On the Ground: Environmental Intelligence

Andrew Nuttall
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On the Ground is a weekly Canadian environmental intelligence podcast delivering in-depth, non-partisan coverage of the country's most pressing environmental issues. It is independently produced, verified-source-driven, and free from ideological spin, making it a trusted resource for Canadians who want honest, nuanced environmental journalism. Complete bibliographies provided.

  1. Oct 16

    016 - Canada's Disconnected Lithium Supply Chain

    If nearly every link in the battery supply chain already exists somewhere in Canada, why does our lithium keep leaving the country? Canada has mines and wells with huge, known, quanitities of lithium. We have the technology and the skills to pull it out out of the ground. We know how to refine it, build battery cells, store power on the grid, and even shred old batteries for recycling. Yet every link in our supply chain seems to end at a loading dock, bound for somewhere else. If you look at where lithium means business across the country, you'll find vanishing factories, a refinery tucked among plumbing suppliers, and a battery giant on the shore of Lake Ontario. Some of it works. Some of it cost taxpayers dearly. But most of it could be running, if the supply chain was integrated. In this episode, we trace Canadian lithium from brine to battery, link by link, to find out where the chain breaks. And we discuss the pattern first observed by a respected economic historian who described it long before anyone had heard of a lithium battery. Bibliography Peer-Reviewed Studies Blake et al., Applied Geochemistry 208 (2026). Investigating reservoir-scale heterogeneity in Li-enriched oil field brines of the Devonian Leduc and Nisku formations. Keiner et al., Journal of Energy Storage 146 (2026). Sodium-ion battery cost projections and their impact on the global energy system transition until 2050. Wesselkaemper et al., Nature Communications 17, 253 (2026). Primary material supply configurations and domestic recycling for cost-effective battery material production in the US. Government and Regulatory Canada Gazette, Part I. Regulations Repealing the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, with Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement. August 15, 2026. Natural Resources Canada. Government of Canada supports Mangrove Lithium's next step in building a made-in-Canada battery supply chain. April 2026. Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. Registry, project 90628: Napanee Generating Station Expansion. Response of July 15, 2026. Alberta Geological Survey. Information Series 159. March 2026. Full report: PDF. Government of Alberta. Alberta Major Projects: E3 Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Demonstration Plant. U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. Commerce finalizes rule to secure connected vehicle supply chains from foreign adversary threats. January 2025. Geological and Technical References Saskatchewan Geological Survey (Jensen), GeoConvention 2018. Results from a brine sampling project. GeoConvention 2024. In-situ water-rock interactions as the source of lithium in brines (abstract). Geological Survey of Canada. Past Lives: Chronicles of Canadian Paleontology (Leduc reefs, archived). U.S. Geological Survey. Bulletin 1027-G: lithium pegmatites and spodumene. Laurentian University, Mineral Exploration Research Centre. Spodumene. Goldschmidt Conference 2025. Spodumene processing (abstract). Research and Market Analysis International Energy Agency. Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026. BloombergNEF. China drops to second in BloombergNEF's global lithium-ion battery supply chain ranking as Canada comes out on top. 2024. BloombergNEF. China regains number one spot in BloombergNEF's global lithium-ion battery supply chain ranking. 2025. ATB Financial. The Twenty-Four: Chris Doornbos, E3 Lithium. January 15, 2026. Company Releases and Filings Prairie Lithium (ASX). Binding offtake agreement with Hydro Lithium. April 2, 2026. EMP Metals. EMP Metals receives permits for Project Aurora demonstration plant construction and operation. September 15, 2025. EMP Metals. EMP Metals completes construction of Project Aurora demonstration plant and advances commissioning. August 5, 2026. E3 Lithium. E3 Lithium delivers battery-grade lithium carbonate from its demonstration program to global partners and off-takers. E3 Lithium. E3 Lithium releases Q2 2026 results and advances key strategic milestones. August 21, 2026. E3 Lithium. E3 Lithium provides status update on Clearwater project. September 29, 2026. Elevra Lithium, SEC Form 6-K. Memorandum of understanding with Mangrove Lithium. Elevra Lithium, SEC Form 6-K. Spodumene concentrate agreement with LG Energy Solution. October 2026. LG Energy Solution. LG Energy Solution secures multi-year supply of Canadian spodumene concentrate from Elevra. NextStar Energy. NextStar Energy expands into energy storage: Windsor battery production begins this month. November 3, 2025. Rio Tinto. Update on the Nemaska Lithium Bécancour project. 2026. Rio Tinto, SEC filing. Results release (Nemaska Lithium ownership). Umicore. Umicore shares details on cost saving measures and pauses construction of its battery materials plant in Canada. July 2024. Atura Power. Napanee BESS Phase 2. Atura Power. Napanee BESS Phase 2 public meeting display boards. July 2025. Atura Power. Napanee Generating Station Expansion. Ameresco. Ameresco and Atura Power JV selected to build 250MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system. Local and Regional News DiscoverEstevan. Lithium refining demonstration plant to be set up in southeast. September 17, 2025. The Albertan. Demo lithium facility in Mountain View County enters commissioning phase. September 9, 2025. Medicine Hat News. Premier Danielle Smith on the EV mandate repeal. August 20, 2026. Delta Optimist. Canada announcement in Delta aimed at reducing lithium reliance on China. January 15, 2026. The Canadian Press via the Delta Optimist. In a B.C. industrial zone, a new link forged in Canada's crucial lithium supply chain. April 16, 2026. Delta Optimist. Mangrove Lithium driving innovation in Delta. April 20, 2026. Kingstonist. Province celebrates massive Napanee battery project, avoids clear answers on emergency responsibility. May 19, 2026. Napanee Beaver. Letter on fire and drinking water concerns. Northern Ontario Business. Frontier Lithium study to determine feasibility of Thunder Bay refinery. CTV Montreal. Quebec government says it has recovered $200 million from Northvolt loan. CTV Vancouver. Taiwan firm halts plan for $1B battery plant in B.C. that had federal support. December 2024. National News Global News. Quebec government recovered $200 million from Northvolt loan. The Globe and Mail. Li-Cycle and the lithium-ion battery recycling industry. The Canadian Press via CTV News. Poilievre pledges to scrap electric vehicle sales mandates if elected. 2025. The Canadian Press via CJME. Public Safety Canada memo on connected vehicles and the Chinese EV agreement. The Canadian Press via CP24. Windsor, Ont.'s NextStar Energy battery plant grand opening. March 5, 2026. The Canadian Press via CP24. Volkswagen delays production at Ontario electric vehicle battery plant until 2029. September 24, 2026. The Canadian Press via CHCH. Honda indefinitely suspends Canadian EV plant plan. May 14, 2026. KATV. President threatens 50 percent tariffs on all Canadian cars, auto parts and steel. August 2026. Trade and Industry Press Mining Weekly. Prairie Lithium signs South Korean offtake deal for crystallite product. December 11, 2025. Mining Weekly. Prairie Lithium garners C$6.3m federal Canadian funding to reach initial production. September 29, 2026. Mining Weekly. Clearwater lithium project, Canada: update. June 12, 2026. Mining Weekly. Clearwater lithium project, Canada: update. June 19, 2026. The Fly via TipRanks. Stardust Power secures North American lithium supply with Prairie Lithium. EnergyNow. New assessment confirms Alberta's enormous lithium resources. March 2026. MINING.COM. Mangrove opens B.C. refinery to close lithium gap. Mining Technology. Frontier Lithium. Electric Autonomy Canada. E-One Moli factory expansion. December 9, 2024. electrive. LG Energy Solution acquires Stellantis' stake in NextStar Energy. February 6, 2026. SustainableBiz Canada. Glencore considers acquiring Li-Cycle. Waste Dive. Glencore completes takeover of Li-Cycle battery recycling assets. Canadian Auto Dealer. Industry reaction to the EV mandate repeal. Political Parties and Elected Officials Melissa Lantsman. When exactly? Green Party of Canada. Statement on the EV mandate pause. Elizabeth May. Release urging federal action to lower EV costs and meet climate targets. July 2025. Senator Elissa Slotkin. Slotkin, Stevens to introduce legislation to ban Chinese connected vehicles from driving over the border unchecked. May 27, 2026. Representative Haley Stevens. Stevens, Slotkin introduce legislation to ban Chinese connected vehicles. Advocacy Organizations Pembina Institute. Statement on the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard repeal. David Suzuki Foundation. Electric vehicle availability standard repeal marks major step back for Canada. Polling Abacus Data. How Canada-U.S. tensions are redefining the modern Canadian shopper. September 2026. Reference The Canadian Encyclopedia. Staple Thesis. Not available online Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Environmental Compliance Approval A-500-1716089792, Napanee Generating Station. December 22, 2025. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections proprietary/original. Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    016 - Canada's Disconnected Lithium Supply Chain

