January Newsletter 2024

Dear Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,

Hoping your start to the new year has been successful and fun so far.
Thanks so much Facebook for all the wonderful pictures to be found there including the one posted here.  This one reminds me of so many kinds of communication that occur in Nature that we simply don’t understand.  We are all connected.

Also if you aren’t already familiar with his photos, Rejean Lemay does such an amazing job of documenting Inner Harbour wildlife.  This past few months he has tracked the murder of crows so astonishingly.  Have a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193488782@N06/albums/

LOCAL EVENTS AND ISSUES
1. New $70 million dollar Inner Harbour clean-up report now available for comment
2. New Year’s Levee at Memorial Hall, City Hall, Jan 9, 5-7 pm
3. Citywide Clothing Donation Bins
4. Cyclic Materials announces ‘successful results’ from Kingston pilot plant
5. Standard Operating Procedure Developed for Wildlife Protection during Construction Projects
6. Urban Boundary Expansion?
7. All Our Relations Land Trust – recent inspirational video
8. Celebrating Heritage Week, Feb 18, 2 pm
9. The Year in Review from The Kingstonist

FROM FARTHER AFIELD
10. Line 5 Pipeline Gains Key Permit Despite Indigenous Opposition & Environmental Concerns
11. What Paris Can Teach Us About Taking Back Public Space from Cars
12. Children Need Independence
13. Ontario’s Battery Plants Aren’t as Green as They Seem

USUAL FUN STUFF AT THE END? 
14. Not exactly fun but informative

LOCAL EVENTS AND ISSUES

1. Newer $70 MILLION DOLLAR Inner Harbour “clean-up” report now available for comment
Received from Jennifer at WSP (Golder Consultants is now subsumed under WSP) Dec 22, 2023

Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,

On behalf of the Kingston Inner Harbour (KIH) Sediment Management Project Team, WSP would like to inform you of recent updates to the sediment management strategy for the KIH Project.
The objective of the Project, which is being led by Transport Canada and Parks Canada, is to reduce the potential for risks from sediment contamination to people and wildlife within KIH through management of sediment quality while still protecting sensitive species, habitats, and valued features. 
Communication and engagement with Indigenous communities, local stakeholders, regulatory authorities, and the public are an important and meaningful part of project planning. To date, engagement activities have focused on communicating proposed plans for the KIH Project and engaging in open dialogue about the 2021 conceptual Sediment Management Plan ((WSP 2023) has been updated based on this feedback, as well as new technical and scientific findings. It can now be downloaded from the project website: Dear Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,

Hoping your start to the new year has been successful and fun so far.
Thanks so much Facebook for all the wonderful pictures to be found there including the one posted here.  This one reminds me of so many kinds of communication that occur in Nature that we simply don’t understand.  We are all connected.

Also if you aren’t already familiar with his photos, Rejean Lemay does such an amazing job of documenting Inner Harbour wildlife.  This past few months he has tracked the murder of crows so astonishingly.  Have a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193488782@N06/albums/

LOCAL EVENTS AND ISSUES
1. Newer $70 million dollar Inner Harbour clean-up report now available for comment
2. New Year’s Levee at Memorial Hall, City Hall, Jan 9, 5-7 pm
3. Citywide Clothing Donation Bins
4. Cyclic Materials announces ‘successful results’ from Kingston pilot plant
5. Standard Operating Procedure Developed for Wildlife Protection during Construction Projects
6. Urban Boundary Expansion?
7. All Our Relations Land Trust – recent inspirational video
8. Celebrating Heritage Week, Feb 18, 2 pm
9. The Year in Review from The Kingstonist

FROM FARTHER AFIELD
10. Line 5 Pipeline Gains Key Permit Despite Indigenous Opposition & Environmental Concerns
11. What Paris Can Teach Us About Taking Back Public Space from Cars
12. Children Need Independence
13. Ontario’s Battery Plants Aren’t as Green as They Seem

USUAL FUN STUFF AT THE END? 
14. Not exactly fun but informative video we should all watch.

LOCAL EVENTS AND ISSUES

1. Newer $70 MILLION DOLLAR Inner Harbour “clean-up” report now available for comment
Received from Jennifer at WSP (Golder Consultants is now subsumed under WSP) Dec 22, 2023

Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,

On behalf of the Kingston Inner Harbour (KIH) Sediment Management Project Team, WSP would like to inform you of recent updates to the sediment management strategy for the KIH Project.
The objective of the Project, which is being led by Transport Canada and Parks Canada, is to reduce the potential for risks from sediment contamination to people and wildlife within KIH through management of sediment quality while still protecting sensitive species, habitats, and valued features. 
Communication and engagement with Indigenous communities, local stakeholders, regulatory authorities, and the public are an important and meaningful part of project planning. To date, engagement activities have focused on communicating proposed plans for the KIH Project and engaging in open dialogue about the 2021 conceptual Sediment Management Plan (SMP). The revised conceptual SMP (WSP 2023) has been updated based on this feedback, as well as new technical and scientific findings.
https://www.kihproject-projetpik.ca/Content/Documents/22523199-013-R-Rev0-Conceptual%20Sediment%20Mgmnt%20Plan_English_Redacted_2023_12_21.pdf

Updates to the sediment management strategy for the Project include:

• Reducing dredge footprints to focus on areas with the highest concentrations of primary contaminants of concern (chromium, PAHs, PCBs), with off-site disposal of contaminated material.
• Placement of a thin engineered cover (potentially including sand, activated carbon, and/or organic materials), in lower risk areas, where dredging is not feasible.
• Increasing emphasis on nature-based shoreline rehabilitation, using principles of “green engineering” and recognition of existing habitat values to enhance ecological habitat, minimize risk of erosion, limit the potential for human access to the water and address nearshore contamination, where applicable
• Creating buffer zones between the dredging footprint and shoreline to preserve shoreline integrity, sensitive habitats, and archaeological features 

Prior to finalization of a design, a detailed impact assessment (DIA) will be completed to determine if any aspect of the proposed Project would likely cause significant adverse environmental effects. The DIA will consider potential changes to the environment that may be caused by the project as well as ways to mitigate potential adverse effects. To support the DIA process, a Conceptual Constraints and Impact Considerations (CCIC) document was completed. This document provides preliminary high-level considerations of potential Project impacts based on information gathered to date, which was used to refine the conceptual design. It also provided early identification of remaining information gaps, specification of additional works required to address the information gaps, and identification of Project implementation constraints that are known at this time. Additionally, a summary “What We Heard” report has been prepared which provides a broad overview of the engagement activities to date including the common themes and messages from stakeholders, and the next steps.  A downloadable version of the CCIC is available on the website. The What We Heard report and updates to the general website content will be available soon. Please continue to visit our website for these additional updates Home – KIH Project (kihproject-projetpik.ca).

