Good News

· The new Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) prohibits the manufacturing or importation of certain toxic substances. The new legislation enables the Minister of Health and the Minister of Environment to coordinate their decisions. For example, the two ministers can ban the manufacturing or import of toxic substances. According to Section 84 of the new law, "Where the Ministers (Health and Environment) have assessed any information... and they suspect that a substance is toxic or capable of becoming toxic, the Minister may, before the expiry of the period for assessing the information" issue regulations or "prohibit any person from manufacturing or importing the substance." The prohibited substances include: asbestos, lead, mercury, vinyl chloride chlorobiphenyls, polybrominated biphenyls, chlorofluorocarbon, dibenzo-para-dioxin, polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins, carbon tetra-chloride, methyl chloroform, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and benzene.

SOURCE: The Gallon Environment Letter, Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, Volume 2, No. 7, April 8, 1998

· Japanese power producer Electric Power Development Company, Ltd. said recently in July that it had reached an agreement with Russia's Unified Energy System to help the Russian power utility reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its plants.

SOURCE: Energy Central News, 7/98

· The California Energy Commission (CEC) has announced that approximately 300 megawatts of new wind energy projects will receive CEC financial incentives funds.

SOURCE: Wind Energy Weekly, from Energy Central News, 7/98

· The American Wind Energy Association strongly praised Patagonia, Inc., the Ventura, Calif.-based outdoor clothing company, for its plans to purchase enough wind energy to meet all electrical needs at its California facilities.

SOURCE: Wind Energy Weekly, from Energy Central News, 7/98

· Solar energy has surpassed wind power generation to become the world's fastest-growing energy source.

SOURCE: Energy Central News, 7/20/98, as reported by Reuters

· Winnipeg, MB, Canada, July 20, 1998 (Resource News International) - The following is a summary of Canadian news headlines.

DEAL REACHED IN DEW LINE CLEANUP

The federal government has quietly reached a C$230-million deal with the Inuit of the eastern Arctic on cleaning up 15 Cold War-era military sites contaminated with everything from PCBs to heavy metals.

Meanwhile, a second deal under which the United States would help pay for cleaning up abandoned American military sites has been delayed in the US Senate.

The abandoned sites left a legacy of debris, broken glass, tumbledown buildings, insulation, old boilers, antennas, giant radar dishes and rusted barrels. The sites are not only unsightly but dangerous - many contain PCBs, heavy metals and solvents, says Tony Downs, environmental director for the Department of National Defence. Under the agreement, non-hazardous garbage will be dumped in landfills engineered to prevent leaching into soil or water.

Existing landfills will be assessed according to what's in them and where they are. Landfills that either contain hazardous materials or are likely to leak will be excavated. All hazardous waste will be shipped out of the North, says Downs.

"The plan is for all PCB material to be brought to Swan Hills (Alberta, site of a waste disposal facility) for destruction," Downs says.

The process will be monitored by a four-member panel of Inuit and government officials.

SOURCE: Canadian Press

MORE DID YOU KNOW?

· The following is a partial listing of international treaties on the environment. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1968, states in Article 18 that if a state has signed a treaty there is an "obligation not to defeat the object and purpose of a treaty prior to the entry into force;" thus an obligation could be placed on states that have signed but not ratified International Conventions and Treaties.

ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS:

· ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (Kuala Lumpur), 1985

· Canadian Government submission to Prep Corn 1, for the World Summit for Social Development, 1995

· Convention for the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes (Basel Convention), 1989

· Convention for the Combating of Desertification, 1994

· Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992

· Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment of Transboundary, 1991

· Environmental Modification Convention of 1977

· Law of the Seas, 1982

· Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, 1987 (including London and Copenhagen Protocols)

· Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 UNCED, 1992

· Seabed Treaty, 1971

· The World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, 1994

· UN Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972

· UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1973

· UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992

· UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 1992

· UN Conference on Humans and Environment (UNCHE), 1972

· Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone, 1985

· World Charter of Nature, 1982