  2. Oct 8

    015 - The Road Who Wouldn't Be

    What happens to a road made of ice when the winter turns warm and the customers who pay for it start to disappear? Every winter for more than four decades, crews have built the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road from scratch, roughly 400 kilometres north from Tibbitt Lake, east of Yellowknife, about 85 per cent of it across frozen lakes. In eight to ten weeks, the trucks carry a year's worth of diesel, explosives, tires, food and heavy equipment to the Northwest Territories' diamond mines. Building it costs 20 million dollars or more a season, and the mines have paid because flying the same freight costs more. This fall, the equatorial Pacific is warming fast. Forecasters give better than 90 per cent odds of a very strong El Niño, and federal scientists expect a Canadian winter about two degrees warmer than normal, with the peak in December, the month the road's builders need cold the most. Canada had a rehearsal in the winter of 2023 to 2024. The ice road opened two weeks late, Banff broke a temperature record set in 1931, and the Okanagan went into spring without the snowpack it needed. Across northern Ontario, winter road seasons have shrunk from an average of 77 days to as few as 28 in some places. In Ottawa, MPs debated diesel tax relief scheduled to end just as the trucks would roll north. Scientists have modelled a slow decline for the ice road, with 2°C of global warming looking like the tipping point and no viable seasons by 2080. Markets moved faster. Diavik closed in March, Ekati went into receivership, and Gahcho Kué plans to stop after 2028. On September 16, the joint venture that runs the road announced it would not build one for 2027. In this episode, we follow the ice road from Tibbit Lake, near Yellowknife, through a warm winter's forecast, a trucking company and an airline that depend on it, a Winnipeg firm proposing cargo airships to replace it, and a joint venture that calls its decision a pause, not an ending. Bibliography Local and regional outlets Cabin Radio. Winter road to diamond mines to open end of January. Cabin Radio. Climate change 'threatens viability' of winter road to mines. 2021. Cabin Radio. Air Tindi flight was working on winter road, says TSB. December 2023. Cabin Radio. NWT mines winter road on track to open February 4. January 2025. Cabin Radio. Inside Ekati's insolvency: Here's the full scale of the problem. 2026. Cabin Radio. NWT's diamond mine winter road moves into new, uncertain era. May 15, 2026. Castanet. RDNO pushing for provincial support as Greater Vernon water supply challenges continue. July 2026. CKPG Today, via The Canadian Press. Joint venture of arctic mining companies assisting plane crash victims. December 2023. Manitoba Co-operator. Should we bring back blimps to haul cargo north?. January 16, 2025. Rocky Mountain Outlook. 'Super' El Niño in store for Bow Valley and what that means for ski bums awaiting winter runs. August 21, 2026. Rocky Mountain Outlook. Banff breaks two temperature records. January 2024. Vernon Matters. Above normal temperatures, limited precipitation recorded locally so far this winter. December 28, 2023. Western Producer. VIDEO: Super El Niño in full swing weather and crops analyst says. July 2026. yourkenora.ca. Nishnawbe Aski Nation welcomes additional funding for winter roads. Trade and industry press Mining.com, via Reuters. Canada's mild winter disrupts key ice road to remote Arctic diamond mines. April 2, 2024. Rapaport. Ekati Deposit to Close as Buyers Fail to Step Up. 2026. Government and regulatory sources Environment Canada, Pacific and Yukon Region. Effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on British Columbia and Yukon winter weather. Bill Taylor. Report 98-02. March 1998. PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., Receiver. Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Ltd., and Burgundy Diamonds (Canada) Limited: Status of File. September 15, 2026. Peer-reviewed research Mullan, D. J., I. D. Barr, R. P. Flood, J. M. Galloway, A. M. W. Newton, and G. T. Swindles. Examining the Viability of the World's Busiest Winter Road to Climate Change Using a Process-Based Lake Model. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 102, no. 7 (2021): E1464 to E1480. Shabbar, Amir, Barrie Bonsal, and Madhav Khandekar. Canadian Precipitation Patterns Associated with the Southern Oscillation. Journal of Climate 10 (1997): 3016 to 3027. Song, Jerry, Sarah Sparrow, and David Wallom. The impact of climate change on a large industrial winter road operation in Northern Canada. Cold Regions Science and Technology 248 (2026): 104952. Polling Leger, via The Canadian Press. More Canadians now report being affected by extreme weather, poll suggests. June 17, 2026. Additional figures via CJME. Prediction markets Kalshi. Will 2026 be the hottest year on record?. Prices observed via the SimpleFunctions aggregator on June 8 and October 7, 2026. Federal party materials House of Commons, Hansard #141. Debate on Bill C-38, Canadian Fuel Affordability Act. Remarks by Tim Watchorn (Liberal), Kerry Diotte (Conservative) and Elizabeth May (Green). September 22, 2026. Company sources Air Tindi. Company and cargo services. Kenan Advantage Group. Driving Canada's 'Ice Road'. Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture. Tibbitt-Contwoyto Winter Road Paused for 2027. September 16, 2026. Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture. New Leadership Announced for Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture. May 13, 2026. Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Joint Venture. Statement on the Air Tindi charter flight. December 2023. TriWest Capital Partners. RTL-Robinson Enterprises and Westcan Bulk Transport Partnership Announcement. May 17, 2007. Previous episodes On the Ground: Environmental Intelligence. 002: First, the Water Ran Out. June 29, 2026. Literary reference Mowat, Farley. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. 1957. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections proprietary/original. Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    015 - The Road Who Wouldn't Be