The Project is currently in the planning stage, and further opportunities for consultation and engagement remain. It is expected that feedback from the CCIC and the updated SMP will support refinements to the remediation planning, including the draft DIA and detailed design. While feedback is being sought from Indigenous communities and targeted stakeholders at this time, opportunities for additional general public engagement will be provided as the planning process progresses, including information to be shared through the Project website (www.kihproject-projetpik.ca), and plans for public information sessions (dates to be determined, likely summer/fall 2024) with associated public question/comment periods. 
We will be reaching out early in the new year to set up meetings to discuss the updated sediment management strategy for the KIH and any feedback that you might have.
Kind Regards,
Jennifer, on behalf of the Project Team
Editor’s Note: I have begun looking at this. On the surface, it looks as though they have been listening to our suggestions but, of course, the devil is in the details.
The first three chapters contain a number of editorial errors I will submit to WSP shortly – things such as calling Belle Park “Cataraqui Park”.
Do feel free to read the report and send your comments directly to WSP through the sites provided above. If you do, I would also like a copy. 
Thanks so much. Mary – inverarymary@yahoo.com

2. New Year’s Levee at Memorial Hall, City Hall, Jan 9, 5-7 pm.
Come and meet our local Mayor, Bryan Paterson, Federal MP Mark Gerretsen, Provincial MP Ted Hsu, and local City Council.  All welcome!

3. Citywide Clothing Donation Bins
Received from the Kingstonist Dec 14, Dylan Chenier
“Visitors to several City of Kingston-owned properties may have noticed a new sight in recent weeks, as clothing donation bins have been installed at 19 different locations throughout the city; part of a new textile recycling pilot project which was approved by Kingston City Council earlier this fall. 
At a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, members of Kingston City Council voted to approve a nine-month pilot project which will see the Citiy partner with Renewal Squared Inc of Trenton, Ontario.
https://www.cityofkingston.ca/documents/10180/39944987/City-Council_Meeting-21-2023_Report-23-191_Textile-Recycling-Pilot-Project.pdf/3636df20-9846-0ea8-e83d-dfbab38d9e1a?t=1689164899884
As part of the pilot project, 19 bins have been installed at various City-owned buildings, parks, and other locations, to divert materials such as linens and towels away from area landfills. The program comes at no cost to the municipality. 
In an interview with Kingstonist, Trevor McCaw, founder and CEO of Renewal Squared Inc., explained the program is meant to divert clothing waste from local landfills, “What we know is the vast majority of textiles… [are] still ending up in landfill,” he said of the materials which include “linens, drapes… and all types of clothing.” McCaw added, “North of 80 per cent [of textiles] end up in landfill. And what’s crazy is the vast majority of what ends up in landfills can be reused. It’s not stuff that needs to be landfilled, it actually could have a second life,” he explained, noting many textile items can be reused or industrially recycled.”
More info?https://www.kingstonist.com/news/renewal-squared-inc-launches-textile-recycling-pilot-program-in-kingston/

4. Cyclic Materials announces ‘successful results’ from Kingston pilot plant 
Received from the Kingstonist Dec 15, 2023 – Jessica Foley
“Advanced metals recycling company, Cyclic Materials (https://www.cyclicmaterials.earth/) has announced successful results from its Kingston pilot plant, where its proprietary Mag-Xtract technology isolates magnets from recycled end-of-life products.
According to a release from Cyclic Materials, dated Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, the design capacity of the plant is 1,000 kg/hour (8,000 tonnes per year), and initial runs have processed several tonnes of magnet feedstock per day.
“The launch of our pilot plant is a major step forward for developing a domestic, circular supply chain for critical materials at the scale needed to support the clean energy transition and technological innovation,” said Ahmad Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO of Cyclic Materials. “Our magnet-agnostic recycling technology produces one of the cleanest and highest quality mixed rare earth oxide products available on the global market—an environmentally sustainable, first-of-its-kind solution to the limited international supply of critical magnet materials.”
In December 2022, Cyclic Materials partnered with Polestar, a Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer, to create closed-loop recycling pathways for rare earth elements (REEs) elements. As reported at that time, the company has a pilot plant on Progress Avenue, where they reclaim REE from end-of-life equipment. According to the company at the time, by 2026, they expect to produce 600 tonnes of rare earth oxide per year.
Also in 2022, Cyclic Materials completed an initial proof-of-concept of Mag-Xtract, processing 4,000 kg of magnet-containing products—including copper, aluminum and steel— from end-of-life products, according to the release. The company said that these materials are critical to the development of electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones and other technologies.”
More info? https://www.kingstonist.com/news/cyclic-materials-announces-successful-results-from-kingston-pilot-plant/

5. Standard Operating Procedure Developed for Wildlife Protection during Construction Projects 
Received from City of Kingston, Dec 12, 2023
Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003
To: Chair and Members of the Environment, Infrastructure & Transportation Policies Committee
From: Brad Joyce, Commissioner, Infrastructure, Transportation ＆ Emergency Services Resource Staff: Luke Follwell, Director, Engineering Services
Date of Meeting: December 12, 2023 Subject: Information Report,
Council Priority 2.1.4C – Species Protection Measures for Capital Projects
Council Strategic Plan Alignment: 
Theme: 2. Lead Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action Goal:
 2.1 Reduce carbon footprint of City operations. Executive Summary: Council Priority
2.1.4C requires staff to implement a procedure that considers species mitigation measuresas part of capital reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. 

