1. Clearcutting “The McNeil government is promising less clearcutting on crown lands through new ‘interim’ harvesting guidelines introduced yesterday in response to a comprehensive report on forestry practices prepared by University of King’s College president Bill Lahey last August,” reports Jennifer Henderson: It’s unclear how much the controversial practice will be reduced until after permanent […]
Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?
A review of the new film that illuminates Nova Scotia's failed biomass policies
In the opening scene of the documentary Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?, Jeff Turner patrols the dark, tannin-stained waters of the Blackwater and Nottoway River system in Southampton County, Virginia. He’s a “river keeper” and has been doing this for nearly two decades, keeping an eye on threats to the health of the rivers...
Stephen Kimber’s indispensable contribution to local journalism
Morning File, Monday, November 5, 2018
News 1. Jen’s choice Writes Stephen Kimber: Jen Powley is smart. She has four degrees. She’s a prize-winning author with an eclectic CV and a significant record of ongoing accomplishment. She’s still only 41. So why does she face a government-imposed Hobson’s life choice: go into a nursing home to be warehoused and “removed from […]
Forest fairy tales and other frightening stories of Nova Scotia
Morning File, Friday, May 25, 2018
News 1. Motor Vehicle Act “The province has put out an open call for input on a new Traffic Safety Act to replace the much-amended and much-maligned Motor Vehicle Act (MVA),” writes Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: The call-out is remarkably open ended, simply asking people to read over the current MVA and “tell us what […]
Nova Scotia’s looming oil-drilling disaster
Canadian regulators have failed to reduce the likelihood of a Deepwater Horizon-like blowout at BP's deep-sea well on the Scotian Slope, and the company plans to respond to a blowout with an oil dispersant that could compound the catastrophe.
When BP named its exploratory well in the Mississippi Canyon the Macondo Prospect after the doomed fictional town of Macondo from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, that alone should have raised alarm bells. The story of seven generations of the Buendía family are set in the Colombian town, which is beset by […]
Liberals refuse to allow opposition parties to question bureaucrats responsible for the privacy breach
Morning File, Thursday, April 26, 2018
1. Dirty Dealing, Part 4 Reports Linda Pannozzo: Nova Scotia Lands, a provincial crown corporation charged with cleaning up Boat Harbour, played a role in silencing two Dalhousie University researchers whose work studied air pollution coming from the Northern Pulp mill, the Halifax Examiner has learned. The two researchers, Emma Hoffman and Tony Walker, were the […]
Dirty Dealing
Part 4: Message Control and the Northern Pulp Mill’s Cancer-Causing Air Emissions
Nova Scotia Lands, a provincial crown corporation charged with cleaning up Boat Harbour, played a role in silencing two Dalhousie University researchers whose work studied air pollution coming from the Northern Pulp mill, the Halifax Examiner has learned. In Part 3 of the Dirty Dealing series, I reported on the researchers’ 2017 ambient air study, which revealed […]
Examineradio 149: Linda Pannozzo on the Northern Pulp mill
This week, journalist Linda Pannozzo discusses her latest investigation into the Northern Pulp mill. Plus, we discuss the convention centre, racism reports at schools and Abdoul Abdi. (Direct download) (RSS feed) (Subscribe via iTunes)
John Lohr plays footsies with the reprehensibles: Morning File, Friday, March 9, 2018
News 1. Dirty Dealing, Part 3 “In a study published in 2017, Dalhousie University researchers reported that air levels of three volatile organic compounds (VOCs) near the Abercrombie pulp mill in Pictou County exceeded cancer risk thresholds and ‘are of primary health concern in terms of population risk,’” reports Linda Pannozzo, who goes on to […]
Dirty Dealing
Part 3: Elevated Levels of Cancer-Causing Air Emissions Coming from Abercrombie Pulp Mill, Peer-Reviewed Study Reveals
In a study published in 2017, Dalhousie University researchers reported that air levels of three volatile organic compounds (VOCs) near the Abercrombie pulp mill in Pictou County exceeded cancer risk thresholds and “are of primary health concern in terms of population risk.” Over an eight-year period (2006-2013), 1,3-butadiene, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride were found to […]