[All] Gren Update Jan. 15th

[water.lulu at yahoo.ca]

Hi folks
Lots happening. Here's the latest: 
Local/Provincial News
Amazing success reducing intersex fish in the GrandAt the discharge points of effluent in the Grand, up to 100% of the male Rainbow Darter fish had eggs in their testes in one of the highest incidents of endocrine disruption at the global level. Once new measures were implemented to reduce effluent and ammonia, the levels fell to just 29% in the first year. The region changed the aeration tank to reduce toxic ammonia in 2012. After 3 years the numbers dropped below upstream levels of less than 10%. The treatment plant upgrade is part of $320 million in work expected to be completed in late 2018  to 2019.  Thanks to Mark Servos, the Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection and his team from the University of Waterloo for making this possible. Thanks as well to our Municipal and Regional agencies who had the good sense to act on this. This gives great hope to communities at the International level experiencing similar issues.http://www.therecord.com/news-story/7061621-cleaner-water-means-fewer-intersex-fish-in-grand-river/

Alarming tax cuts for Wellington County Quarry Pits. Changes to how gravel pits are assessed for property taxes is removing millions from public funding. In Wellington County alone they saw a $6 million dollar loss. 
“The bottom line is that most County pits were valued between $40,000 to $50,000 an acre and now the same pits would be valued at less than $10,000 an acre,” said County Councillor Pierre Brianceau.
The total assessed value of Erin’s four active pits has been cut from $97.2 million to $68.1 million. That translates to a tax loss of $559,323, including $257,615 in County taxes, $103,516 in Town taxes and $198,190 in education taxes. 
Puslinch, with 14 pits, was hit the hardest with $2.4 million less in tax revenue.
The overall write-off for municipalities county-wide is $6 million, including $221,484 spent so far on legal and consultant fees to fight the change. The County itself is out $3 million.
“A one-acre residential lot and mid-sized home will now pay more tax than a 94 acre gravel pit,” said Town Councillor Jeff Duncan, referring to the presentation in the Jan. 9 County agenda, available at wellington.ca.  
http://www.southwesternontario.ca/news-story/7061731-wellington-takes-6-million-hit-on-gravel-taxes/
Arctic Energy Solutions from Waterloo Institute of Sustainable EnergyThe Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Energy partnered with the WWF and found that investments in a mix of renewable energy "can lead to immense carbon dioxide emissions reductions," as well as millions in operation and maintenance savings.for Arctic communities.  They examined Baker Lake, Sanikiluaq, Arviat, Rankin Inlet, and Iqaluit, calculating that the highest rate of potential greenhouse gas emissions reduction was 74 per cent in Baker Lake, with the highest potential cost savings being $29.7 million saved over 20 years in Iqaluit.Related news story; http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/wwf-renewable-energy-1.3920028The report "Fueling Change in the Arctic - Phase II" is online here: http://assets.wwf.ca/downloads/full_report___feasibility.pdf: 4
All Charges DroppedAamjiwnaang's Vanessa Gray. Stone Stewart and Sarah Scanion participated in an act that shut down Line 9. They were charged with endangered life with possible life sentences. The reason for the lock down is because they believe line is not safe and that it violates Treaty Rights. .They callled Enbridge before the lock down happened. For Enbridge to prove their claims were reasonable, they would have to prove endangerment of life and admit their pipe can't handle backflow. It was a Catch 22. Enbridge dropped all charges and a peace bond was set in place for 18 months to keep the three away from Enbridge property. . http://blackburnnews.com/sarnia/sarnia-news/2017/01/13/charges-enbridge-pipeline-protesters-dropped/
Federal News 
The passing of Arthur ManuelArthur Manuel was a spokesperson for the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade and Defenders of the Land network. As former chairperson of the Interior Alliance of BC First Nations, Manuel was a leading voice of opposition to the Canadian government's agenda to "extinguish" Aboriginal and Treaty rights and assimilate Indigenous peoples into the Canadian body politic. He understood that the economy views environment and Indigenous Rights as externalizations.  When the Canadian Government ignores Treaty Rights, these acts are serving as an illegal trade subsidy. He dedicated his life to working on solutions to restore Indigenous Sovereignty as a means to implement greater social equity with Canada and First Nation's people and to prioritize environmental protections. He wrote many books voicing concerns that Canada is still taking a colonial approach by setting terms without our input and working without regard for the UN Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) To foster a true partnership it is important to recognize self determination and ratify UNDRIP and start building the future based on our shared values to close the gaps of social inequities. It is do-able. 
Converting to LED streetlights saves money.Nice savings to be found with LED streetlights. Folks who like seeing the math will enjoy this article.  Here is one of the two given examples of the cost savings.    
   - 250 street lights in Black Diamond Alberta is expected to save around $1,278 annually.   

   -  A municipal multiplier will be applied to the Town's bills to pay for the conversion and, once recovered, the annual savings are expected to swell to around $5,750    

   - Implimentation saves 120,000 kilowatt hours per year – the equivalent of operating 15 homes.
http://www.westernwheel.com/article/LED-lights-to-save-money-for-communities-20170111#.WHb5abGEzIA.twitter(Lulu Note: I've been told When it comes to LED street lights, one must make sure that the colour temperature is right. Too blue, and it creates more light pollution. Make sure 2700 or lower. Blue must be minimized, shielded, low brightness.) 

Enbridge Line 3 has a new stream of oil but no buyers due to oil glut A company spokeswoman stated Enbridge is always looking for more space on its pipeline system and has talked before about needing more heavy crude capacity, but could not speak to specific products or lines as that was client information and commercially sensitive, https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/refiners-shun-new-canadian-crude-blend-offer-from-enbridge-line/article33561469/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+&service=mobile

The price of WCSRystad reports show the break even price for Alberta oil sands sits at $69 per barrel (April 2016 values) : http://www.rystadenergy.com/NewsEvents/PressReleases/global-liquids-cost-curve-an-updateThe Alberta Government Dashboard values for Tar Sands aka WCS per barrel from Jan-Nov, 2016 averages $$31.89. http://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/OilPrice 
International News 
Study re: Natural capital infrastructure for cleaner water A recent study released by the Nature Conservancy Canada shows 4 out of 5 of the 4000 largest cities in the world could improve water quality using nature based solutions. For a cost of just $2 per person per year the benefits include food and water security, biodiversity, improved health and well being, reduced emissions and greater climate resilience and much more. Related article by National Geographic http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/12/its-time-to-give-nature-the-credit-it-deserves/#.WHe7rn6xK9M.twitterThe study "A Natural Solution to Water Security" is online here: https://global.nature.org/content/beyond-the-source?src=r.global.beyondthesource
(Lulu Note: Big cities are the low hanging fruit because they have the concentrated numbers of people to keep the system affordable to implement but for areas with less populations over a larger territory of land, we could explore ideas like watershed wide tax formula.)
Using solar and wind instead would save New Yorkers $6.5 billion on their electricity bills over 12 yearsMark Jacobson is the director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University.co-authored  a report with Dr. Felix Cebulla of the German Aerospace Center, this alternative would save New Yorkers $6.5 billion on their electricity bills over the next 12 years. But we also found that it was $5.2 billion cheaper to replace the nuclear with both onshore wind and utility-scale solar.Related article: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20170110/OPINION/161229954The study http://www.stopthecuomotax.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/New_York_Energy_Analysis.pdf


Have a great week everybody! 
Lulu :0)


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