Canada's single-use plastics ban unconstitutional

A Federal court has ruled the Trudeau government's ban on single-use plastics to be both unreasonable and unconstitutional. The government is appealing the decision. 

Judge's ruling on plastics ban exposes some toxic Liberal thinking | National Post | Colby Cosh: 

November 18, 2023 - "On Thursday a Federal Court judge, the Hon. Angela Furlanetto, startled the Dominion by essentially sweeping aside the Liberal government’s ban on a short list of single-use plastic items, including grocery bags, cutlery, takeout containers and drinking straws.... Justice Furlanetto, asked for judicial review by Alberta and Saskatchewan and a coalition of petrochemical processors, concluded that the actual rule was 'both unreasonable and unconstitutional.' Her judgment is a thorny 200-paragraph monster, but the innermost logic of it is simple. 

"The federal Environmental Protection Act allows Ottawa to ban or restrict 'toxic' substances that might enter the environment. In 2021 the Liberals made a cabinet order essentially saying 'These here single-use plastic items are hereunto declared to be toxic'. Abracadabra!'” No one can show that these items are actually poisonous in the ordinary sense, and the listed items weren’t condemned as substances, i.e., for their chemical content or composition. The reasoning of the government was that if an Arctic lynx might choke on the ring from a six-pack of Labatt Blue, that kinda sorta makes the plastic in the ring 'toxic,' and justifies the federal government in the use of its criminal-law power.

"I don’t know if anyone at the cabinet table anticipated how this argument would fare under a 'reasonableness' analysis with lawyers for two provinces, plus Dow Chemical and Imperial Oil, among others, on the opposite side. But the government almost certainly faced a piece of extra bad luck in having the case go before Justice Furlanetto, a jurist with hard-science credentials that include a master’s degree in biochemistry....

In her judgment she observes that the explicitly stated rationale for the plastics ban was that 'all plastic manufactured items have the potential to become plastic pollution.' Justice Furlanetto found this reasoning to be puzzling.... 'The basic principle of toxicity for chemicals is that all chemical substances have the potential to be toxic,' she writes. 'However, for a chemical substance to be toxic it must be administered to an organism or enter the environment at a rate (or dose) that causes a high enough concentration to trigger a harmful effect. In this instance, the reverse logic appears to be applied: all PMI are identified as toxic because they are made of plastic and because all plastic is deemed to have the potential to become plastic pollution.'

"The judge goes on to accept arguments from the provinces that the order implementing the ban was overbroad, potentially capturing some categories of plastic items for which there is no evidence, or none with any scientific standing, of significant environmental harm. Past caselaw is clear that the federal power to make criminal law must be very closely connected to actual, demonstrable harm: the federal government isn’t supposed to invoke criminal-law power to sneakily engage in economic regulation. Unfortunately for the Liberals, their own documents discussing the ban contain some gasbag talk about creating a 'circular plastics economy,' even though all provinces have plastics regulations of their own (and less than one per cent of Canadian plastics escape the 'managed waste stream' that ends in the landfill).

"Furlanetto concludes: 'The broad and all-encompassing nature of the (banned) category of (plastic manufactured items) poses a threat to the balance of federalism, as it does not restrict regulation to only those PMI that truly have the potential to cause harm to the environment.' 

"So if the Liberals choose to appeal her ruling, they have two (admittedly connected) hurdles to clear. They have to show that their defining of some non-poisonous forms of manufactured plastic as 'toxic' was reasonable.... And they have to show that the whole thing wasn’t a mere abuse of criminal-law power to obtrude into provincial economic jurisdiction. It’s impossible to trust the Supreme Court to uphold Furlanetto wholesale, but she has certainly shed light on the sheer logical shadiness of the plastics ban."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/judges-ruling-on-plastics-ban-exposes-some-toxic-liberal-thinking

Feds will appeal single-use plastics ban ruling as pollution impacts are "undebatable": Guilbeault | Global News | November 21, 2023: 

Canadian plastics ban not good for environment

The Trudeau government's ban on single-use plastics is an expensive measure that will actually create more garbage and impose higher costs on Canadians.

