Environment committee  I wrote about this 25 years ago. I've been following it. Tidal barrages across rivers, like the Annapolis one, have clearly killed fish. They kind of slice and dice them. In-stream holds a lot more potential. It's tough though, because it's really hard to study and monitor. Picki

Environment committee  Yes. No project should get a free pass, but tidal is getting more scrutiny and more attention than any other energy development has ever had, because on the technical side, we have to figure out lots of things but also because there is concern from fishers about the impacts. We a

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  They're working hard on tidal. There are some challenges, but I'm hopeful. I think it's an incredible resource. We also have a major offshore wind opportunity in the form of Beothuk Energy. They have the European capital to move ahead, but I understand there have been some obst

Environment committee  That's an interesting question. I wondered if somebody was going to bring it up. I would say yes. Siting is obviously important whatever you're talking about, but we recognize too that renewable energy is addressing a serious problem we have, which is climate change. We've just

Environment committee  I don't know if it's getting a free pass. I think we're hearing more about it and about having too many in the wrong place. I'm a birder too. I know that habitat loss is the top impact on birds and that actually the top two causes of direct mortality for birds are cats and window

Environment committee  Lisa might be better equipped to answer this question because she has studied this longer and deeper than I have. I would mention, just to reiterate an earlier point, that I found the public consultation that the EA panel organized to be very respectful, very thoughtful, and qu

Environment committee  I'm not an EA expert. Our attention in Nova Scotia has more focus on what this means for other industries out there, such as the fishing industry or the tourism industry, or even some of the new industries that are coming along, like tidal and offshore wind. We recently, I think

Environment committee  Thank you. Chair and members of Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to present today. I'm the policy director at the Ecology Action Centre. Prior to working at EAC, which is some time ago, I worked in the fishing industry and as a marine consultant. EAC is a member of t

Environment committee  We were going to start with Lisa.

Environment committee  The short answer to your question is yes. I mentioned that I found CEAA, compared with CEPA, to allow for much more public participation. My problem with CEAA is that the EIS is developed by consultants hired by the proponents. I'm trying to figure out a way during the CEAA rev

Environment committee  As I mentioned, we hadn't done a lot of work on GM organisms before this particular situation arose in our backyard. I would say we have concerns, but we're not de facto or a priori opposed to all GM organisms. It depends on the use and the containment. Again, I do think, and eve

Environment committee  Yes, but it's healthy scepticism. Environmentalists are healthy sceptics. We've learned to be healthy sceptics. Often I think the human race is a little too arrogant when it develops new technologies. We introduce them first and then try to patch up the damage later. What we're t

Environment committee  That's easy. Yes. The impacts are irreversible.

Environment committee  Yes, definitely, and I think particularly here, where there was this bait and switch, this may have been the only opportunity to assess the impact. The waiver was given for something very narrow, a research facility, but that would have been the only opportunity to assess invasiv