Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

NCC approves plan for 9-km riverfront revamp

By CBC News Ottawa, June 22, 2018

The National Capital Commission has approved plans for the Ottawa River South Shore Riverfront Park, an expansive corridor spanning more than 200 hectares of riverfront land between Mud Lake and LeBreton Flats.

The NCC has stewardship over the entire nine-kilometer stretch, which includes three sets of rapids, the Trans Canada Trail and multi-use pathways along both sides of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.

Highlights from the plan include:

• Improved recreational opportunities along the shoreline.

Trump scraps Obama policy on protecting oceans, Great Lakes

By John Flesher, The Globe and Mail, June 21, 2018

President Donald Trump has thrown out a policy devised by his predecessor to protect U.S. oceans and the Great Lakes, replacing it with a new approach that emphasizes use of the waters to promote economic growth.

Trump revoked an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, it killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of crude that harmed marine wildlife, fouled more than 1,300 miles of shoreline and cost the tourism and fishing industries hundreds of millions of dollars.

Reevely: Ford reaffirms pledge to keep Pickering nuclear station open ... for the wrong reasons

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 2018

Ontario will keep the elderly nuclear plant in Pickering running until 2024, Premier-designate Doug Ford repeated Thursday, for weird and un-conservative reasons.

“I believe in made-in-Ontario electricity and made-in-Ontario jobs,” Ford said at the plant.

There is nothing special about made-in-Ontario electricity. The Pickering plant’s energy doesn’t make your lights shine plaid or give off a faint mapley-piney aroma. There’s no difference between a joule from Ontario versus a joule from Quebec or a joule from New York.

(...)Those three nuclear facilities generate about 60 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. Keeping Pickering online while reactors at the other two sites are down will save us $600 million in costs to replace it with gas-fired generators, Ontario Power Generation estimates, and millions of tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions.

NCC looks at separating cyclists and pedestrians on more pathways

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 2018

The National Capital Commission is thinking more about how to reduce conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists on its pathways by seeing where it can separate the two.

Mark Kristmanson, CEO of the NCC, said the agency won’t be able to create segregated pathways everywhere in its network, but he encouraged people to provide feedback on the idea of separating cyclists and pedestrians, and giving each their own dedicated pathway.

The NCC is in the middle of writing a new strategic plan for its pathway system. The board received an update on the work Thursday before a draft plan comes back in early 2019.

The pathways are generally three metres wide, but the NCC is considering how to split them between cyclists and pedestrians or at least widen pathways in high-traffic areas.

Solar energy investors expected to snub Ontario, look to Alberta in wake of Ford decisions

By Dan Healing, Global News, June 20, 2018

Solar industry participants say they expect more investment to flow to Alberta and the United States in the wake of premier-designate Doug Ford’s vow to axe Ontario’s cap-and-trade system and the Green Ontario Fund consumer rebate program it fuels.

Exhibitors at the Solar Canada conference in Calgary — which is being held outside of Ontario for the first time in its 20-plus-year history — say the decision means they expect to do less solar energy-related business in Ontario.

Gatineau LRT plan could spur reopening of Prince of Wales Bridge

By CBC News Ottawa, June 21, 2018

Gatineau's LRT plan could be the first step toward rail traffic returning to the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The city unveiled its plan on Wednesday, a $2.1 billion proposal that would bring commuters across the Ottawa River at both the Prince of Wales and Alexandra bridges.

• Gatineau reveals $2.1B LRT plan, eyes 2028 launch

The plan is just a proposal at this stage, with the city set to embark on two years of studies and consultation about what it would take to make the project a reality, but the hope is it could be in service by 2028.

Science of summer: Female loons 'play the long game' for nesting sites

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 2018

Summer arrives Thursday, bringing with it a reader favourite: Postmedia’s occasional series on the Science of Summer. Today Tom Spears looks at loons that wait for years for a chance to nest and raise chicks.

Walter Piper has been studying loons on Wisconsin lakes for a quarter of a century, learning a lot about the vicious fighting for territory among birds that seem calm and placid to the casual onlooker.

It was about four years ago that he started to notice the odd behaviour of one female loon.

The background: Male loons fight other males for territory. Females likewise try to drive away rival (nesting) females.

Reevely: Ontario government kills green programs but can't say who gave the order

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 2018

The Ontario government suddenly cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of programs meant to fight climate change on Tuesday, without anybody apparently being responsible for it.

Rebate programs for home energy-efficiency improvements such as new windows, smart thermostats and better insulation were the red flag, as the clearinghouse website for them was taken down and replaced by a notice saying they were closed. A subsidy program for new solar panels won’t launch. A $300-million fund for business-led experiments in reducing energy use went splat.

The abruptness of the cancellation is sending renovations higgledy-piggledy. The window-replacement rebate, worth as much as $5,000 if you’re doing a major upgrade, has been particularly popular. Since many windows are custom-made and take a lot of lead time to plan, manufacture and install, some property owners who’ve already started projects will very likely miss the new end-of-summer deadline for getting their final paperwork submitted.

City-run garbage collection over budget by more than $1 million

By Jason White, 1310 News, June 20, 201

Downtown and east-end garbage collection has gone over-budget by more than $1 million, but the city insists that using its own workers to pick up the waste is still cheaper than private contractors.

Last year, downtown collection ended up $463,869 over budget. In the east-end, the deficit was $608,022. Over the past five years, the east-end contract exceeded its budget by almost $1.1 million.

The city blames the cost overruns in both areas on rising labour, fleet and fuel costs.

Small businesses bearing brunt of abrupt GreenON rebate scrapping

By Mike Vlasveld, 1310 News, June 20, 2018

The plan from the Ontario Progressive Conservatives to end Green Ontario Fund rebates is going to hurt small and medium-sized businesses in Ottawa.

That's the message from Executive Director of SMARTNet Alliance Ottawa Paul Cairns.

He told The Rick Gibbons Show on 1310 NEWS, contractors were benefiting from people needing new windows and insulation, among other energy-efficient items, installed in their homes. Now, they are losing many of those contracts due to a lack of notice being given.

Gatineau announces $2.1B plan for LRT

By Stuart McGinn, 1310 News, June 20, 2018

The City of Gatineau has announced their vision for a massive, 26 km light rail transit line, connecting residents to the city's downtown core and across to Ottawa.

The $2.1-billion project would bring 42.6% of Gatineau residents within walking distance of a train stop.

"Our road system is at its capacity," said Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pednaud-Jobin at Wednesday's announcement. "We invest in public transit, but there's a limit to what can to be to alleviate the inconvenience that is already felt by our citizens."

Ottawans disappointed over cancellation of GreenON program

By CBC News Ottawa, June 20, 2018

Premier-designate Doug Ford has scrapped a rebate program that offered incentives for those who opted for energy-efficient renovations, leaving some Ottawa homeowners and companies adrift.

New rebate applications for GreenON, which used the proceeds from Ontario's cap-and-trade program, will no longer be accepted, according to the province's website.

(...)But Robb Barnes, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, said the decision is a sign of things to come.

"If you look at the policy signals coming from the new provincial administration, we're looking at a massive shortfall in terms of revenue for a lot of the projects that will move us to a more climate-friendly path in Ottawa," he said.