Ottawa’s plastics ban is bad for the environment | Fraser Forum | Elmira Aliakbari & Julio Mejía:

 (Appeared in the National Post, March 23, 2023) - "The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments recently appeared before the Federal Court of Canada to essentially challenge the Trudeau government’s ban on six types of single-use plastics, which went into effect late last year. Citing an ocean pollution crisis, the Trudeau government also plans to gradually ban the manufacturing, importation and sale of checkout bags, cutlery, food service ware, stir sticks and straws by 2025, purportedly to improve the environment and deliver economic benefits to Canadians. But in reality, the plastic ban is an expensive measure that will actually create more garbage and impose higher costs on Canadians....

"Canada contributes an estimated 0.02 per cent of all plastic in the world’s oceans. Meanwhile, nearly 90 per cent of ocean plastic comes from Asia and Africa, with five countries—Philippines, India, Malaysia, China and Indonesia—accounting for the majority the world’s ocean plastic pollution. Therefore, eliminating Canada’s plastic waste will have an undetectable impact on global ocean plastic pollution.

"More importantly, despite claims from Ottawa, Canada doesn’t have a plastic waste crisis. According to the federal government’s own report, 99 per cent of the country’s plastic waste is already disposed of safely through recycling, incinerating and environmentally-friendly landfills. If you’re concerned about the remaining 1 per cent, it’s worth noting that according to the government’s own sources, none of the six types of now-banned single-use plastics are among the top five items found on shorelines....

"In fact, as acknowledged by the federal government’s own analysis, banning single-use plastics will actually increase waste generation rather than reduce it. According to the analysis, while the ban will remove 1.5 million tonnes of plastics from 2023 to 2032, it will almost double that tonnage in substitutes such as paper, wood and aluminum over the same period. In other words, the ban will increase, not decrease, the amount of net garbage in Canada.

"To make matters worse, according to the government’s Strategic Environmental Assessment, plastic substitutes “typically have higher climate change impacts” including higher greenhouse gases (GHG) and lower air quality. Indeed, according to multiple studies, single-use plastic substitutes such as paper require more energy to transport, feature higher smog formation and ozone depletion potential, demand more water and energy to be produced, and result in higher GHG emissions. Simply put, the plastic ban harms, not helps, the environment....

"According to the federal government’s own estimates, the plastic ban will save $616 million in avoided clean-up expenses over the next 10 years but will cost around $2 billion over the same period, due to the management of additional waste discussed above, ban enforcement and the forgone profit opportunity for manufacturers. The cost of the ban surpasses the benefit by a 3-to-1 ratio.  

"Overall, the plastic ban is a costly measure that turns a small environmental problem into a bigger one. If the Trudeau government wants to do something about the small percentage of plastic that escapes into the environment, it should improve coordination with municipal waste-handling systems rather than impose and enforce a costly nationwide ban, which literally hurts more than it helps."

Read more: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/ottawas-plastics-ban-is-bad-for-the-environment

Is Canada's single-use plastic ban truly environmentally friendly? | Global News | December 21, 2022:

Trudeau gov't plastics ban will mean more waste

The last straw -- Canada's single use plastics ban means more garbage | Toronto Sun - Lorrie Goldstein: 

Dec 10, 2022  - "The Trudeau government’s plan to eliminate plastic waste in Canada by 2030 [ZPW2030] is underway in earnest with the gradual elimination of single use plastics. As of Dec. 20, the manufacture and import for sale in Canada of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, takeout containers, stir sticks and most plastic straws (with some exemptions for flexible ones) will be prohibited. The sale of these items in Canada will end a year later. For six-pack ring carriers, the respective deadlines are six months later. By December 2025, all designated single use plastics will be prohibited, including manufacturing, importing and sales for export.

"The most visible change at first will be grocery stores ending the use of plastic bags — already underway in some chains and poised to happen in 2023 for others. Many fast-food outlets have already eliminated or are phasing out plastic straws, cutlery and stir sticks.... (Single use plastic water bottles are not included in the current prohibitions.)

"Meanwhile, the government’s own impact analysis says that while banning single use plastics will remove 1.5 million tonnes of plastics from the waste stream from 2023 to 2032, it will add almost double that amount of waste — 2.9 million tonnes — from the use of substitutes for plastic such as paper, wood, moulded fibre, aluminum and alternative plastics.

