2007 Living at the Barricades Year in Review: Part 2

Waterkeeper presents highlights for 2007 from its weekly radio show and podcast “ Living at the Barricades. Living at the Barricades began broadcasting in August 2007 from ThatRadio.com studios in Toronto and on CFRC 101.9fm Campus and Community Radio in Kingston. In September, Waterkeeper launched Living at the Barricades as a weekly podcast on iTunes so that environmental justice stories can go with you down stream, up river, and across the Lake.

Hosts Mark Mattson and Krystyn Tully and Producer Avi Grand are very excited about another year of meeting tireless environmental advocates on-air and at the barricades. Please continue to send comments and questions about Living at the Barricades to barricades@waterkeeper.ca.

Listen to this week's Living at the Barricades.

Part Two of 2007's Year in Review includes:

• Press conference hosted by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper for the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC) and the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) “ The PHCHCC and UMRC released a study revealing depleted man-made uranium in nine individuals living in Port Hope. The study is groundbreaking because it marks the first time actual samples were collected from individuals in the town. PHCHCC calls for: Health Canada to conduct a full, independent investigation of human uranium contamination in Port Hope; Environment Canada to upgrade from a Screening Level environmental assessment (lowest-level EA) of the 3.5 million cubic metres of nuclear waste in Port Hope to a Review Panel environmental assessment (highest-level EA); and, an investigation into the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's failure to protect the public in Port Hope.
• The road to the Lafarge Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) “ April 5, 2007, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Clean Air Bath, the Loyalist Environmental Coalition, and The Tragically Hip won the right to an ERT after appealing the Ontario Ministry of Environment licenses issued to Lafarge, Inc. for its alternative fuels propsal to burn tires, plastics, bone meal, and domestic waste pellets. The appellants were successful in demonstrating that no reasonable person could have made the same decision as the MOE and that the Ministry's decision could result in significant harm to the environment. The ERT hearing adjourns September 3, 2008 in Bath, ON.
• Larry Ladd, Chairperson of the Oshawa Marina User's Group - December 10, 2007, Waterkeeper submitted our recommendations to federally appointed mediator David Crombie for revitalizing and protecting the Oshawa Harbour. Waterkeeper's submission includes a series of changes to the governance structure that presently dictates the future of the Oshawa Harbour. In 2003,the Oshawa Harbour Commission evicted boaters from the Oshawa marina citing contamination of the harbour. To this day, no clean-up of the harbour has begun and recreational boaters are denied access to the waterfront.
• Steve Fleischli, President of Waterkeeper Alliance “ Fleischli joins the show to discuss environmental rollbacks in Canada and the United States. The National Resources Defense Council documented nearly 150 actions taken by the Bush administration in 2004 to undermine environmental protections. In Canada, the Harper government recently proposed Bill C-32. This bill threatens to drastically weaken Canada's strongest piece of environmental legislation.
• Lynda Lukasik, Environment Hamilton “ The Hamilton Port Authority is moving forward on a plan to fill-in Harris Inlet for a cargo container without any public consultation. Citizens in the area have raised concerns about threats to fish and wildlife habitat at Harris Inlet.