  3. Oct 2

    014 - Canada's Messy Environmental Innovation Cycle

    When are environmental solutions obsolete? When is it appropriate to innovate? Every accepted practice was once a risky departure. Some, like a BC small town's $45 roof sprinklers, or a pair of beavers released on an Alberta creek, only become standards after someone paying attention took a risk. Others, like a project that dumped 120 tonnes of iron into the Pacific off Haida Gwaii, reveal the costs of poorly understood science and cavalier attitudes. Proven practices almost always offer transferable knowledge. Sudbury's once barren hills, and the lakes damaged by acid rain in central Canada were both resolved by methods that got tested, measured and repeated until they became the standard, including a market for trading pollution allowances. Most of today's environmental rulebook stands on the shoulders of experiments like these. But more and more, environmental practices and standards are outliving environmental conditions, such as when the northern cod fishery collapsed after years of warnings that went unheeded. Meanwhile, some policies are undermining our effectiveness at gathering important knowledge. A recent parliamentary committee addressed how political criteria for federal research grants and funding for leadership is negatively impacting the quality of Canadian science. In this episode, Andrew follows the evidence from Logan Lake, BC to Darlington, Ontario to reveal key underlying principles that policy-makers need for deciding when to rely on proven practice, when to try something new, and when to switch. Bibliography Government and Regulatory Sources Canada Research Chairs Program. Establishing equity targets for 2021 to 2029. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Darlington New Nuclear Project. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Request pursuant to Subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations: Darlington NGS, Worker Injuries at the Darlington New Nuclear Project. July 25, 2025. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Request pursuant to Subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations: Darlington Emergency Exercise Unified Command 2025. November 6, 2025. City of Abbotsford. Council supports Sumas Prairie long-term flood mitigation. June 13, 2022. City of Abbotsford. Evacuation Orders issued for parts of Sumas Prairie West and Evacuation Alert issued for Sumas Prairie East. December 10, 2025. City of Greater Sudbury. Regreening Program. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Canada–United States Air Quality Agreement Progress Report 2014, chapter 1. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Reducing acid rain. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Review and Assessment of the Canada–U.S. Air Quality Agreement 2023. FireSmart BC. Logan Lake: A FireSmart Success Story. October 2021. FireSmart BC, BC Wildfire Service and First Nations' Emergency Services Society. Walking with Fire: BC's History of Fire Governance. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The Government of Canada announces the historic return of the commercial Northern cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. June 26, 2024. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Northern cod commercial fishery. Backgrounder, June 2025. Government of Alberta. Human-wildlife conflict: Beavers. Natural Resources Canada. Canada's record-breaking wildfires in 2023: A fiery wake-up call. September 7, 2023. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Equity, diversity and inclusion. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Acid Rain Program. Legislation and Parliamentary Records Public Service Employment Act, SC 2003, c. 22. House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research. Testimony of Geoff Horsman, September 22, 2025. Via openparliament.ca. House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research. Meeting of September 24, 2025. Via openparliament.ca. Academic Research and Reference Works ABlawg (University of Calgary Faculty of Law). Alberta's Water Sharing 'Agreements'. May 1, 2024. Alberta Environmental Laws 101. Where did these laws come from? A brief history of water law in Alberta. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics. Geoengineering at the 'edge of the world': exploring perceptions of ocean fertilization through the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation. Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador (Memorial University). Cod Moratorium in Newfoundland and Labrador. Nature Communications. Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season in Canada. August 20, 2024. PMC (US National Library of Medicine). Impact of Microplastic Exposure on Human Health: A Systematic Review of Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Clinical Outcomes. December 2025. River Research and Applications. Beaver dam analogue configurations influence stream and riparian water table dynamics of a degraded spring-fed creek in the Canadian Rockies. 2020. Science of the Total Environment. Liming legacy effects associated with the world's largest soil liming and regreening program in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. 2021. Sustainable Fisheries UW (University of Washington). The Northern Cod Quota Increase: a risky decision or a precautionary approach? November 17, 2025. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Blue Box. University of British Columbia. Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Forestry and Environmental Stewardship. April 2026. Policy Institutes and Advocacy Organizations Aristotle Foundation. Does the Government Hire for Competence? A survey of DEI hiring practices in the Canadian government. September 3, 2026. Environment Probe. Unnatural Disaster: How Politics Destroyed Canada's Atlantic Groundfisheries. Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Carbon capture at Boundary Dam 3 still an underperforming failure. Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The Equity Excellence Trade-off: A Study of EDI in the Canada Research Chairs Program. September 1, 2026. Conservation, Community and Industry Organizations Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area. Beaver Reintroduction. Atlantic Groundfish Council. Latest News. B.C. Wildlife Federation. Cultural and Prescribed Burn 2025 Update. August 26, 2025. BCAA. How getting FireSmart helped protect Logan Lake from wildfires. Oldman Watershed Council. Water Management. Companies and Utilities McCarthy Tétrault. Listed and Lawful: Canada's federal court of appeal upholds Federal Government's Listing of Plastic as Toxic. February 2026. Ocean Diagnostics. Ocean Diagnostics and National Research Council Canada Introduce Microplastics Monitoring Framework. July 2025. Ontario Power Generation. CNSC issues 20-year operating licence for Darlington. September 26, 2025. Ontario Power Generation. Darlington SMR. SaskPower. SaskPower Marks 10 Years of Operation at Carbon Capture and Storage Facility. November 13, 2024. Polling Abacus Data. Canadian Public Opinion on Nuclear Energy. September 29, 2025 (fielded September 4 to 6, 2025; 3,000 respondents). Local and Regional News Business in Vancouver. $45 sprinklers helped save B.C. town from wildfire, says mayor. July 6, 2022. Castanet. Putting what we know about wildfire prevention into practice. Writer's Bloc column, September 13, 2026. Castanet Kamloops. Unique sprinkler system puts B.C. town at ease as wildfire rages nearby. August 2, 2021. Castanet Kamloops. Provincial leaders say Logan Lake example shows value in FireSmart program. August 28, 2021. Castanet Kamloops. Kamloops FireSmart incentive paused after flurry of assessment requests. May 13, 2025. Castanet Kamloops. Logan Lake residents praise fire crews as work continues on nearby Guichon Creek fire. August 1, 2026. Castanet Kamloops. TNRD, Logan Lake downgrade evacuation alerts for properties near wildfire. August 3, 2026. CJWE Southern Alberta. Changes to the Water Act will help streamline licences and consolidate allocations, Government says. March 12, 2026. The Manitoban. Geoengineering trouble: Iron fertilization project denounced by scientists and activists. October 30, 2012. My Comox Valley Now. Town of Comox reveals recycling tips for residents following an audit. June 2026. Radio NL. Tremont Creek fire has 'moved past' Logan Lake; District asking for military support. August 16, 2021. Salish Current. Sumas Lake: a once (and future?) feature of the border. December 19, 2023. Sudbury.com. Sudbury regreening program nearing 10 million trees planted. September 30, 2020. Sudbury.com. Born decades into the city's regreening efforts, youngsters learn how things were. October 4, 2025. Vancouver Is Awesome. B.C. wildfires: Logan Lake saved because of sprinkler system. August 17, 2021. Victoria Times Colonist. B.C. company at centre of iron-dumping scandal stands by its convictions. September 3, 2013. National and Trade Media Canadian Plastics. Quebec Recycler Loop Industries Gains Funding. June 2026. Global News. SaskPower not moving ahead with further carbon capture projects at Boundary Dam 4 and 5. July 9, 2018. Global News. Latest failure: firm bidding to produce power from Fundy tides files for bankruptcy. September 5, 2024. National Post. Geoff Horsman: How Canada's federal research grants have normalized deceit. September 13, 2026. Via Yahoo News Canada. Ontario Association of Landscape Architects, Ground. Regreening the Moonscape: Greater Sudbury's remarkable ecosystem restoration. Republic of Mining. The Reclamation of Sudbury: The Greening of a Moonscape (Part 2 of 2). May 2010. Seed World. Major Water-Sharing Agreements are Ready as Drought Looms in Alberta, says Province. April 22, 2024. SustainableBiz Canada. Plastics recycler GreenMantra has high hopes for major growth. October 2025. The Globe and Mail. Ocean fertilization experiment loses in B.C. court; charges now likely. February 3, 2014. The Globe and Mail. Ontario's Darlington SMR project to cost nearly $21-billion, significantly higher than expected. May 8, 2025. Reproduced by the World Nuclear Industry Status Report. University Affairs. Remove EDI fr