A stamdard operating procedure (SOP) has been developed to assist project managers with practices for the protection of wildlife during the implementation of capital projects. The capital project SOP document includes a summary of relevant approval agencies and their associated roles. It identifies resources, responsibilities, methods, and typical projects that should consider wildlife protection measures as part of their execution.
Specific considerations for turtles, fish, birds, and bats are included in the SOP.
The procedure is based on legislated requirements, best management practices and past project successes.
Recommendations: This report is for information only. 139 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 2 of 5 Authorizing Signatures: Brad Joyce, Commissioner, Infrastructure, Transportation & Emergency Services Lanie Hurdle, Chief Administrative Officer Consultation with the following Members of the Corporate Management Team: Paige Agnew, Commissioner, Development & Growth Services Not required Jennifer Campbell, Commissioner, Community Services Not required Neil Carbone, Commissioner, Corporate Services Not required David Fell, President & CEO, Utilities Kingston Not required Peter Huigenbos, Commissioner, Major Projects & Strategic Initiatives Not required Desirée Kennedy, Chief Financial Officer & City Treasurer Not required…
Species Protection Measures for Capital Projects
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) developed in response to Council Strategic Priority 2.1.4C is intended to provide support to City of Kingston staff in undertaking capital works projects that may have an impact on wildlife, with a specific focus on Species at Risk (SAR). 
Overarching considerations in this SOP are that: 
• Public and employee health and safety are paramount and associated emergency work isn’t required to follow the SOP unless reasonable.
• Legislative requirements supersede the SOP. • The SOP isn’t intended to replace regulatory guidelines, approvals, or permitting.
• The SOP is subject to revision. Approval Authorities The requirement for approvals must be determined and completed by staff either directly or through an experienced consultant. Relevant approval authorities include the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA), the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Parks Canada (PC).
Relevant Capital Projects The extent of wildlife protection measures must be considered on a case-by-case basis. Projects that benefit from wildlife protection measures are typically in proximity to Natural Heritage Features and waterbodies, including (but not limited to):
• In-water works and shoreline protection
• Road improvements
• Stormwater management infrastructure repair
Waterfront park improvements Procedure Capital projects deemed appropriate for wildlife impact reduction procedures will: 
1. Consider recommendations from available site-specific studies.
2. Consider construction schedules to align with wildlife timing windows.
3. Consider hiring a qualified ecologist or biologist (larger scope or more impactful projects) to provide site specific investigation and recommendations.
4. Consider consulting with local or community subject matter experts. 141 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 4 of 5
5. Consider temporary wildlife mitigation measures.
6. Consider opportunities for permanent wildlife protection or habitat enhancements. Internal Review Depending on the extent of proposed work, a review of proposed measures may be required from relevant departments including Public Work & Solid Waste Services, Transportation & Transit Services, Engineering Services, and Utilities Kingston.
General Recommendations Typical species-specific considerations for capital projects include: 
Turtles
• Consider installing temporary exclusion fencing and or silt curtain prior to the nesting or overwintering season, as applicable and ahead of construction.
• Consider project impacts to over-wintering turtles and nests.
• Consider basking habitat impact.
• Consider scheduling works to reduce impact, where feasible, outside of typical high turtle activity widows (basking, nesting, hatching, overwintering, etc. (specific to species)
• Necessary approvals and permits are required for the removal of nests.
Fish 
• Restricted timing windows are typically May 15 to July 15 and October 1 to May 31
• Use erosion and sediment controls if appropriate.
• Consult with MECP if aquatic species at risk are present.
• Submit a request for review to DFO as necessary.
Birds 
• Bird breeding season extends from April 15 to August 15
• Avoid shrub and tree removal during the breeding season.
• If work is required within the breeding season, a nesting survey may be required.
Bats
• The summer/spring roost season extends from April 1 to September 31
 • Clearing of large trees or impact to potential roosting infrastructure should occur outside of the roosting season.
• If work is required within the roosting season, a roost survey may be required. 142 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 5 of 5
Existing Policy/By-Law: None
Notice Provisions: None
Accessibility Considerations: None
Financial Considerations: None
Contacts: Luke Follwell, Director, Engineering Services, 613-546-4291 extension 3139
Other City of Kingston Staff Consulted: Karen Santucci, Director of Public Works & Solid Waste Services Adam McDonald, Operations Manager, Public Works & Solid Waste Services Anthony Simmons, Manager, Construction, Engineering Services Mark Dickson, Acting Manager, Transportation Infrastructure, Engineering Services Neal Unsworth, Manager, Parks & Shoreline, Engineering Services Matthew McCombs, Project Engineer (Shoreline)
Editor’s Note: Thanks so much to Lesley Rudy of Ontario Nature for spearheading this and to Councillor Osanic for supporting it so strongly. 
However, we are truly saddened that this is merely an Information Report – apparently with no real teeth. Recently Carl Hanna noted some recent hatchlings that appeared to have died due to nearby construction. It is important that all persons involved in construction be aware and abide by the spirit of this information report.

6. Urban Boundary Expansion?
Received from Sukriti Agarwal, Manager, Policy Planning, City of Kingston, dec 12, 2023
“As part of the Population, Housing and Employment Forecast work being undertaken by the City, an urban land needs assessment will be completed to determine whether there is sufficient land within the existing urban boundary to accommodate forecasted residential and employment growth to 2051:
https://www.cityofkingston.ca/documents/10180/40041725/City-Council_Meeting-01-2024_Report-24-016_Population-Housing-and-Employment-Growth-Forecast-Update-to-2051.pdf/c5d9ef16-2b64-5841-40a7-4a17004862d9?t=1701354088062 . If an urban boundary expansion is determined to be required, the City will be evaluating locations through the upcoming Official Plan project.

Private landowners have the right to submit a request for an urban boundary expansion through the Official Plan project.
Those who intend to submit a request are asked to submit a “Notice of Intent” to the City by no later than January 31, 2024.
The “Notice of Intent” must include the following:

• Address or location of the property;
• Proposed uses;
• Proposed height; and
• If residential, the proposed housing form, number of units, and density.

A template for the “Notice of Intent” can be obtained by contacting staff. No technical studies are required to be submitted as part of the “Notice of Intent”. Subsequently, any private landowner requesting an urban boundary expansion will be required to submit a complete application for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) with a request to expand the urban boundary. The “Notice of Intent” is intended to satisfy the mandatory pre-consultation process for the OPA. The City will provide the landowner with a list of the required technical studies and plans to be included with the OPA application.

All OPA applications will be considered as part of the Official Plan project, with a recommendation to be provided to Council on all applications at the same time. The submission of an OPA application does not guaranteethat those lands will be added to the urban boundary or that the request will be approved by Council or the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

For further information, please contact me (sagarwal@cityofkingston.ca) or Laura Flaherty, Project Manager at 613-546-4291 extension 3157 or lflaherty@cityofkingston.ca.

7. All Our Relations Land Trust – recent inspirational video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDS5_6ok3cA 

More info and to donate? https://www.cityofkingston.ca/city-hall/projects-construction/community-climate-action-fund/donate?utm_source=social&utm_medium=email 

8. Celebrating Heritage Week, Memorial Hall, City Hall, Feb 18, 2 pm
The Frontenac Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Kingston Historical Society have organized a talk by Jennifer McKendry about her recent book:
“Architects Working in the Kingston Region – 1920 – 2000”

9. The Year in Review from The Kingstonist
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/kingstonists-2023-year-in-review-january-to-march/

