notes and has declined to give interviews to Postmedia News in recent months.

But he indicated this year that the government planned to begin consultations in the coming months on a set of draft regulations to crack down on pollution from coalfired electricity plants as well as from commercial industrial sectors such as the oil sands, which are seeing their emissions grow much faster than the rest of the economy.

"It's not going to be easy," Mr. Kent told Postmedia News in February. "Each of these sectors represents significant challenges, but given the fact that these other [regulations] are going to be introduced in a timely manner and a timely fashion, then you could say, by the end of 2012, most of our new [regulations] should be in place or out for consultation and discussion."

The department says in its briefing notes that eventual regulations for coal plants, if introduced, could come into effect by 2015 with significant impacts.

"The gradual phase-out of old and dirty coal units is expected to significantly reduce emissions from the electricity generation sector and improve air quality for all Canadians," say the briefing notes.

Clare Demerse, the director of climate-change policy at the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental research group, questioned whether Mr. Kent and his government had understood the warnings from the experts within the bureaucracy. "This briefing note reads like a plea from Environment Canada's officials to their new minister [to] make global warming a priority," said Ms. Demerse. "Unfortunately, the Harper government's track record since January, when these notes were written, gives us no evidence that the message got through."

Environment Canada bureaucrats also told Mr. Kent that the government would need to take "concrete and practical actions" to succeed, which would also provide opportunities for emerging economic sectors.

"There are significant economic opportunities available to Canadian industry and workers through the transition to a clean energy economy," say the briefing notes.

"The clean energy and environmental goods market is estimated at $6.5-trillion and is being contested by major and emerging economies, including the U.S., the European Union, China, and India."

Mr. Kent was told that clean technology would become the world's third-largest industry within a decade and that he could introduce policies to improve Canada's position in the new economy.

"Canada's environmental policies can be an important driver of innovation and resource efficiency that can lead to longer term improvements in productivity growth and competitiveness," say the briefing notes.

The Globe and Mail: Arctic oil spill cleanup impossible one day in five: energy board report

1 August 2011

A newly released report commissioned by Canada’s energy regulator has concluded that clean-up efforts for an offshore oil spill in the Arctic could be impossible at least one day in five because of bad weather or sea ice.

And a spokesman for one environmental group said that a recent U.S. study suggests even that figure could be underestimating the risk.

“They may be overly optimistic,” said Rob Powell of the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic program.

As part of its ongoing review of regulations that will eventually govern energy development in Canada’s North, the National Energy Board commissioned an environmental consultant to study how typical spill clean-up methods would be affected by likely conditions in the Beaufort Sea and Davis Strait.

Winds higher than 10 metres per second, for example, make it impossible to burn oil slicks, one of the main methods used to clean up ocean spills. Dispersants, which break up the slicks, are of little use in waves higher than three metres.

Booms and skimmers, which contain and remove the oil, are only marginally effective in water that is more than 10 per cent ice-covered. Aircraft, essential to direct any clean-up operations, need at least a kilometre of visibility.

S.L. Ross Environmental Research took those limits and compared them to actual Arctic conditions during the open-water season, based on 20 years’ worth of weather data. That report was posted in mid-July.

The company found that in the Beaufort Sea, even in June – the most favourable month – weather and ocean conditions would prevent any of those three clean-up methods from being used about 20 per cent of the time. Conditions deteriorate over the summer until October, when clean-up would be impossible 65 per cent of the time.

In the central Davis Strait, July conditions would block clean-up 27 per cent of the time. By November, that worsens to 80 per cent.

The report points out that weather changes rapidly in the North, and impossible conditions one day may be favourable the next. As well, oil spilled in one season can be cleaned up the next.

But delays can make cleanup harder as the oil weathers or emulsifies with seawater, the report says.

Several energy majors have already purchased exploration rights in the Beaufort Sea. Drilling has already begun on Greenland’s side of the Davis Strait.

Mr. Powell said it’s important this kind of research is conducted before Canada approves any more activity.

“We’re pleased to see that it has been done,” he said.

However, he points out that even when conditions for clean-up are good, the best available technology still isn’t very effective.

“The number that really matters is the fraction of oil that can be recovered from the environment,” he said.

Mr. Powell said data from the clean-up of last year’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico suggested that even under the best conditions, skimmers left behind 80 per cent of the spill.

As well, the U.S. Geological Survey, which is also considering Arctic drilling, found dispersants may not be that effective.

“Substantial scientific and technical work as outlined by various expert groups still must be done before dispersants can be considered a practical response tool for the Arctic,” the survey concluded.

The survey also expressed concern about the toxicity of chemicals used to aid the burning of oil slicks.

Mr. Powell said any Arctic offshore drilling should be approached with caution.

“Our reading is that oil spills into the Arctic environment in any quantity cannot be recovered with the means currently available. It’s kind of like unscrambling an egg.”

3 August 2011