    014 - Canada's Messy Environmental Innovation Cycle

  4. Sep 22

    013 - Built for the Last Storm

    With Ottawa's promised national flood insurance program delayed past its spring deadline, who is left carrying the financial burden when municipal drainage networks fail under repeat storms? Across the country, routine maintenance inspections often overlook a much simpler reality: aging pipes are simply too narrow for today's downpours. During a single Labour Day weekend, more than two hundred culverts washed out across Cape Breton, even though provincial records listed most stormwater pipes in good or very good shape. The gap between physical upkeep and real drainage capacity stretches from coast to coast. In northwest Edmonton, an undersized culvert collapsed into a twelve-metre chasm that stranded three neighbourhoods, while in Ottawa, private insurers are denying claims to homeowners whose basements flood twice in five years. At the senior government level, disaster mitigation funds are already tapped out. When British Columbia requested one point eight billion dollars to safeguard Sumas Prairie after catastrophic regional flooding, federal officials rejected the application with a single-sentence letter citing missing paperwork. To make matters tighter, updated federal rules now restrict disaster assistance for properties rebuilt in known flood zones without certified barriers, pushing mounting costs directly onto local taxpayers. In this episode, we unpack the engineering data and political decisions shaping Canada's water infrastructure deficit. We track how cities recalculated their rainfall estimates, why Tecumseh deliberately pools runoff on roadways to protect family basements, and what it really costs when a two-metre culvert has to replace a 12-meter deep rut. Bibliography Peer-reviewed studies Martel, Jean-Luc; Brissette, François P.; Lucas-Picher, Philippe; Troin, Magali; Arsenault, Richard. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, vol. 26, no. 10. "Climate Change and Rainfall Intensity–Duration–Frequency Curves: Overview of Science and Guidelines for Adaptation." 2021. Morin, Gabriel; Boudreault, Mathieu; Thistlethwaite, Jason; Bourdeau-Brien, Michael; Chenette, Jacob; Henstra, Daniel; Raikes, Jonathan. Journal of Flood Risk Management, vol. 18. "Economic Exposure of Canadian Residential Properties to Flooding." 2025. Peck, Angela; Prodanovic, Pat; Simonovic, Slobodan P. Canadian Water Resources Journal, vol. 37, no. 3. "Rainfall Intensity Duration Frequency Curves Under Climate Change: City of London, Ontario, Canada." 2012. Local and regional papers and radio CP24 (CTV News Atlantic reporting). "Lengthy repairs begin in Cape Breton's flood-damaged Richmond County." September 8, 2026. CP24 (CTV News Atlantic reporting, with files from The Canadian Press). "Cape Breton schools closed Tuesday after weekend storm, state of local emergency continues." September 8, 2026. CP24. "'Very tragic': Woman's death sends shock waves across Cape Breton amid major floods." September 7, 2026. CP24 (CTV News Atlantic). "'Tragic loss': N.S. premier says woman died during flooding in Cape Breton." September 6, 2026. CP24 (CTV News reporting). "'It was a gut punch': Extreme weather making it harder for Canadians to find insurance." July 16, 2026. CP24 (The Canadian Press). "Minister won't commit to national flood insurance program in near future." April 22, 2026. Global News. "2 Cape Breton counties lift states of emergency as flooding recovery continues." September 2026. Global News. "Parts of Atlantic Canada cleaning up after three days of heavy rain and powerful wind." November 25, 2021. Cape Breton Post. "CBRM outlines wastewater plans." February 26, 2018. VOCM (St. John's). Gander wastewater treatment plant costs, Mayor Percy Farwell. January 28, 2020. AM800 CKLW (Windsor). "Tecumseh looking to tighten up sewer system." September 18, 2017. Edmonton Journal (via Yahoo News Canada). Horseshoe Creek culvert collapse on 137th Avenue. 2026. St. Albert Gazette. "UPDATE: City of Edmonton to take over Horseshoe Creek culvert work." 2026. Fraser Valley Current. "Former BC dike chief pitches alternate Sumas Prairie plan." September 17, 2024. Agassiz-Harrison Observer. "3 Fraser Valley MPs slam feds for denying Abbotsford flood funding." June 2024. Trade and industry press Canadian Underwriter (The Canadian Press). "More Canadians now report being affected by extreme weather, poll suggests." June 17, 2026. Canadian Underwriter. "Toronto city council to consider accelerating basement flooding protection spending." December 12, 2016. Daily Commercial News. "Gander's new $35 million wastewater plant record project for town." February 2019. Canadian Consulting Engineer (by CBCL). "Tree for Life Award & Award of Excellence: New Victoria Mine Water Treatment Plant." October 1, 2014. Insurance Business Canada. "IBC opens helpline as Cape Breton floods follow GTA's '100-year storm'." September 2026. Government and corporate primary documents Nova Scotia Legislature. Hansard, September 8, 2026 (Timmins; written answers from Minister Tilley). Nova Scotia Legislature. Hansard, September 9, 2026 (Smith-McCrossin; MacDonald). Nova Scotia Legislature. Committee of the Whole House on Supply, February 27, 2025 (Tilley). Province of Nova Scotia. Five Year Highway Improvement Plan 2026-27. December 2025. Nova Scotia Department of Finance. "Infrastructure Condition Ratings, 2022." October 21, 2024. Province of Nova Scotia. "Infrastructure Funding for Cape Breton Regional Municipality." September 5, 2019. Environment and Climate Change Canada. "Share your ideas: Consultation on amendments to the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations." Environment and Climate Change Canada. "Regulations Amending the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations" (strategic environmental and economic assessment). Public Services and Procurement Canada. "Completion of Expanded Passive Mine Water Treatment Facility in Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia." October 2016. Government of Canada. "Government of Canada, DEVCO fund new research chair at CBU." January 2009. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada. Briefing to the Standing Committee on Human Resources. December 2025. Public Safety Canada. Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements. Public Safety Canada. Question Period Note: Mitigating Disaster Risks (PS-2024-QP-1--MEP-007). Government of British Columbia. "Improvements to Abbotsford pump station build resilience." February 2024. City of Abbotsford. "No Flood Mitigation Funding for Abbotsford, Merritt and Princeton." June 3, 2024. City of Abbotsford. Flood Response and Recovery (December 2025 flood event). Statistics Canada. Insurance premiums and catastrophic claims release. June 16, 2026. BQE Water. "BQE Water Signs 20-year Contract with BC Government for Operation & Maintenance of Britannia Mine Water Treatment Plant." December 18, 2025. BQE Water. "BQE Water Reports Q1 2026 Results." May 28, 2026. Stantec. Britannia Acid Mine Water Treatment Plant project page. Stantec. Second quarter 2026 results (GLOBE NEWSWIRE). August 12, 2026. Dalhousie University. "Rising water risks in Nova Scotia spark province-wide collaboration at Dalhousie symposium." June 12, 2026. Dalhousie University. "Flow: Graham Gagnon." January 7, 2025. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Grant record, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Water Quality and Treatment, 2017. Polling Leger. Survey of 1,512 Canadians on extreme weather, June 12 to 15, 2026, as reported by The Canadian Press in Canadian Underwriter. Federal party positions House of Commons. Debates, 44th Parliament, 1st Session, emergency debate on flooding in British Columbia (Elizabeth May). November 24, 2021. Parliament of Canada, LEGISinfo. Bill C-241, National Strategy on Flood and Drought Forecasting Act (second reading debate, October 28 and December 2, 2025; Vote 52, December 3, 2025). House of Commons, Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Report 8, Bill C-241. June 2026. Openparliament.ca. Bill C-241 speeches (Auguste, Anstey, Ross). Conservative Party of Canada. 2025 platform, "Canada First, For a Change." VoteMate. 2025 climate adaptation platforms (Liberal commitments quoted from liberal.ca; Green commitments quoted from "Change: Vote For It"). VoteMate. 2021 effects of climate change platforms (Conservative flood insurance commitment). Government of Canada. Minister profile, the Honourable Eleanor Olszewski. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections proprietary/original. Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    013 - Built for the Last Storm

