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Beetle battle gets more federal money

The federal government delivered another instalment Friday on its $200-million commitment to fight the mountain pine beetle. Source.

$2 billion to open mine

NovaGold Resources Inc. is teaming up with Teck Cominco Ltd. to develop the $2-billion Galore Creek project in the northwest, one of the largest single mining investments made in B.C.  Source.

Forest sector overhaul

Environment, economy behind shift to logging second-growth timber, minister says.  Victoria intends to remake the coastal forest industry with a new set of policies aimed at shifting harvesting away from old-growth forests to second-growth, Forests Minister Rich Coleman said Wednesday.  Full article here.

Hot Trends for 2007

What will be the hot gardening trends in 2007? And what will be some of the exciting new plant introductions and key gardening events in the New Year?  The key factor shaping the direction of gardening more and more today is the reality that people have less and less time to do it.  Busy work schedules, hectic social lives plus multiple distractions and competing interests have drawn many people away from spending time in the gardens actually doing the work.  Source.

Oil & Gas Industry

Forty-one people have died and more than 1,400 have been injured in B.C.'s oil and gas exploration industry over the past six years.  That has prompted the industry to increase safety training. Enform, an industry association responsible for training and certification, is adding health and safety initiatives to its mandate, WorkSafeBC will announce in Fort St. John today.  Source.

Federal Budget: R&D, Science, Technology

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will make a serious nod to Canada's researchers, innovators and graduate students in Monday's federal budget, followed up soon afterward with a major government policy paper on science and technology. The plan now is for the policy framework to come out possibly within days of the budget, insiders say. It will dovetail with an upcoming policy paper on the environment, which will have a heavy emphasis on research and technology.  It will also mesh with increased transfer payments to the provinces for post-secondary education included in the budget. Full article here.

BC - bioenergy creation

The British Columbia government set its sights Friday on a massive new source of secure power, announcing it wants to use wood fibre to generate enough electricity to light 400,000 homes.  Forests Minister Rich Coleman said he has been considering the idea on a grand scale for almost two years, and believes B.C has the forest resources to make so-called 'bioenergy' a key contributor to the province's long-term independence from electricity imports.  Full article here.

Eco-freight plan

Trucking and port industry representatives applauded on Thursday a $61 million 'eco-freight' plan by the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the freight transportation industry.  BC Trucking Association president-CEO Paul Landry said the package of roadway initiatives outlined in Thursday's announcement by International Trade Minister David Emerson could, by themselves, reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's trucking fleet by 10.4 million tonnes. That's roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of B.C.'s entire trucking fleet, Landry noted.  Full story here.

Canada announces $150 million in funding for International Polar Year

Environment Minister John Baird says he finds it "so troubling" to see the impacts of global warming in Northern Canada, and he's promising additional measures to deal with the climate problem. Speaking at a news conference to announce $150 million in funding for research in the Arctic as part of International Polar Year, Baird says many people don't realize that the effects of climate change are much more pronounced in the Arctic than in southern Canada. Full article here.

Climate Refugees

Global climate change could pose serious challenges for police in B.C. -- from public disorder during natural disasters to climate refugees fleeing flooded countries, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.  The report, External Trends Influencing Policing in B.C., was prepared in September 2005 for senior B.C. Mounties attending an annual planning meeting, and covers several topics.  It was obtained by The Sun through the Access to Information Act.  The report's section on climate change states that "effects on B.C. weather patterns are already occurring. Wetter winters and dryer summers in B.C. have increased the risk for flooding and forest fires."  Source.