A man claiming to be a Calgary firefighter says he has seen thousands of liters of toxic waste disposed of at the Tsuu T'ina landfill. The landfill is the site of a fire that burned over at least a two-day period earlier this month. He was one of roughly 150 members of the public who attended a town hall meeting in the S.W. community of Woodlands called by Alderman Diane Colley-Urqhart to discuss the impacts of the fire.

Stressing that he was not speaking as a Calgary Fire Department representative and asking that he not be identified, he said that he was at the Tsuu T'ina reserve landfill in 1995, when he saw a vacuum truck pull up to the dump and empty its contents of what he is certain was hazardous material.

"This vacu-truck pulls up … Read More

Natural gas company SemCAMS ULC has been charged under Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act for allegedly leaking waste water and hydrocarbons into a creek near the town of Fox Creek, roughly 240 km NW of Edmonton.

A government press release states a "pipeline failure" in August 2010 led to the release of 850,000 liters of saline and hydrocarbons into the creek. One km of the creek was contaminated, reportedly destroying aquatic life and killing a "substantial" number of fish.

Four charges have been laid under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. The company has also been charged by Environment Canada under the federal Fisheries Act.

SemCAMS was also charged in 2009 for failing to … Read More

The Calgary Food Committee commenced its Food System Assessment and Action Plan today. The assessment will research Calgary’s food system, studying how and where Calgary’s food is produced, processed, shipped, eaten and ultimately thrown away.

City of Calgary sustainability consultant Rebecca Newlove says the report will contribute to the city’s Food Action Plan; an initiative intended to help Calgarians "access and afford more local, healthy, nutritious food."

"What we don’t have currently is information on how many Calgarians have access to healthy food," Newlove said at a Jan. 12 press conference.

The Food Committee consists of farmers, local businesses and chefs, city staff and representatives from Alberta … Read More

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Today is the 173rd birthday of John Muir. Muir was the co-founder and first president of the Sierra Club and a steadfast advocate for the protection of wilderness. His essays and books, penned late in life after years of exploration, exposed millions to the wonders of the untrammeled outdoors. His legacy lives on in the millions of acres of American wilderness that has been protected from the saw, the plough, the bulldozer and the drilling rig.

Although Canadians have not embraced Muir’s penchant for protecting wilderness the way Americans have, Canada did play a role in his education and evolution. In 1863, John’s brother Dan fled to Canada to avoid being drafted into the horrors of the American Civil War. A year later, John … Read More