  5. Sep 14

    012 - Tariffs, Trade-Offs, and the Hudson Bay

    When a trade war closes the border a country has always shipped through, and a warming ocean opens a new one, what has to be loaded onto the ships to make the route pay for itself? Churchill, Manitoba has fewer than nine hundred residents, a four-month shipping season, and the only deepwater port on Arctic waters connected to the Class 1 rail network. It is also the only tidewater access the Prairies have. The town lost its railway to a washout in 2017 and spent eighteen months without a train before a partnership of northern Manitoba towns bought the port and the line back. Trade talks with the United States collapsed on Friday, August 21. Within days, Washington imposed fifty per cent tariffs under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, an authority never before used to raise a tariff, and Ottawa answered with counter-tariffs effective September 8. In the same week, three studies commissioned by the federal and Manitoba governments and Arctic Gateway Group reported that the navigable season in Hudson Bay has already lengthened and will keep lengthening. The escape route from the tariffs is opening because the sea ice is going. Economists worked out how trade barriers reach the environment decades ago, and much of that work was done in Canada. The effects run in more than one direction: freight redirected across oceans instead of across a river, an implicit discount buried in the tariff structure the world already had, and a steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie that cut emissions seventy per cent because tariffs closed the market it used to sell into, at a cost of more than a thousand jobs. The people who actually export are unconvinced. Grain shippers told regional farm papers across five provinces that the trade is already about as diversified as a business gets, that price decides where cargo goes, and that the diversification statistics may be measuring weakening American demand rather than Canadian success. Ottawa is building routes anyway, through Prince Rupert and through Churchill. The Churchill proposal runs to seventy or eighty billion dollars, and the item that closes the balance sheet is liquefied natural gas. Fednav's analysis found that laden ice-class gas tankers cannot manoeuvre the shallow approach to the existing port, so the terminal has to be built out in the bay. That water holds the world's largest summer aggregation of beluga, and peer-reviewed acoustic work shows the animals go quiet or leave when a vessel comes within five kilometres. In this episode, we follow a tariff from a Friday night in August to a port at the end of a rail line, through the freight that moves farther when borders close, the exporters who say routes are not the problem, and the cargo that would have to fill the ships. Episode Timestamps 0:00    Tariff Troubles, Evolutionary Redundancy, and the Northern Route 14:10  Offshore Terminals, Beluga Habitats, and the Energy Ledger Bibliography Local and regional outlets 620 CKRM. Angus Reid poll reports wide range of emotions from Canadians to tariff dispute. Regina, Saskatchewan. August 29, 2026. Alberta Farmer Express. Grain industry to Ottawa: diversifying trade has a price tag. May 5, 2026. Alberta Farmer Express. Canadian wheat faces tougher fight for global markets. May 21, 2026. Farmtario. Trade diversification more complicated than it seems. April 20, 2026. Farmtario. New strategies needed for Canadian agriculture to stand out in global trade. April 2026. Le Bulletin des agriculteurs. Les tarifs douaniers, comme un nuage sur l'économie. August 2026. Manitoba Co-operator. Making way for Port of Churchill expansion. March 13, 2026. Manitoba Co-operator. Beekeepers count on Canadian buyers as tariffs stop U.S. sales. August 31, 2026. The Northern View. Prince Rupert Port ramps up global trade connections and increases export activity. Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Radha Agarwal, Local Journalism Initiative. April 14, 2025. Western Producer. Grain companies want help to diversify. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. May 2, 2026. Western Producer. Canadian trade infrastructure doesn't 'add up to a strategy' amid push to diversify. Geralyn Wichers. August 22, 2026. Trade and industry press Benesch Law. Canada Trade: New Tariff Announcement And USMCA Non-Renewable Stakes For North American Supply Chains. July 28, 2026. Maritime Executive. Canada's Port of Churchill Looks into Year-Round Shipping. February 22, 2026. Maritime Executive. Three Studies Confirm Viability of Year-Round Shipping in the Hudson Bay. August 23, 2026. Western Investor. Prince Rupert port diversifies with expanded export capacity. Government and regulatory sources Government of Canada, Intergovernmental Affairs. Advancing internal trade. Government of Manitoba. Governments of Canada, Manitoba and the Arctic Gateway Group Welcome New Research Confirming Feasibility of Year-Round Shipping from Churchill. August 2026. PrairiesCan. Government of Canada launches market sounding study to strengthen growth at the Port of Churchill. February 19, 2026. Privy Council Office, Major Projects Office. Port of Churchill Plus. Peer-reviewed research Alchian, Armen A. Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory. Journal of Political Economy 58, no. 3 (June 1950): 211 to 221. Antweiler, Werner, Brian R. Copeland, and M. Scott Taylor. Is Free Trade Good for the Environment? American Economic Review 91, no. 4 (2001): 877 to 908. Cheng, Cheng, Zengshuang Li, Yuting Yan, Qiang Cui, Yong Zhang, and Lei Liu. Maritime Freight Carbon Emission in the U.S. using AIS data from 2018 to 2022. Scientific Data 11 (2024). Coppolaro, Veronica L. M., Lisa L. Loseto, et al. Establishing an acoustic benchmark of beluga habitat use in the Churchill River estuary, Manitoba. Frontiers in Mammal Science, July 2026. Felbermayr, Gabriel, Sonja Peterson, and Joschka Wanner. Trade and the environment, trade policies and environmental policies: How do they interact? Journal of Economic Surveys, 2025. Halliday, William D., et al. Beluga Vocalizations Decrease in Response to Vessel Traffic in the Mackenzie River Estuary. ARCTIC. Hayek, F. A. The Use of Knowledge in Society. American Economic Review 35, no. 4 (September 1945): 519 to 530. Effects of vessel noise on beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) call type use: ultrasonic communication as an adaptation to noisy environments? Biology Open 14, no. 3 (2025). Polling Angus Reid Institute. Resolve & apprehension: 76% say Canada was right to ditch trade talks, but two-in-five have fear for their jobs. August 23, 2026. Angus Reid Institute. Anger, frustration, worry and disappointment: Canadians describe their feelings about the latest wave of the tariff storm. August 25, 2026. Federal party materials Conservative Party of Canada. Newsroom. Green Party of Canada. The U.S. President's Tariff Threats: A Direct Attack on Canada, Say Greens. Company sources Arctic Gateway Group. Expanded Shipping from Port of Churchill to Nunavut Focus of New Agreement. December 10, 2025. Previous episodes 004 - The EV Charging Lag. July 15, 2026. 005 - The Great Canadian Diesel Dilemma. July 20, 2026. 010 - Whatever Happened to Canadian Hydrogen? August 26, 2026. 011 - The Plight of the Pollinators. September 3, 2026. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections proprietary/original. Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    012 - Tariffs, Trade-Offs, and the Hudson Bay