"Because the production costs of these alternatives are typically more expensive than plastic, the government estimates the increased costs to consumers at $2 billion from 2023 to 2032, or $50 per capita. Even with estimated savings of $616 million from eliminating single use plastics, the net cost is estimated at $1.4 billion. While the impact analysis says here will be a net environmental benefit from eliminating single use plastics, including the reduction of 1.8 million megatonnes of greenhouse gases annually, it also says some substitutes will have a higher climate change impact, as well as negative effects on air and water quality....

The six categories of single use plastics subject to the ban account for an estimated 160,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, just 5% of the overall amount of 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste. Of that, 86% ends up in landfills, 4% is burned, a dismal 9% is recycled — so much for all those years of faithful blue box recycling — and about 1%, or 29,000 tonnes, is discharged into the environment as litter, with 2,500 tonnes ending up in oceans, lakes and rivers....

"Canada is not a major contributor to the global problem of plastics pollution in the world’s oceans, rivers and other waterways. Canada’s contribution to global aquatic plastic pollution, when assessed in 2016, was between 0.02% and 0.03% of the global total. If observed market trends were to continue in the absence of ZPW2030 (zero plastic waste by 2030) the government’s regulatory impact assessment estimates plastic waste and plastic pollution could increase (from 2016 levels) by roughly one third by 2030. Thus, if ZPW2030 eliminated all the predicted increase, it would prevent an increase from 0.02%-0.03% to 0.023%-0.033% of the global total, an undetectable reduction of three-thousandths of one percent....

"Canada’s plastic manufacturers are challenging the Trudeau government’s ban on single use plastics in court, as well as its legal definition of plastics as “toxic,” plus warning the policy will lead to job losses. The government says more jobs will be created. As for replacing single use plastics in practical terms, the government has helpfully suggested, among other things, that the food industry provide customers with more options people can eat with their hands."

Read more: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/goldstein-the-last-straw-canadas-single-use-plastics-ban-means-more-garbage

New Delhi government looks at smog lockdown

Schools close as smog-laden India capital considers lockdown | CTV News - Sheikh Saaliq & Shonal Ganguly, AP:

November 17, 2021 - ""Authorities closed schools indefinitely and shut down some coal-burning power plants Wednesday to reduce air pollution in India's smog-shrouded capital and neighbouring states, as the country weighs an unprecedented and more far-reaching step: a lockdown in New Delhi.... 

"The New Delhi state government said it is open to the idea of a weekend lockdown to reduce automobile traffic and potentially other air-polluting activity in the city, and it is awaiting the go-ahead from India's Supreme Court. A decision could come as early as Nov. 24. It's not clear how extensive the lockdown would be. Authorities are discussing whether to allow industries to continue operating. 

"Some experts said a lockdown would achieve very little in controlling pollution and would instead cause disruptions in the economy and harm the livelihoods of millions of people. 'This is not the solution that we are looking for, because this is hugely disruptive. And we also have to keep in mind that the economy is already under pressure, poor people are at risk,' said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the Center for Science and Environment, a research and advocacy organization in New Delhi....

"Besides closing schools and shutting down some power plants, the Commission for Air Quality Management ordered a stop to construction until Nov. 21 and banned trucks carrying non-essential goods. The panel also directed the affected states to encourage work from home for half of the employees in all private offices.

"Levels of dangerous particles in New Delhi's air Wednesday were as high as seven times the safe level, climbing above 300 micrograms per cubic meter in some parts of the city. The World Health Organization designates the safe level as 25. Forecasters warned air quality will worsen before the arrival of cold winds next week that will blow away the smog.

"Earlier this month, air pollution reached the 'severe' level in the capital, and residents faced bouts of heavy, multiday pollution. That prompted the Supreme Court last week to order state and federal governments to take 'imminent and emergency' action. New Delhi authorities responded by proposing a lockdown and closing schools for a week....

"Experts say such emergency measures are not helpful in the long run. 'These are done only to ensure that you don't worsen the situation, that you shave off the peak. But it is not a silver bullet that is going to just clean the air immediately,' Roychowdhury said."

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/schools-close-as-smog-laden-india-capital-considers-lockdown-1.5669436

MIT grads build reactor that uses nuclear waste

Can Reusing Spent Nuclear Fuel Solve Our Energy Problems? - Gary Strauss, National Geographic:

September 19, 2016 - "Nuclear ... engineer Leslie Dewan believes that a safe, environmentally friendly, next-generation nuclear reactor isn’t just feasible — it's commercially viable.

