Spencer West completes gruelling journey to raise funds for clean water

Calgary Herald - May 16, 2013

After 11 gruelling days and 300 kilometres of unforgiving Alberta highway, a jubilant but exhausted Spencer West crossed the finish line on his hands Thursday amid the cheers of Calgary schoolchildren.

It marked the end of an inspiring journey for West, who has no legs. He was born with a spinal defect that required a double amputation at the age of five.

Fresh from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, West embarked on the punishing trek down Hwy 2 from Edmonton to Calgary using his hands and a wheelchair to raise awareness and money for clean water initiatives.

“I’m tired. My arms are killing me and I’m ready for a few days of sleep,” a smiling West told reporters minutes after arriving at Mountain Park School... Click here to read more. 

Alberta seeks to win over oil sands critics with new technologies

Financial Post - April 25, 2013

The term cyclic solvent process may not exactly roll of your tongue, but if successful the technology could dramatically cut the use of water on one of Canada’s largest oil sands sites.

Imperial Oil Ltd. is currently tinkering with a $100-million technology that could reduce expensive water usage at its 154,000-bpd Cold Lake, Alta. project.

By using solvents rather than steam to produce bitumen, the process eliminates the need for large amounts of energy and water and reduces direct greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90%, the company claims.

“CSP is a total game-changer,” said Eddie Lui, Imperial’s vice-president of oil sands development and research... Click here to read more. 

Compare and contrast: "Snowpack, Ice Cover Shrinking on Rocky Mountains"

Scientific Amerian - May 15, 2013

Around 20 percent of the snow cover in North America's greatest mountain range has been lost because of warmer springs in the last three decades.

Scientists from the American Geophysical Union and the U.S. Geological Survey report that they had established a pattern of snowfall in the northern and southern Rockies: when the snowpack was large in the northern Rockies, it might be correspondingly meager in the southern mountains and vice versa.

But since the 1980s, snowpack declines have occurred simultaneously along the entire length of the Rocky Mountains, with unusually severe declines in the north. Now research has begun to establish the cause. Researchers write in Geophysical Research Letters that, using monthly data collected from 1895 to 2011, they have teased apart different influences on the crucial April snowpack volume of winter temperatures, spring warming and overall precipitation... Continue reading.

(Lacombe) Will address water quality

Lacombe Globe - May 16, 2013

Lacombe County has given itself an environmental report card and the results are encouraging.

“Overall, we are not in dire straits,” said Blayne West, environmental coordinator. “We are in quite good health but we do have a couple of areas with room for improvement.”

In an effort to assess the environmental impact we have on our county, officials conducted their State of the Environment Report.

“The State of the Environment Report is a scientific and community perceptions kind of report,” said West. “Basically, we did some literature reviews on all the science that exists pertinent to Lacombe County, topics such as water, land cover, habitat and waste. We then compiled it into one report so we can have a snapshot of what we currently look like environmentally...” Continue reading.

Whopping water bill

Lacombe Globe - May 16, 2013

The ford between the City of Lacombe and Ms. Brookes Wallace seems to have turned into a gorge.

Since February, Wallace has been trying to appeal a $1,000 water bill she claims is unwarranted. The problem is, that after testing her water meter, city officials believe that the 364,000 litres did pass through Wallace’s meter and contacted her to settle the bill.

“They told me that was it,” said Wallace. “We are over. We’re done. There’s nothing else to discuss and to come in to make payment arrangements.”

While they were satisfied with the results of the testing, city officials will not be reinstalling the same water meter due to what they believe is an under calculation... Click here to read more.

Removing water fluoride spiked cavities in kids, dentists say

CBC - May 16, 2013

Some Calgary dentists say the decision two years ago to take fluoride out of the water supply is proving to be a big mistake. Dr. Sarah Hulland, the head of the Alberta Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, says she has seen a deterioration of young patients’ teeth over the last two years.

"We actually have seen an increase in the severity of cavities we do see, and we see an increase in the rate that the cavities actually go from a small spot to a large, painful cavity in the tooth,” she said.

The move to take fluoride out of Calgary's water is playing a key role, Hulland said.

"It’s an entirely preventable disease and yet 30 per cent of children five years and under the age of five have rampant decay in their mouths,” she said... Click here to read more.

Dry spring costly for southern Alberta farms, ranches

CBC Calgary - May 15, 2013

Dry, windy conditions are becoming costly for some southern Alberta cattle farmers. By this time of year seeds should be germinating and cattle should be out grazing.

Instead, Roy Newman, who grows canola and raises cattle in the Blackie area, southeast of Calgary, has had to dip into hay reserves.

"Right now we're still feeding our cattle like it's the middle of winter, because there's not enough grass to send them to pasture,” he said. “So, it's going into our hay reserves which we have for emergencies and it is dwindling fast." Newman said farmers in the area need rain soon so that seeds can germinate... Click here to read more. 

Major oil-sands producer is going green – as in algae

The Globe & Mail - May 10, 2013

One of Canada’s largest oil-sands producers is building an algae-based processor at its Primrose South project in order to recycle greenhouse-gas emissions to produce biofuels and other products such as fertilizer for land reclamation.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) is working with the National Research Council and Toronto-based Pond Biofuels Inc. on a $19-million pilot project aimed at proving the commercial viability of using industrial flue gases from its processing plant to feed algae in a “biorefinery” unit. Pond has already built two small demonstration models in Ontario at St. Mary’s Cement and a U.S. Steel Canada plant.

The federal government will contribute $9.5-million to the project, while CNRL will add $6.3-million and Pond will pony up $3.2-million...click here to read more.