FROM FARTHER AFIELD

10. Line 5 Pipeline Gains Key Permit Despite Indigenous Opposition & Environmental Concerns
Received Dec 31, 2023 from gristjournal.com – Anita Hofschneider
“The Line 5 oil pipeline that snakes through Wisconsin and Michigan won a key permit this month pending federal studies and approvals, Canada-based Enbridge Energy will build a new section of pipeline and tunnel underneath the Great Lakes despite widespread Indigenous opposition. You may not have heard of Line 5, but over the next few years, the controversy surrounding the 645-mile pipeline is expected to intensify.
The 70-year-old pipeline stretches from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, transporting up to 540,000 gallons of oil and natural gas liquids per day. It’s part of a network of more than 3,000 miles of pipelines that the company operates throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota where hundreds of opponents were arrested or cited in 2021 for protesting construction, including citizens and members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
Now, Enbridge Energy, with the support of the Canadian government, is seeking approvals to build a new $500 million conduit to replace an underwater section of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, while facing lawsuits backed by dozens of Indigenous nations as well as the state of Michigan.
A key concern is the aging pipeline’s risk to the Great Lakes, which represent more than a fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. Environmental concerns are so great that three years ago, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered Enbridge’s dual pipelines that run for 4 miles at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac to cease operations.
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2020/11/13/governor-whitmer-takes-action-to-shut-down-the-line-5-dual-pipelines-through-the-straits-of-mackina
“The state is revoking the easement for violation of the public trust doctrine, given the unreasonable risk that continued operation of the dual pipelines poses to the Great Lakes,” the governor’s office said at the time.
The move came just a year after the Bad River Band tribal nation filed a lawsuit against Enbridge regarding another, separate section of Line 5 in Wisconsin located across 12 miles of the Bad River reservation. The pipeline had been installed in 1953 and, at the time, had received easements to do so from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
But the easements expired, and, in a court filing, the tribal nation said the company “has continued to operate the pipeline as if it has an indefinite entitlement to do so,” despite federal law that bans the renewal of expired right-of-way permits on Indian land and would require Enbridge to obtain new permits and approvals from the Band.
The Bad River won a key victory last summer when a Wisconsin judge ruled that the company must shut down the portion of its pipeline that trespasses on the reservation by 2026.
Enbridge has resisted calls to cease Line 5 operations. Instead, the company contends that it has the right to continue operating there, citing a 1992 agreement with the Band, and is planning to reroute the pipeline while appealing the Wisconsin judge’s decision. The company also argues that building a new pipeline 100 feet below the lake bed through the Straits of Mackinac will virtually eliminate the chance of a spill.
“Line 5 poses little risk to natural and cultural resources, nor does it endanger the way of life of Indigenous communities,” company spokesperson Ryan Duffy said. “Line 5 is operated safely and placing the line in a tunnel well below the lake bed at the Straits of Mackinac will only serve to make a safe pipeline safer.”
To that end, Enbridge successfully appeared before the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state’s top energy regulator, this month and got permission to build a new concrete tunnel beneath the channel connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The commission cited the need for the light crude oil and natural gas liquids that the pipeline transports, and said other alternatives like driving, trucking or hauling by barge or rail would increase the risk of a spill.
The commission’s approval contradicts Governor Whitmer’s efforts to shut down the pipeline. In the wake of the permit, the governor’s office told reporters the state commission is “independent.” Both of the governor’s appointees on the board voted in favor of the permit.
The approval doesn’t mean that the project will proceed, but it is encouraging for the company as it seeks federal clearance. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of putting together a d draft environmental impact statement for the project. That document isn’t expected to be published until spring 2025.
In the meantime, Line 5 has gotten lots of support from the government of Canada, where Enbridge Energy is based. The government has repeatedly involded a 1977 energy treaty between the U.S. and Canada to defend the pipeline.
That’s frustrating to Indigenous peoples who have seen their treaty rights repeatedly violated.
“What we’re simply trying to continue to preserve and protect is an Indigenous way of life, which is the same thing our ancestors tried to preserve and protect when they first entered into those treaty negotiations,” said Whitney Gravelle, chairperson of the Bay Mills Indian Community, one of numerous tribal nations opposing Line 5.
The Straits are also the site of Anishinaabe creation stories, the waters from which the Great Turtle emerged to create Turtle Island, what is currently called North America. Gravelle said that maintaining clean lakes where Indigenous people can fish is about more than just the right to fish. It’s about the continuation of culture.
“It’s about being able to learn from your parents and your elders about what fishing means to your people, whether it be in ceremony or in tradition or in oral storytelling, and then understanding the role that that fish plays in your community,” she said.
Last summer, José Francisco Calí Tzay, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, called for suspending the pipeline’s operations “until the free, prior, and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples affected is secured.” Free prior, and informed consent (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/FreePriorandInformedConsent.pdf) is a right guaranteed to Indigenous Peoples under international law that says governments must consult Indigenous nations in good faith to obtain their consent before undertaking projects that affect their land and resources — consent that Bad River, for instance, has refused to give.
“Canada is advocating for the pipeline to continue operations, following the decision of a Parliamentary Committee that did not hear testimony from the affected Indigenous Peoples,” Calí Tzay wrote, adding the country’s support for the pipeline contradicts its international commitments to mitigate climate change in addition to the risk of a “catastrophic spill.”
Part of what makes Line 5 such a flashpoint is the importance of the Great Lakes and Enbridge’s spotty environmental record. As the Guardian has reported, the Great Lakes “stretch out beyond horizons, collectively covering an area as large as the U.K. and providing drinking water for a third of all Canadians and one in 10 Americans.”
In 2010,two separate pipelines run by Enbridge ruptured (https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/enbridge-clean-water-act-settlement#violations) spilling more than a million gallons of oil between them into rivers in Michigan and Illinois. The Environmental Protection Agency found that Enbridge was at fault not only for failing to upkeep the pipeline but also for restarting the pipeline after alarms went off without checking whether it failed. The company eventually reached a $177 million settlement with federal regulators over the disaster.
A 2017 National Wildlife Federation analysis found that Line 5 has leaked more than a million gallons 29 separate occasions.
(https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26042017/enbridge-pipeline-mackinac-line-5-michigan-oil-spill-risk/)
The company said just five of these instances were outside of Enbridge facilities, and that no spills have occurred in the Straits of Mackinac or on the Bad River Reservation. Still, the section of the pipeline on the floor of the Straits of Mackinac has been dented by boat anchors dropped in the lakes, including from Enbridge-contracted vessels.
Despite Indigenous peoples’ concerns, Line 5 continues to gain momentum, in part because of the amount of energy it supplies to the U.S. and Canada and the countries’ continued dependence on fossil fuels.While the international community agreed to curb fossil fuels this month at COP28, there’s no agreed-upon timeline for actually doing so, and the consumer demand for affordable energy remains high, especially in light of inflation driving the prices of food and housing.
Meanwhile, more than 60 tribal nations, including every federally recognized tribe in Michigan, have said the pipeline poses “an unacceptable risk of an oil spill into the Great Lakes.”
“The Straits of Mackinac are a sacred wellspring of life and culture for tribal nations in Michigan and beyond,” the nations wrote in an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit challenging the pipeline.
To Gravelle from the Bay Mills Indian Community, the issue is deeply personal and goes beyond maintaining access to clean water and the ability to fish safely. Fishing is deeply intertwined with her peoples’ culture. When a baby is born, their first meal is fish, and when her people hold traditional ceremonies, they serve fish.
“Our traditions and who we are as a people are all wrapped up into what we do with fish,” Gravelle said. “Our relationship with the land and water is more important than any commercial value that could ever be realized from an oil pipeline.”

