Endangered Species? What Endangered Species?

News release from Peaceful Parks Coalition January 16 2012

Liberal MPP Michael Gravelle has either issued or proposed fifteen (15) exemptions to the ‘Endangered Species Act 2007’ since he was crowned Minister of Natural Resources in November 2011.

Within the last 60 days, including the holiday break, the McGuinty government has allowed companies such as FNX Mining, Tartan Land Consultants, Saturn Power, Canadian Solar Solutions to ‘kill, harm or destroy’ a species at risk and/or its habitat – many of which are on the brink of extinction.   

“This is no joke”, says AnnaMaria Valastro of Peaceful Parks Coalition.  “In October 2011, the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) listed four new species as endangered in Ontario and announced that the endangered Blanchard’s Cricket Frog is now extirpated from the province – completely gone because we failed to protect it and its habitat.”

“These species are being destroyed for projects that are either not necessary or could be redesigned to avoid habitat destruction,” says Valastro. 

Here is a sample:

FNX Mining Company is asking to destroy the habitat of the threatened Whip-poor-will (bird) for exploration activities.  FNX mines for copper, gold and platinum;

Tartan Land Consultants has asked for a permit to contravene the ‘Endangered Species Act 2007’  to build a subdivision in Stittsville, Ontario;

Saturn Power can’t build their solar electricity generating station in Cornwall without destroying the habitat of the Bobolink – a threatened bird.

This is also true for Canadian Solar Solutions.  They too have applied for a permit to destroy the habitat of the threatened Bobolink to build a 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic facility north of Brockville.

The McGuinty government has also extended an exemption to protect the threatened Eastern Meadowlark (a field bird) to the agricultural industry until October 2014.  

‘These species are being sacrificed because our government is empty on ideas on how to create a sustainable, safe and clean economy without destroying the environment’, says Valastro.  “We are essentially burning the furniture to keep warm.”

Note:

This research was conducted by reviewing listings on the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) Registry from November 14, 2011 to the present. 

 Link to the EBR Registry:  http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/

New COSSARO listings can be found on the EBR Registry – EBR # 011-5098

 Link to the Ontario’s ‘Endangered Species Act 2007’:

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_07e06_e..htm

 Link to SARO (Species at Risk Ontario) list:

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Species/2ColumnSubPage/276722.html