"As cofounder and CEO of Boston-based startup Transatomic Power, Dewan and fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad Mark Massie are working on commercial-scale development of a molten salt reactor first prototyped in the 1960s at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"'“We’ve changed the design to make it more compact, power dense, and able to run on spent nuclear fuel,' says the 31-year-old Dewan, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer....

"Unlike most traditional nuclear reactors that use water as a coolant and are fueled by solid uranium pellets, molten salt reactors [are] fueled by uranium dissolved in liquid salt, consuming fuel more slowly and efficiently.

 "Transatomic's reactor is also designed to automatically shut down during a power outage, with fuel draining into an escape tank and freezing solid, avoiding the kind of meltdown that has made more traditional nuclear power plant development abhorrent to power companies, alternative-energy proponets, environmentalists, and policymakers, many of whom remain alarmed by the prospect of more nuclear power.

 "Transatomic ... offers a solution to the problem of where to store spent nuclear fuel, which has long vexed scientists. Typical nuclear reactors consume only a fraction of the energy in their uranium fuel, which has lead to vast amounts of spent radioactive fuel rods.

"Transatomic's molten salt reactors would use that spent waste.

"''The world’s stockpile of nuclear waste is about 300,000 metric tons, about a football field’s worth that’s two meters deep,' Dewan says. 'There’s a tremendous amount of energy that’s left. With that waste, a waste-consuming molten salt reactor could produce enough electrical energy to power the world for decades.'"

Read more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/leslie-dewan-explorer-moments-nuclear-energy/
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3M gallons of toxic waste released into river by Environmental Protection Agency

EPA chief: Colorado mine spill 'pains me' | KSL.com - Michael Biesecker, Associated Press:

August 11, 2015 - "The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday her department takes full responsibility for spilling 3 million gallons of mining waste that turned a southwest Colorado river an unnatural shade of orange, adding it 'pains me to no end.'

"Gina McCarthy made the comments as her agency comes under increased scrutiny after federal and contract workers accidentally unleashed the spill last week while inspecting the abandoned Gold King mine near Silverton, Colorado.

"The contaminated water that flowed into a tributary of the Animas and San Juan rivers contained high levels of arsenic, lead and other potentially toxic heavy metals. McCarthy expressed regret that the spill occurred and said her agency has 'added responsibility here'....

"The accident comes at a sensitive time for the EPA, a frequent and favorite target of conservatives and pro-business groups. McCarthy spoke Tuesday as part of an event on the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, which mandates steep greenhouse gas emission cuts from U.S. power plants.

"State and local officials in the areas affected by the spill have characterized EPA's initial response as too slow and too small. It took about 24 hours to first notify some downstream communities of the accident and the agency originally underestimated the volume of the spill.

"The plume of pollution has since flowed at least 100 miles downstream to New Mexico, where towns and cities have been forced to close their intake valves to protect public water supplies."

Read more: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=151&sid=35918688&title=epa-chief-colorado-mine-spill-pains-me
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Stopping the environment's worst enemy

The Pollution Solution: Stopping the environment's worst enemy - Mary Ruwart, Libertarian Party :

"Who's the greatest polluter of all? The oil companies? The chemical companies? The nuclear power plants? If you guessed 'none of the above,' you'd be correct. Our government, at the federal, state, and local levels, is the single greatest polluter in the land. In addition, our government doesn't even clean up its own garbage! In 1988, for example, the EPA demanded that the Departments of Energy and Defense clean up 17 of their weapons plants which were leaking radioactive and toxic chemicals -- enough contamination to cost $100 billion in clean-up costs over 50 years! The EPA was simply ignored. No bureaucrats went to jail or were sued for damages. Government departments have sovereign immunity.

"In 1984, a Utah court ruled that the U.S. military was negligent in its nuclear testing, causing serious health problems (e.g. death) for the people exposed to radioactive fallout. The Court of Appeals dismissed the claims of the victims, because government employees have sovereign immunity....

"By turning to government for environmental protection, we've placed the fox in charge of the hen house -- and a very large hen house it is! Governments, both federal and local, control over 40% of our country's land mass. Unfortunately, government's stewardship over our land is gradually destroying it."

Read more: https://www.lp.org/issues/environment
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