11. What Paris Can Teach Us About Taking Back Public Space from Cars
Received from the Globe and Mail, Jan 2, 2024 – Andre Picard

“In 2020, Rue de Rivoli, in the heart of Paris, was a six-lane street jammed with soul-sucking, horn-blasting traffic. Today, it has a single bus/taxi lane and expansive bike lanes crammed with riders, even on a cool winter’s day.
The street’s remake is symbolic of the transformation of Paris from a car city to a cycling city, a remarkable feat of political will as much as engineering.
In the early 1990s, the French capital had a laughable five kilometres of bike paths. Today, there are 4,017 kilometres of paths in the greater Paris area, with 2,158 more kilometres planned – all of it with concrete dividers and steel bollards, not just a splash of paint.
Most of that change has occurred in the past decade, though the embrace of bikes and e-bikes rose dramatically during a lengthy transit strike in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
More than one million of the greater Paris Region’s 12 million residents now cycle daily, and that’s only expected to increase as infrastructure improves.
Since the turn of the century, car trips have declined 60 per cent, public transit ridership is up 40 per cent, and car crashes down 30 per cent – all this according to the Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris since 2014, has been the catalyst for much of the change, elected on a promise to create “a Paris that breathes.” Promoting cycling is the cornerstone of a larger plan to fight climate change, reduce air pollution, and expand green space.
There have been countless initiatives to make the city more livable.
Paris has closed streets to traffic near elementary schools and daycares. So far, 168 streets have been transformed into play areas.
To discourage trips to the historical centre of the city, parking rates have been jacked up to €6 an hour. The speed limit has dropped to 30 kilometres an hour.
The bike-share program Vélib has 20,000 bicycles available at 1,400 stations. A quick, cheap rental is a great way for business people to make short trips to meetings, and a delightful way to be a tourist.
Paris has also created “low-emission zones,” where older, more polluting cars are banned. By 2030, there will be a total ban on gas-powered vehicles.
In most major cities, including Paris, cars – including roads and parking – occupy more than half of all public space. That’s an obscenity – a costly, inefficient one.
The pandemic reminded us that people need space to walk, to breathe, and to play. The redistribution of public space is long overdue.
While Ms. Hidalgo is often denounced as “anti-car,” she is actually pro-pedestrian, and pro-cyclist. Deadly heatwaves and a growing number of smog days fuelled the need for urgent change.
Paris is a city where millions of people live in cramped apartments, where the street is an extension of the home – it’s where children play, where merchants hawk their wares, where people eat and socialize.
But over the decades, streets have been commandeered by cars.
Is there anything more Parisian than strolling a grand boulevard? Well, now there is: Cycling that same boulevard.
Let’s not forget that Paris is a city with already tremendous public transit. The Métro, with daily ridership of more than four million people, features 16 lines and 308 stations, without counting the RER regional train service.
And it’s about to get better. The system is in the midst of a massive expansion, with four new lines and 68 new stations, most set to open before the 2024 Olympics. The Grand Paris Express will mostly facilitate travel from the suburbs to the city, but also connect suburbs to each other, which is almost unheard of in large metropolitan areas.
The suburbs, too, are greatly expanding their bike lanes and green spaces around these new transit hubs. Nationally, France has committed €2-billion to doubling its cycling infrastructure by 2030.
In Canadian cities, the cycling and public transit infrastructure is lamentable, with few exceptions.
We spend our time making excuses – the weather, the weather! But Toronto’s weather is not much different from that of Paris.
What’s lacking in Canada is political will – we need politicians and policy-makers to say we no longer accept the tyranny of the car. We need the recognition that, if we want to tackle climate change and make cities livable, the focus should be on improving the lots of cyclists and pedestrians.
To change people’s lives, we have to change the way they move.

12. Children Need Independence
Received  Jan 1, on Twitter – Jennifer Keesmaat 
This is something: an article in the Journal of Pediatric Medicine makes the case that the rise in anxiety and depression in children and youth is linked to the severe (and relatively recent) curtailing of independence. Roaming, making choices, getting into a little trouble, it turns out, is a necessary part of growing up. When you take this away, children become unable to navigate the ebbs and flows of the real world. I made this argument in my TED talk a decade ago about the importance of walking to school – arguing that walking to school is not frivolous, but rather critical, to childhood. Another blow against cities designed for driving. “Our thesis is that a primary cause of the rise in mental disorders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.” https://jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00111-7/fulltext

13. Ontario’s Battery Plants Aren’t as Green as They Seem
Received from Canada’s National Observer Jan 3, 2024 – Ross Belot
“As usual, the recent UN climate talks produced wonderful words from Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister, Steven Guilbeault. “COP28 calls for groundbreaking goals to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, and, for the first time ever, we reached a historic consensus to move away from fossil fuels in energy systems,” he said, as the talks wound down in early December. Guilbeault played a key role in producing that successful final communique.
We’ve been hearing how great Canada is at every one of these conferences since the Liberals took office in 2015. Our own Catherine McKenna, who also served as environment minister, was instrumental at COP21 in Paris and helped establish the aspirational goal to limit the end of the century temperature rise to 1.5C. McKenna said back then “Canada is ready to do its part.”
Canada recently was rated as being in the G20’s next to worst group for having “highly insufficient” greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plans for 2030. We share that spot with China and India. McKenna now has a job at the UN calling out entities who claim to be doing their part but aren’t and Canada should be on her list.
The basics of the UN process is that each country tracks its own emissions and reduces them based on committed targets. The idea of the target is to actually reduce our own emissions, not just say we are going to it and then do the opposite. Key phrases to remember are “reduce” and “own emissions”. The Trudeau government seems confused about that.
Now, the prime minister and his people are back at it again. Their most recent expenditure is tens of billions to subsidize profitable global corporations to build battery plants in Canada. That sounds green on the surface but in actual fact battery plants themselves are large GHG emitters, requiring fossil fuel burning and large amounts of electricity. The batteries produced will mostly be for export, meaning they will be placed in foreign cars and the resulting emissions reductions will benefit countries other than ours. Canada, in effect, is taking on increased GHG emissions to help other countries meet their goals and paying tens of billions for the privilege.
The government knows this. But it doesn’t talk directly about how bad these plants can be for Canada’s climate goals. They talk about how a Quebec battery plant is perhaps the world’s most environmentally friendly because of Quebec’s green electricity supply but there is silence on the Ontario plants’ emissions. That’s because Ontario is probably one of the last places battery plants should be built from a climate action perspective based on recent behaviour.
Let’s look at some battery plant company material that attempts to reduce that GHG concern. Stellantis/LG says about their $5 billion dollar plant, the one our governments are giving $15 billion to in Windsor, Ont. “Canada is committed to establishing a broad, local battery ecosystem by leveraging, among other things, its leadership in the generation of electricity from renewable sources,” the site boasts. To believe that, you’d have to believe Windsor hasn’t been in Ontario.
The current leadership of Ontario in 2018, their first year in office, canceled hundreds of green energy projects at a cost of hundreds of millions dollars and has not been encouraging any new renewable solar or wind development. Let’s look at the record on that. According to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association in 2022 1.8 GW of wind and solar energy was added in Canada. Impressive. How much of that was in Ontario? A mere .01 GW. Essentially nothing.
Ontario’s Independent Energy System Operator (IESO) pivoted somewhat in December of last year, with a plan to add 5 GW of renewables in the 2030’s. Stellantis has a global goal of being carbon neutral by 2038 which may have helped inch the Ford government towards the green side of things. We should celebrate that. But keep in mind that the Trudeau government has committed to a goal of a 40-45 per cent reduction in Canada’s emissions by 2030. These plants go the opposite way with significant emissions starting very soon.
Enbridge has applied to dramatically increase natural gas supply in Southwestern Ontario for the new battery plant among other users, forecasting a 50 per cent increase in demand in the area by 2030. Ontario’s IESO is also installing major new electricity infrastructure in the area, and much of the region’s incremental load will be met with natural gas fired electricity for the next several years at least, according to the City of Windsor. Does any of this sound like Guilbeault’s upbeat take away from COP28?
If your answer is yes, then you aren’t watching what the Trudeau and Ford governments are doing. Our UN commitment calls on Canada to reduce emissions and, by extension, our own use of fossil fuels. We are moving in the wrong direction for a variety of reasons – economic as well as political. Our primary goal must be our UN commitment because, as we keep saying, climate change is an existential threat. Perhaps Catherine McKenna can call us out on that.”

