Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. has pleaded guilty to a charge related to the company's release of acidic water in west-central Alberta in October 2019. The Calgary-based company was charged in October 2021 with breaching environmental protection laws by the Alberta Energy Regulator. In an agreed statement of facts, Tidewater acknowledged the release occurred at the company's Ram River sour gas processing plant near Rocky Mountain House.
The federal government has indicated that it will soon introduce a bill to reform the country’s signature pollution prevention law, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson officially gave notice to the House of Commons of this plan on Thursday night. The bill that Wilkinson plans to introduce is not listed on the House’s agenda for Monday, suggesting that the earliest it could be introduced will be Tuesday. Its contents won’t be public until the bill is tabled in the House. The Liberals promised to “strengthen” CEPA during the last federal election campaign. The government doubled-down on that promise in its speech from the throne last fall, saying it would “modernize” the Act.