  6. Sep 4

    011 - The Plight of the Pollinators

    When retaliatory cross-border tariffs eliminate the export revenue keeping commercial beekeepers solvent, how quickly does that financial shock land on the grocery bills of consumers already struggling to afford fresh food? Across the barrens of eastern New Brunswick and northern Nova Scotia, billions of wild blueberry blossoms lock their pollen inside sealed floral chambers that commercial honey bees cannot easily open. Native wild pollinators can shake more of the pollen loose, but commercial agriculture still needs to spend millions every spring on rented hives to ensure fruit production. That rented replacement fleet faces mounting biological stress and unsustainable overwinter mortality rates. While beekeepers deal with outbreaks of parasitic mites and seasonal die-offs, federal wildlife management records document a regulatory contradiction: commercial honey bees and imported bumble bees brought in to service agricultural fields are officially identified as primary disease vectors, transmitting parasites and viral infections to vulnerable wild bee populations that are declining across their native range. Last week, the financial pressure increased even further when tariffs effectively closed American export markets to Canadian honey, creating heavy economic pressure to shift operating losses from honey producers onto fruit and vegetable growers. One Canadian company is deploying real-time sensors inside hives, while another is providing targeted mite treatments to stabilize working colonies. But diagnostic sensors and treatment strips ultimatley end up supporting the substitute for local bee populations, rather than reversing pollinator decline. Meanwhile federal politicians are debating grocery affordability without addressing the massive value of the pollination services deliverd in the field for free by native bee species. Fresh fruit and vegetable prices continue to outpace general inflation at the checkout counter, leaving shoppers vulnerable to rising farm-gate input costs. While domestic households navigate higher grocery bills, epidemiological modeling indicates that sustained dietary shortfalls from inadequate crop pollination carry long-term cardiovascular and metabolic health risks for populations world-wide. In this episode, we untangle the mounting financial and ecological breakdown of rented crop pollination, connecting commercial hive vulnerability, cross-border trade shocks, and the rising cost of fresh produce on your grocery bill.   Episode Timestamps   0:00     The Limits of Managed Pollination 13:01   Pathogen Drift, Cross-Border Tariffs, and the True Cost of Crop Deficits Bibliography Local and regional outlets Acadie Nouvelle. Les apiculteurs du N.-B. ont perdu beaucoup d'abeilles. July 26, 2025. Castanet. Canadian honey producers warn that retaliatory tariffs could sting the beekeepers and the honey production market. Nelson, British Columbia. April 28, 2025. CentralAlbertaOnline. Honey harvest expected to be lower than expected in the Prairies. August 28, 2026. Farmtario. Ontario beekeepers continue to struggle with winter losses. June 12, 2025. La Terre de chez nous. Une hausse de prix qui nuit à la location de ruches pollinisatrices. May 25, 2023. Le Bulletin des agriculteurs. Dur hiver pour les abeilles. May 26, 2026. Manitoba Co-operator. Beekeepers count on Canadian buyers as tariffs stop U.S. sales. August 31, 2026. National and international news CP24. Canada's beekeeping sector warns new round of U.S. tariffs could drive industry out of business. August 17, 2026. Slate. Yellow-faced bees, not honeybees, were just listed as endangered. October 5, 2016. Snopes. Were Bees Added to the Endangered Species List? 2016. Government and regulatory sources Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Statistical Overview of the Canadian Honey and Bee Industry, 2024. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Management Plan for the Western Bumble Bee mckayi subspecies (Bombus occidentalis mckayi) in Canada. Proposed, March 26, 2026. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Recovery Strategy for the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis) in Canada. 2020. Government of Canada, Office of the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Carney launches National Food Security Strategy to build a more affordable and resilient food system in Canada. June 11, 2026. New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries. Wild Blueberry Factsheet B.6.0: Native Bees that Pollinate Wild Blueberries. Fall 2019. Province of Alberta. Ag Export Catalogue: Bee Maid Honey Limited. Statistics Canada. One in five Canadian adults eat fruit and vegetables five or more times a day. March 10, 2026. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Pesticide Product Label, Formic Pro, EPA Reg. No. 75710-3. March 2, 2017. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species Status for Rusty Patched Bumble Bee; Final rule, delay of effective date. 82 FR 10285, February 10, 2017. Peer-reviewed research Aune, Dagfinn, Edward Giovannucci, Paolo Boffetta, et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. International Journal of Epidemiology 46, no. 3 (June 2017): 1029 to 1056. Colla, Sheila R., and Laurence Packer. Evidence for decline in eastern North American bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special focus on Bombus affinis Cresson. Biodiversity and Conservation 17, no. 6 (2008): 1379 to 1391. Smith, Matthew R., Nathaniel D. Mueller, Marco Springmann, Timothy B. Sulser, Lucas A. Garibaldi, James Gerber, Keith Wiebe, and Samuel S. Myers. Pollinator Deficits, Food Consumption, and Consequences for Human Health: A Modeling Study. Environmental Health Perspectives 130, no. 12 (December 2022): article EHP10947. Turo, Katherine J., et al. Insufficient pollinator visitation often limits yield in crop systems worldwide. Nature Ecology and Evolution 8, no. 9 (July 3, 2024). Industry associations and polling Abacus Data. For 67% of Canadians, the cost of living feels as bad as it ever has. December 15, 2025. Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists. CAPA Statement on Honey Bee Wintering Losses in Canada, 2025. 2025. Canadian Honey Council. Industry Overview. Federal party materials Conservative Party of Canada. Make Food Affordable. Green Party of Canada. GPC Membership Approved Policy. Policy book, last updated June 2023. Company sources Nectar Technologies. Company. NOD Apiary Products Ltd. Formic Pro Now Registered For Use In Canada. 2019. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections proprietary/original. Lyrics to the closing theme from "The Bee" by Emily Dickinson. Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    011 - The Plight of the Pollinators

  7. Aug 27

    010 - Whatever Happened to Canadian Hydrogen?