USUAL FUN STUFF AT THE END? 
14. Not exactly fun but informative
Excellent Water Brothers Doc about the forever chemicals (PCBs and PAHs) which are in the Inner Harbour as well as Lake Ontario.  We should all be aware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7df1VdnK58&t=71s
If you have fun things I could include in the next update, do send them to me.
Always happy to receive suggestions.

So that’s it for now.

Cheers,
Mary Farrar, President,
Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour,
www.friendsofinnerharbour.com
613-544-1246

DocumentsEN – KIH Project (kihproject-projetpik.ca).
Updates to the sediment management strategy for the Project include:

• Reducing dredge footprints to focus on areas with the highest concentrations of primary contaminants of concern (chromium, PAHs, PCBs), with off-site disposal of contaminated material.
• Placement of a thin engineered cover (potentially including sand, activated carbon, and/or organic materials), in lower risk areas, where dredging is not feasible.
• Increasing emphasis on nature-based shoreline rehabilitation, using principles of “green engineering” and recognition of existing habitat values to enhance ecological habitat, minimize risk of erosion, limit the potential for human access to the water and address nearshore contamination, where applicable
• Creating buffer zones between the dredging footprint and shoreline to preserve shoreline integrity, sensitive habitats, and archaeological features

Prior to finalization of a design, a detailed impact assessment (DIA) will be completed to determine if any aspect of the proposed Project would likely cause significant adverse environmental effects. The DIA will consider potential changes to the environment that may be caused by the project as well as ways to mitigate potential adverse effects. To support the DIA process, a Conceptual Constraints and Impact Considerations (CCIC) document was completed. This document provides preliminary high-level considerations of potential Project impacts based on information gathered to date, which was used to refine the conceptual design. It also provided early identification of remaining information gaps, specification of additional works required to address the information gaps, and identification of Project implementation constraints that are known at this time. Additionally, a summary “What We Heard” report has been prepared which provides a broad overview of the engagement activities to date including the common themes and messages from stakeholders, and the next steps.  A downloadable version of the CCIC is available on the website. The What We Heard report and updates to the general website content will be available soon. Please continue to visit our website for these additional updates Home – KIH Project (kihproject-projetpik.ca).
The Project is currently in the planning stage, and further opportunities for consultation and engagement remain. It is expected that feedback from the CCIC and the updated SMP will support refinements to the remediation planning, including the draft DIA and detailed design. While feedback is being sought from Indigenous communities and targeted stakeholders at this time, opportunities for additional general public engagement will be provided as the planning process progresses, including information to be shared through the Project website (www.kihproject-projetpik.ca), and plans for public information sessions (dates to be determined, likely summer/fall 2024) with associated public question/comment periods. 
We will be reaching out early in the new year to set up meetings to discuss the updated sediment management strategy for the KIH and any feedback that you might have.
Kind Regards,
Jennifer, on behalf of the Project Team
Editor’s Note: I have begun looking at this. On the surface, it looks as though they have been listening to our suggestions but, of course, the devil is in the details.
The first three chapters contain a number of editorial errors I will submit to WSP shortly – things such as calling Belle Park “Cataraqui Park”.
Do feel free to read the report and send your comments directly to WSP through the sites provided above. If you do, I would also like a copy. 
Thanks so much.
Mary – inverarymary@yahoo.com

2. New Year’s Levee at Memorial Hall, City Hall, Jan 6, 5-7 pm.
Come and meet our local Mayor, Bryan Paterson, Federal MP Mark Gerretsen, Provincial MP Ted Hsu, and local City Council.  All welcome!

3. Citywide Clothing Donation Bins
Received from the Kingstonist Dec 14, Dylan Chenier
“Visitors to several City of Kingston-owned properties may have noticed a new sight in recent weeks, as clothing donation bins have been installed at 19 different locations throughout the city; part of a new textile recycling pilot project which was approved by Kingston City Council earlier this fall. 
At a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, members of Kingston City Council voted to approve a nine-month pilot project which will see the City partner with Renewal Squared Inc. of Trenton, Ontario. As part of the pilot project, 19 bins have been installed at various City-owned buildings, parks, and other locations, to divert materials such as linens and towels away from area landfills. The program comes at no cost to the municipality. 
In an interview with Kingstonist, Trevor McCaw, founder and CEO of Renewal Squared Inc., explained the program is meant to divert clothing waste from local landfills, “What we know is the vast majority of textiles… [are] still ending up in landfill,” he said of the materials which include “linens, drapes… and all types of clothing.” McCaw added, “North of 80 per cent [of textiles] end up in landfill. And what’s crazy is the vast majority of what ends up in landfills can be reused. It’s not stuff that needs to be landfilled, it actually could have a second life,” he explained, noting many textile items can be reused or industrially recycled.”
More info?https://www.kingstonist.com/news/renewal-squared-inc-launches-textile-recycling-pilot-program-in-kingston/

4. Cyclic Materials announces ‘successful results’ from Kingston pilot plant 
Received from the Kingstonist Dec 15, 2023 – Jessica Foley
“Advanced metals recycling company Cyclic Materials has announced successful results from its Kingston pilot plant, where its proprietary Mag-Xtract technology isolates magnets from recycled end-of-life products.
According to a release from Cyclic Materials, dated Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, the design capacity of the plant is 1,000 kg/hour (8,000 tonnes per year), and initial runs have processed several tonnes of magnet feedstock per day.
“The launch of our pilot plant is a major step forward for developing a domestic, circular supply chain for critical materials at the scale needed to support the clean energy transition and technological innovation,” said Ahmad Ghahreman, co-founder and CEO of Cyclic Materials. “Our magnet-agnostic recycling technology produces one of the cleanest and highest quality mixed rare earth oxide products available on the global market—an environmentally sustainable, first-of-its-kind solution to the limited international supply of critical magnet materials.”
In December 2022, Cyclic Materials partnered with Polestar, a Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer, to create closed-loop recycling pathways for rare earth elements (REEs). As reported at that time, the company has a pilot plant on Progress Avenue, where they reclaim REE from end-of-life equipment. According to the company at the time, by 2026, they expect to produce 600 tonnes of rare earth oxide per year.
Also in 2022, Cyclic Materials completed an initial proof-of-concept of Mag-Xtract, processing 4,000 kg of magnet-containing products—including copper, aluminum and steel— from end-of-life products, according to the release. The company said that these materials are critical to the development of electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones and other technologies.”
More info? https://www.kingstonist.com/news/cyclic-materials-announces-successful-results-from-kingston-pilot-plant/

5. Standard Operating Procedure Developed for Wildlife Protection during Construction Projects 
Received from City of Kingston, Dec 12, 2023
Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003
To: Chair and Members of the Environment, Infrastructure & Transportation Policies Committee
From: Brad Joyce, Commissioner, Infrastructure, Transportation ＆ Emergency Services Resource Staff: Luke Follwell, Director, Engineering Services
Date of Meeting: December 12, 2023 Subject: Information Report,
Council Priority 2.1.4C – Species Protection Measures for Capital Projects
Council Strategic Plan Alignment: 
Theme: 2. Lead Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action Goal:
 2.1 Reduce carbon footprint of City operations. Executive Summary: Council Priority
2.1.4C requires staff to implement a procedure that considers species mitigation measuresas part of capital reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. 

