Environment Hamilton

Community meeting to discuss ArcelorMittal Dofasco's request to emit above Ontario regulations | CBC News A community group called Citizens Against Pollution says it is hosting an in-person workshop Tuesday to help people submit comments to the province.

"Citizens Against Pollution will meet at the Hamilton Stadium's City Lounge on the second floor on Tuesday. Doors open at 6 p.m."
@nrindernann.bsky.social @environmenthamont.bsky.social

White supremacist rally at city hall a ‘blatant act of hate’: Horwath Involved group has been behind other, similar protests in Hamilton — including one in December

I appreciate the Mayor calling this out and the Spec for reporting it. Just because it's not immediately obvious, it doesn't mean it's not white supremacy. White supremacists and far right nationalists are organizing in our city. Silence is not an option. #HamOnt www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...

Webinar Wed Feb 25th @ 7pm on Zoom Provincial Permission to Pollute Hamilton? A discussion about current threats to our air & water, and what the impacts are for people Zoom link to register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/WJXBOQz-S6y-IEaTUAzmbw

Will the OLT kill the Garner Marsh, and can you "move" a wetland? What's going on with green steel and Dofasco's ERO posting to get an exemption to air pollution standards? And how does it impact life in #hamont?

Join as we discuss it all on Zoom this Wed Feb 25th

Register here: shorturl.at/sgqEG

Hey #HamOnt! This is NOT going to be an event you want to miss!

Register here: zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Map from Ontario Storm Watch showing AQI scores in red in the 140-150 mark across Southern Ontario with a score of 174 in Michigan visible, all of which are deemed dangerously high AQI

Via a photo I saw on Instagram, someone who lives in the 51st floor of their condo takes a photo of the downtown Toronto skyline which is mostly invisible due to fog with just the tips of a few towers lime the TD and CIBC buildings peeking out

The lower Great Lakes region has super bad air quality today, and one of the big causes is, surprisingly, melting snow.

The warm snap is melting the snow banks, releasing all the car exhaust & toxins & rotting debris in the snow. Which,coupled with lack of wind and rain, sits in the air as smog

The world's richest man is broadcasting eliminationist rhetoric about a tiny, vulnerable minority, and virtually no one is going to treat it as a scandal. It's just normal now.

Canada’s new UAE trade and investment deal is bad news - CCPA Canada is acting as a middleman, not a middle power—serving as a conduit for profits from human rights abuses and fossil fuels

Canada is acting as a middleman, not a middle power—serving as a conduit for profits from human rights abuses and fossil fuels. By Muneeb Javaid @policyalternatives.ca
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Maureen Wilson says of Council "we know better" and so do #HamOnt residents to not invest in climate action.

Now speaking to motion is Councillor Maureen Wilson - she is speaking from perspective of director of a board, and they are being told that the motion brings *risk* - she will not be supporting increasing risk for their "shareholders" (residents).

Clark made brief remarks mostly on rhetoric being used around horseshoe. Mayor Horwath now speaking - importantly references how small of an investment overall the proposed cuts are of the overall budget - and the risk associated with not making them.

Cassar - references the hundreds of emails Council has gotten - raises that there are "dozens" of other reserves that operate similarly to Climate Change Reserve, asks rhetorically why this one is being singled out.

Councillor Nann references previous votes, previous efforts to defund or delay climate action in #HamOnt - refutes Cllr Francis' claim that this is not about denying climate change directly.

Councillor McMeekin giving speech - for those who may recall last year's climate defund vote, there are some similar themes to the speech he gave last year!

Now Councillor Alex Wilson - "delay and denial go hand in hand" - yes!

Councillor @cameronkroetsch.bsky.social now giving speech - says there are significant air quality issues in Wards 2, 3, and 4.

Worth correcting - Ward 5 is also aversely affected by pollution in #HamOnt as well!

Jackson cites Carney axing the carbon tax - cites the federal results for the Greens and NDP - uses that as his reasoning to support voting to defund the climate change reserve in 2026. #HamOnt

Councillor Jackson giving a speech - says that Councillors Spadafora and Francis "did their homework" - which according to Spadafora was asking staff to find cuts to meet a number he gave them.

Doing some rough math - this $800k of yet-spent funds amounts to about $1.60 per household roughly - Councillors are spending now well over an hour of their and staff's time over whether or not it's OK that we all invested less than a toonie in the future. #HamOnt

This significantly undermines argument regarding the reserve's current $800k being an indication that the annual allotment is too high or ought to be deferred.

Staff share that expenditures from climate change reserve have actually averaged at $2.6M a year (over the annual allotment) - this was due to the reserve having a few years saved up initially.

Just as a reminder - the investment in the climate change reserve amounts to around on average $9.00-$10.00 per year per household.

City Manager says they sought to meet task laid out by mover - they do not recommend the cuts listed but if Council wishes to make them - these cuts offer the "least risk".

This is typically how budget works in #HamOnt - Councillor picks overall number, staff do what they can to make number work.

In light of this - Clark asks mover (Spadafora) how he chose the proposed cuts - Spadafora says he gave staff a number, and staff revised motion and included individual projects to meet this number. City Manager says staff work to help Councillor's achieve intended effort of motions.

“We’re not climate deniers” is something that policy makers axing the 0.08% of their $2.8B budget allocated to emission reductions, will need to continue saying.

Staff appear to not be recommending any of the cuts proposed, not just the Climate Change Reserve investment.

To be quite frank - the arguments made by both Spadafora and Francis, when you factor in how they have voted in the past and what they have said to this point, are hard to take genuinely.

City staff are now outlining the "2027 pressures" and that they'll "have to reset" the forecast to reflect growing pressures.

The 2027 budget is going to be a disaster, with no reserves remaining. #yhmcc

Council is now onto Spadafora/Francis proposal to defer the 2026 Climate Change Reserve investment to 2027. Both say they do not deny climate change - make arguments why they are not "defunding climate action".

Friendly reminder - they tried to defund the reserve last year too. #HamOnt

In a letter Friday to West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, the Federal Judicial Center said it had "omitted" the climate science chapter from its latest Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The removal marks a significant victory for Republican efforts to thwart a raft of climate lawsuits that the fossil fuel industry has warned could cost it billions of dollars. On Friday, the Republican Attorneys General Association congratulated its members on X, writing that the "Federal Judicial Center has announced they are removing ridiculous WOKE climate science from judicial manuals."

Fearing that educated judges might rule on climate cases, Republican Attorneys General successfully bullied the The Federal Judicial Center (the education & research arm of the federal court system) into removing a chapter summarizing climate science from their scientific judicial reference manual.

In 2014, New York City lowered its citywide default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. In the year that followed:

- Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent

- Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent

transalt.org/reports-list...