    What happens to the clean energy transition when public investment heavily subsidizes upstream production while leaving downstream transport and commercial delivery unsolved? The domestic push for underground hydrogen extraction originated in Calgary with laboratory data demonstrating that in-situ combustion could successfully separate hydrogen while trapping carbon emissions deep underground. Field deployment soon followed in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan. Hydrogen offers considerable potential as an industrial feedstock for clean metal production, provided delivery costs from extraction sites to smelters can compete with conventional natural gas. However, the physical difficulty of moving the smallest molecule on earth remains a major operational bottleneck. While innovators in Alberta test liquid organic carriers to utilize existing trucking fleets, these publicly funded ventures still operate without contracted commercial buyers. When American metal tariffs accelerated market disruptions, steelmakers in Sault Ste. Marie transitioned directly to grid-powered electric arc furnaces a full year ahead of schedule. That operational shift reduced industrial emissions by seventy percent, but it also resulted in more than one thousand layoffs as production volumes dropped. Across the country, regional data illustrates why established hydro and nuclear grids are currently doing the heavy lifting for industrial decarbonization. Upstream production capacity remains economically stranded without the physical distribution networks required to delive hydrogen to paying industrial customers. In this episode, we track how trade negotions and infrastructure limits are dictating the pace of uptake for Canadian hydrogen on the ground. Episode Timestamps 0:00       Engineering new hydrogen delivery solutions 10:25    Forced change, massive industrial emission reductions 20:48    Proving Canada can build this Bibliography Local and regional outlets Saskatchewan "First-of-its-kind hydrogen production project slated for Sask." SaskToday.ca, June 24, 2020. "Saskatchewan pilots hydrogen to fuel the future." SaskToday.ca, July 15, 2020. "SaskPower adding gas turbines to Ermine Power Station near Kerrobert." WestCentralOnline (west central Saskatchewan), July 2022. "Sask. Government pause on industrial carbon tax to begin tomorrow." WestCentralOnline, March 31, 2025. Ontario "Algoma Steel laying off more than 1,000 workers." SooToday, December 1, 2025. "500 new jobs coming to Algoma Steel next year: Joly." Northern Ontario Business, December 8, 2025. "500 new jobs coming to Algoma Steel next year: Joly." SooToday, December 5, 2025. "Those 500 new jobs at Algoma Steel aren't a done deal." SooToday, January 24, 2026. Hopkin, James. "Some of Algoma Steel's 1,000 planned layoffs will be postponed." SooToday, March 19, 2026. "Algoma Steel expects first-quarter loss as electric furnace transition is complete." Northern Ontario Business, April 1, 2026. Hopkin, James. "'It's a bad situation': Steelworker retraining programs finally receive funding." SooToday, July 7, 2026. Alberta "Ayrton Energy Secures $6.8M to Advance Clean Hydrogen Technology." Calgary.Tech, September 26, 2024. "Ayrton receives $9.2M investment from BDC for hydrogen transport system." SustainableBiz Canada, September 24, 2024. British Columbia "$135M upgrade complete at Rio Tinto's Kitimat smelter." The Northern View (Prince Rupert, B.C.), April 24, 2026. NorthX. "Ayrton Energy Inc.: Scaling and optimization of e-LOHC for room temperature hydrogen transport and storage." Project record, 2025. Quebec "Frappées par les tarifs douaniers de Donald Trump, les exportations métallurgiques québécoises sont en chute libre." Le Devoir, June 5, 2026. Nova Scotia Baxter, Joan. "EverWind Fuels' 'green hydrogen and ammonia' project in Nova Scotia will be partly powered by coal." Halifax Examiner, October 23, 2024. Baxter, Joan. "Feds offer EverWind $125 million despite many unanswered questions about 'green hydrogen' project." Halifax Examiner, November 20, 2023. Peer-reviewed research Devlin, Alexandra, Kossen, Jannik, Goldie-Jones, Haulwen and Yang, Aidong. "Global green hydrogen-based steel opportunities surrounding high quality renewable energy and iron ore deposits." Nature Communications 14, 2578 (2023). DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-38123-2. Rinaldi, Lorenzo, Ghezzi, Debora, Colombo, Emanuela and Rocco, Matteo Vincenzo. "Assessing environmental and market implications of steel decarbonisation strategies: a hybrid input-output model for the European union." Environmental Research Letters 19, 074059 (July 5, 2024). DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ad5bf1. Watari, Takuma and McLellan, Benjamin. "Global demand for green hydrogen-based steel: Insights from 28 scenarios." International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 79 (August 2024), pp. 630 to 635. DOI 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.06.423. Reports and analysis Khan, M.A., Powell, M., Tampier, M., Thorn, E. and Layzell, D. (2023). Hydrogen and the Decarbonization of Steel Production in Canada: Reaching Economies of Scale. Transition Accelerator Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 2. ISSN 2562-6264. Institute for Research on Public Policy. Sault Ste. Marie: Ontario Steel City Looks to Forge New Path. Community Transformations Project, March 2026. DOI 10.26070/0nef-3y93. Anthesis Group. "CBAM: Canada's Steel and Aluminum Advantage." October 28, 2025. "Canada's Carbon Pricing Reset in 2026: Will Industry Step Up or Stall Climate Progress?" CarbonCredits.com, December 1, 2025, citing ClearBlue Markets analysis. "Where Canada's Federal Parties Stand on Nature and Climate in 2025." Nature Canada, April 17, 2025. Government and primary sources Global Affairs Canada. "Statement by Minister Ng on United States imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum." March 12, 2025. BC Gov News. "B.C. eliminates carbon tax." March 31, 2025. Natural Resources Canada. Hydrogen Strategy for Canada. December 2020. Natural Resources Canada. "Hydrogen Strategy for Canada: Progress Report." May 2024. Natural Resources Canada. "Minister Wilkinson Announces Progress on Canada's Hydrogen Strategy." News release, May 10, 2024. Natural Resources Canada. "Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) for Secure, Efficient, and User-Friendly Hydrogen Storage and Transportation Technology." Energy Innovation Program project record, Ayrton Energy, 2024. Environment and Climate Change Canada. "Carbon pricing systems across Canada." Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. "Important milestone for ArcelorMittal Dofasco project that is creating good jobs in the Hamilton steel industry." News release, October 13, 2022. SaskPower. Ermine Power Station project record. Nova Scotia Environment. EverWind Point Tupper environmental assessment registry. European Commission. "Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism." Algoma Steel Group Inc. Form 6-K filings, 2026. SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001860805. "Canada, Alberta Strike Carbon Deal Tied to New Oil Pipeline." Reuters, May 15, 2026, via Pipeline & Gas Journal. Polling Angus Reid Institute. "Centre-left support for carbon tax still strong as concern over climate change declines from four years ago." February 28, 2025. Online survey, 2,012 Canadian adults, January 24 to 27, 2025, comparable margin of error +/- 1.5 points. Abacus Data. Online survey of 1,920 Canadian adults, May 14 to 20, 2026, comparable margin of error +/- 2.23 points, 19 times out of 20. Reported in "Polling Shows Support for Faster Industrial Carbon Pricing, Opposition to New Pipeline Subsidies," The Energy Mix, May 28, 2026. Company, trade and other press "Canadian Operator Works To Transform an Oil Field Into a Hydrogen Factory." Journal of Petroleum Technology, April 28, 2021. Piller, Thomas. "World's 1st hydrogen extraction technology of its kind piloted in Saskatchewan." Global News, June 24, 2020. "Brief Bio." Grant Strem. "ProtonH2 Advances Project Apollo with Selection of EPC Partner and Completion of Pre-FEED Phase." PR Newswire, August 28, 2024. Clements, Poppy. "ProtonH2 advances Project Apollo." Global Hydrogen Review, August 29, 2024. Canadian Hydrogen Association. "The CHA is delighted to welcome ProtonH2 as a new member." August 2024. "Philomaxcap and ProtonH2 Sign MOU to Deliver Scalable, Low-Cost Hydrogen Infrastructure." ProtonH2, June 30, 2025. "Proton Making H2 From Oilfields, Scaling Way Up." BusinessWire, June 9, 2021. University of Calgary. "Alum-founded company changes the game for hydrogen storage." June 8, 2023. ArcelorMittal. "ArcelorMittal breaks ground on first transformational low-carbon emissions steelmaking project." Regulatory news release, October 13, 2022. Danieli. "ArcelorMittal relies on Energiron DRI technology." Tenova. "Tenova to provide ArcelorMittal with a 2.5 Mtpy DRI plant." October 14, 2022. "Strategic Resources Submits Responses to Quebec's Environment Ministry, Advancing Port Saguenay Iron Ore Pellet Plant Project." Strategic Resources Inc., May 26, 2026. "Strategic Resources nears full authorisation for four-million tonne iron-ore pellet plant in Québec." Mining Weekly, May 27, 2026. "thyssenkrupp Materials Services and Stegra agree on significant multi-year non-prime steel supply." PR Newswire, January 12, 2026. "Stegra in agreement with thyssenkrupp Materials Services." Stegra, January 12, 2026. "Industrial scale-up H2 Green Steel changes name to Stegra." Stegra. "Stegra Completes $1.6 Billion Capital Raise to Build Largest Green Steel Plant in Europe." ESG Today, June 24, 2026. "Stegra lands funding to complete world's first major green-steel mill." Canary Media, April 14, 2026. Vattenfall. "HYBRIT: partnership with LKAB and SSAB." ELYSIS. "ELYSIS achieves breakthrough with commercial-size cell: a first in aluminium production using the inert anode technology." November 13, 2025. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. "Alcoa, Rio Tinto and Apple work with Canada to erase aluminum smelting emissions