A standard operating procedure (SOP) has been developed to assist project managers with practices for the protection of wildlife during the implementation of capital projects. The capital project SOP document includes a summary of relevant approval agencies and their associated roles. It identifies resources, responsibilities, methods, and typical projects that should consider wildlife protection measures as part of their execution.
Specific considerations for turtles, fish, birds, and bats are included in the SOP.
The procedure is based on legislated requirements, best management practices and past project successes.
Recommendations: This report is for information only. 139 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 2 of 5 Authorizing Signatures: Brad Joyce, Commissioner, Infrastructure, Transportation & Emergency Services Lanie Hurdle, Chief Administrative Officer Consultation with the following Members of the Corporate Management Team: Paige Agnew, Commissioner, Development & Growth Services Not required Jennifer Campbell, Commissioner, Community Services Not required Neil Carbone, Commissioner, Corporate Services Not required David Fell, President & CEO, Utilities Kingston Not required Peter Huigenbos, Commissioner, Major Projects & Strategic Initiatives Not required Desirée Kennedy, Chief Financial Officer & City Treasurer Not required…
Species Protection Measures for Capital Projects
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) developed in response to Council Strategic Priority 2.1.4C is intended to provide support to City of Kingston staff in undertaking capital works projects that may have an impact on wildlife, with a specific focus on Species at Risk (SAR). 
Overarching considerations in this SOP are that: 
• Public and employee health and safety are paramount and associated emergency work isn’t required to follow the SOP unless reasonable.
• Legislative requirements supersede the SOP. • The SOP isn’t intended to replace regulatory guidelines, approvals, or permitting.
• The SOP is subject to revision. Approval Authorities The requirement for approvals must be determined and completed by staff either directly or through an experienced consultant. Relevant approval authorities include the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA), the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Parks Canada (PC).
Relevant Capital Projects The extent of wildlife protection measures must be considered on a case-by-case basis. Projects that benefit from wildlife protection measures are typically in proximity to Natural Heritage Features and waterbodies, including (but not limited to):
• In-water works and shoreline protection
• Road improvements
• Stormwater management infrastructure repair
Waterfront park improvements Procedure Capital projects deemed appropriate for wildlife impact reduction procedures will: 
1. Consider recommendations from available site-specific studies.
2. Consider construction schedules to align with wildlife timing windows.
3. Consider hiring a qualified ecologist or biologist (larger scope or more impactful projects) to provide site specific investigation and recommendations.
4. Consider consulting with local or community subject matter experts. 141 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 4 of 5
5. Consider temporary wildlife mitigation measures.
6. Consider opportunities for permanent wildlife protection or habitat enhancements. Internal Review Depending on the extent of proposed work, a review of proposed measures may be required from relevant departments including Public Work & Solid Waste Services, Transportation & Transit Services, Engineering Services, and Utilities Kingston.
General Recommendations Typical species-specific considerations for capital projects include: 
Turtles
• Consider installing temporary exclusion fencing and or silt curtain prior to the nesting or overwintering season, as applicable and ahead of construction.
• Consider project impacts to over-wintering turtles and nests.
• Consider basking habitat impact.
• Consider scheduling works to reduce impact, where feasible, outside of typical high turtle activity widows (basking, nesting, hatching, overwintering, etc. (specific to species)
• Necessary approvals and permits are required for the removal of nests.
Fish 
• Restricted timing windows are typically May 15 to July 15 and October 1 to May 31
• Use erosion and sediment controls if appropriate.
• Consult with MECP if aquatic species at risk are present.
• Submit a request for review to DFO as necessary.
Birds 
• Bird breeding season extends from April 15 to August 15
• Avoid shrub and tree removal during the breeding season.
• If work is required within the breeding season, a nesting survey may be required.
Bats
• The summer/spring roost season extends from April 1 to September 31
 • Clearing of large trees or impact to potential roosting infrastructure should occur outside of the roosting season.
• If work is required within the roosting season, a roost survey may be required. 142 Information Report to Environment, Infrastructure ＆ Transportation Policies Committee Report Number EITP-24-003 December 12, 2023 Page 5 of 5
Existing Policy/By-Law: None
Notice Provisions: None
Accessibility Considerations: None
Financial Considerations: None
Contacts: Luke Follwell, Director, Engineering Services, 613-546-4291 extension 3139
Other City of Kingston Staff Consulted: Karen Santucci, Director of Public Works & Solid Waste Services Adam McDonald, Operations Manager, Public Works & Solid Waste Services Anthony Simmons, Manager, Construction, Engineering Services Mark Dickson, Acting Manager, Transportation Infrastructure, Engineering Services Neal Unsworth, Manager, Parks & Shoreline, Engineering Services Matthew McCombs, Project Engineer (Shoreline)
Editor’s Note: Thanks so much to Lesley Rudy of Ontario Nature for spearheading this and to Councillor Osanic for supporting it so strongly. 
However, we are truly saddened that this is merely an Information Report – apparently with no real teeth. Recently Carl Hanna noted some recent hatchlings that appeared to have died due to nearby construction. It is important that all persons involved in construction be aware and abide by the spirit of this information report.

6. Urban Boundary Expansion?
Received from Sukriti Agarwal, Manager, Policy Planning, City of Kingston, dec 12, 2023
“As part of the Population, Housing and Employment Forecast work being undertaken by the City, an urban land needs assessment will be completed to determine whether there is sufficient land within the existing urban boundary to accommodate forecasted residential and employment growth to 2051. If an urban boundary expansion is determined to be required, the City will be evaluating locations through the upcoming Official Plan project.

Private landowners have the right to submit a request for an urban boundary expansion through the Official Plan project.
Those who intend to submit a request are asked to submit a “Notice of Intent” to the City by no later than January 31, 2024.
The “Notice of Intent” must include the following:

• Address or location of the property;
• Proposed uses;
• Proposed height; and
• If residential, the proposed housing form, number of units, and density.

A template for the “Notice of Intent” can be obtained by contacting staff. No technical studies are required to be submitted as part of the “Notice of Intent”. Subsequently, any private landowner requesting an urban boundary expansion will be required to submit a complete application for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) with a request to expand the urban boundary. The “Notice of Intent” is intended to satisfy the mandatory pre-consultation process for the OPA. The City will provide the landowner with a list of the required technical studies and plans to be included with the OPA application.