    010 - Whatever Happened to Canadian Hydrogen?

  8. Aug 20

    009 - Deciding What's Green

    How should regulators decide whether an open-pit rare earth mine is genuinely clean when the minerals coming out of it are used in both low-carbon and high-carbon applications? In July, Ottawa introduced its draft sustainable finance taxonomy to classify clean investments and steer private capital across major sectors of the economy. In Northern BC, upstream extraction faces immediate downgrades because its customer base includes defence contractors alongside clean technology manufacturers. Further east, dual-provincial environmental reviews and New York private equity ownership complicate the Strange Lake deposit along the Quebec-Labrador boundary.  The primary extraction of critical minerals generates heavy life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and significant physical disturbance. As industrial demand accelerates, balancing dual-use mineral extraction against regional watershed protection presents serious ecological trade-offs for long-term environmental health. Following Australian precedent, the Canadian framework proposals demand that upstream producers demonstrate exclusive end-use alignment or achieve net zero emissions. Except, following the framework is voluntary, and research economists have found that voluntary classification rules fail to stop greenwashing unless enforced by statutory regulations or binding commercial loan contracts. To establish independent processing capacity, the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon is building specialized hydrometallurgy facilities to process rare earth materials for half a million electric vehicles annually. Concurrently, commercial recyclers in Kingston are scaling secondary processing circuits, even as less than one percent of global rare earth scrap is currently recovered. In this episode, we trace Canada's critical mineral supply chain from British Columbia drill pads to national capital markets, evaluating how federal classification incentives, local equity partnerships, and global defence demands shape industrial viability, regional economic development, and the national path to net zero. Episode Timestamps 0:00    Sustainable Finance and Rare-Earth Minerals 11:23  Infrastucture, Ownership, and the Rules of Capital Bibliography Local Newspapers and Radio Stations Berls, Adam. McLeod Lake Indian Band and Defense Metals Corp enter into partnership for rare earth elements mine east of Bear Lake. CKPG Today, Prince George, British Columbia, 17 January 2024. Foley, Jessica. Cyclic Materials to open Kingston Centre of Excellence. Kingstonist, Kingston, Ontario, 12 June 2025. McEwen, Larissa. Sask. Research Council's rare earth facility set to drive growth in Saskatchewan's tech sector. DiscoverEstevan.com, Estevan, Saskatchewan, 27 April 2025. Partnership paves way for rare earth elements mine north of Prince George. Prince George Citizen, Prince George, British Columbia, 18 January 2024. Peer Reviewed Studies Inderst, Roman, and Marcus M. Opp. Sustainable finance versus environmental policy: Does greenwashing justify a taxonomy for sustainable investments? Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 163, 2025. Sustainable finance taxonomies: Designed to support the transition to a net zero economy? Climate Policy, published online 3 August 2026. Environmental Impact of Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Primary Sources and NiMH Batteries: A Literature Review. Metals, vol. 16, no. 3, 2026. Polling Angus Reid Institute. Canada's Critical Minerals Push: Major Mines and Mineral Strategy Under Liberal Watch. 2 December 2025. Government, Party and Policy Documents Canadian Climate Institute, Canadian Taxonomy and Transition Planning Council, and Business Future Pathways. Canadian Sustainable Finance Taxonomy: Methodology Report, Draft for Public Comment. July 2026. Conservative Party of Canada. Poilievre Will Bring in One and Done Approvals, Accelerate Ten Specific Resource Projects. 9 April 2025. Green Party of Canada. Green Economy. European Commission. Multi Jurisdiction Common Ground Taxonomy. November 2024. Company and Institutional Sources Defense Metals Corp. Defense Metals Announces Commencement of the Spring 2026 Drill Program at Wicheeda Rare Earths Project. 6 May 2026. Defense Metals Corp. Defense Metals Provides Corporate Update Highlighting Continued Execution and Strategic Momentum. 13 July 2026. Defense Metals Corp. Defense Metals Invited by Natural Resources Canada to Submit a Full Project Proposal for its Wicheeda Processing Feasibility Program. 12 August 2026. Saskatchewan Research Council. Rare Earth Processing Facility. Trade and Business Press Environment Journal. Comment period starts on Canada's Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. 13 July 2026. The Globe and Mail. Torngat Metals raises $165 million in federal financing for Quebec rare earths mine project. 17 June 2025. MINING.COM. Torngat eyes Strange Lake feasibility study as timing slips for Quebec rare earths project. 3 February 2026. MINING.COM. Torngat Metals secures $120M for Strange Lake rare earth project in Canada. 1 July 2025. Green Central Banking. China updates green taxonomy to increase energy transition finance. 4 August 2025. Green Finance and Development Center. Green Finance trends in China: China's Green Finance Policy Landscape. About Us From the creater of The Fulcrum of Courage. Like what I'm doing? Directly support my work: Buy Me a Coffee Friends and Advertisers can reach me here. Legal Stuff All musical selections from Pixabay, with permission: Standard Use Contract. Intro:    MaksymMalko - Instrumental Acoustic Guitar Music Break:  AbsoluteSound - Guitar Music Outro:  Starostin - Acoustic Guitar Music Copyright 2026, Andrew B. Nuttall.

    009 - Deciding What's Green
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On the Ground is a weekly Canadian environmental intelligence podcast delivering in-depth, non-partisan coverage of the country's most pressing environmental issues. It is independently produced, verified-source-driven, and free from ideological spin, making it a trusted resource for Canadians who want honest, nuanced environmental journalism. Complete bibliographies provided.

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