All OPA applications will be considered as part of the Official Plan project, with a recommendation to be provided to Council on all applications at the same time. The submission of an OPA application does not guaranteethat those lands will be added to the urban boundary or that the request will be approved by Council or the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

For further information, please contact me (sagarwal@cityofkingston.ca) or Laura Flaherty, Project Manager at 613-546-4291 extension 3157 or lflaherty@cityofkingston.ca.

7. All Our Relations Land Trust – recent inspirational video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDS5_6ok3cA 

More info and to donate? https://www.cityofkingston.ca/city-hall/projects-construction/community-climate-action-fund/donate?utm_source=social&utm_medium=email 

8. Celebrating Heritage Week, Memorial Hall, City Hall, Feb 18, 2 pm
The Frontenac Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Kingston Historical Society have organized a talk by Jennifer McKendry about her recent book:
“Architects Working in the Kingston Region – 1920 – 2000”

9. The Year in Review from The Kingstonist
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/kingstonists-2023-year-in-review-january-to-march/

FROM FARTHER AFIELD
10. Line 5 Pipeline Gains Key Permit Despite Indigenous Opposition & Environmental Concerns
Received Dec 31, 2023 from gristjournal.com – Anita Hofschneider
“The Line 5 oil pipeline that snakes through Wisconsin and Michigan won a key permit this month: pending federal studies and approvals, Canada-based Enbridge Energy will build a new section of pipeline and tunnel underneath the Great Lakes despite widespread Indigenous opposition. You may not have heard of Line 5, but over the next few years, the controversy surrounding the 645-mile pipeline is expected to intensify.
The 70-year-old pipeline stretches from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, transporting up to 540,000 gallons of oil and natural gas liquids per day. It’s part of a network of more than 3,000 miles of pipelines that the company operates throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota where hundreds of opponents were arrested or cited in 2021 for protesting construction, including citizens and members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and White Earth Band of Ojibwe.
Now, Enbridge Energy, with the support of the Canadian government, is seeking approvals to build a new $500 million conduit to replace an underwater section of Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, while facing lawsuits backed by dozens of Indigenous nations as well as the state of Michigan.
A key concern is the aging pipeline’s risk to the Great Lakes, which represent more than a fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. Environmental concerns are so great that three years ago, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered Enbridge’s dual pipelines that run for 4 miles at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac to cease operations.
“The state is revoking the easement for violation of the public trust doctrine, given the unreasonable risk that continued operation of the dual pipelines poses to the Great Lakes,” the governor’s office said at the time.
The move came just a year after the Bad River Band tribal nation filed a lawsuit against Enbridge regarding another, separate section of Line 5 in Wisconsin located across 12 miles of the Bad River reservation. The pipeline had been installed in 1953 and, at the time, had received easements to do so from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
But the easements expired, and in a court filing, the tribal nation said the company “has continued to operate the pipeline as if it has an indefinite entitlement to do so,” despite federal law that bans the renewal of expired right-of-way permits on Indian land and would require Enbridge to obtain new permits and approvals from the Band.
The Bad River won a key victory last summer when a Wisconsin judge ruled that the company must shut down the portion of its pipeline that trespasses on the reservation by 2026.
Enbridge has resisted calls to cease Line 5 operations. Instead, the company contends that it has the right to continue operating there, citing a 1992 agreement with the Band, and is planning to reroute the pipeline while appealing the Wisconsin judge’s decision. The company also argues that building a new pipeline 100 feet below the lake bed through the Straits of Mackinac will virtually eliminate the chance of a spill.
“Line 5 poses little risk to natural and cultural resources, nor does it endanger the way of life of Indigenous communities,” company spokesperson Ryan Duffy said. “Line 5 is operated safely and placing the line in a tunnel well below the lake bed at the Straits of Mackinac will only serve to make a safe pipeline safer.”
To that end, Enbridge successfully appeared before the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state’s top energy regulator, this month and got permission to build a new concrete tunnel beneath the channel connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The commission cited the need for the light crude oil and natural gas liquids that the pipeline transports, and said other alternatives like driving, trucking or hauling by barge or rail would increase the risk of a spill.
The commission’s approval contradicts Governor Whitmer’s efforts to shut down the pipeline. In the wake of the permit, the governor’s office told reporters the state commission is “independent.” Both of the governor’s appointees on the board voted in favor of the permit.
The approval doesn’t mean that the project will proceed, but it is encouraging for the company as it seeks federal clearance. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of putting together a draft environmental impact statement for the project. That document isn’t expected to be published until spring 2025.
In the meantime, Line 5 has gotten lots of support from the government of Canada, where Enbridge Energy is based. The government has repeatedly invoked a 1977 energy treaty between the U.S. and Canada to defend the pipeline.
That’s frustrating to Indigenous peoples who have seen their treaty rights repeatedly violated.
“What we’re simply trying to continue to preserve and protect is an Indigenous way of life, which is the same thing our ancestors tried to preserve and protect when they first entered into those treaty negotiations,” said Whitney Gravelle, chairperson of the Bay Mills Indian Community, one of numerous tribal nations opposing Line 5.
The Straits are also the site of Anishinaabe creation stories, the waters from which the Great Turtle emerged to create Turtle Island, what is currently called North America. Gravelle said that maintaining clean lakes where Indigenous people can fish is about more than just the right to fish. It’s about the continuation of culture.
“It’s about being able to learn from your parents and your elders about what fishing means to your people, whether it be in ceremony or in tradition or in oral storytelling, and then understanding the role that that fish plays in your community,” she said.
Last summer, José Francisco Calí Tzay, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, called for suspending the pipeline’s operations “until the free, prior, and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples affected is secured.”Free, prior, and informed consent is a right guaranteed to Indigenous Peoples under international law that says governments must consult Indigenous nations in good faith to obtain their consent before undertaking projects that affect their land and resources — consent that Bad River, for instance, has refused to give.
“Canada is advocating for the pipeline to continue operations, following the decision of a Parliamentary Committee that did not hear testimony from the affected Indigenous Peoples,” Calí Tzay wrote, adding the country’s support for the pipeline contradicts its international commitments to mitigate climate change in addition to the risk of a “catastrophic spill.”
Part of what makes Line 5 such a flashpoint is the importance of the Great Lakes and Enbridge’s spotty environmental record.As the Guardian reported last month, the Great Lakes “stretch out beyond horizons, collectively covering an area as large as the U.K. and providing drinking water for a third of all Canadians and one in 10 Americans.”
In 2010, two separate pipelines run by Enbridge ruptured, spilling more than a million gallons of oil between them into rivers in Michigan and Illinois.The Environmental Protection Agency found that Enbridge was at fault not only for failing to upkeep the pipeline but also for restarting the pipeline after alarms went off without checking whether it failed. The company eventually reached a $177 million settlement with federal regulators over the disaster.
A 2017 National Wildlife Federation analysis found that Line 5 has leaked more than a million gallons on 29 separate occasions. The company said just five of these instances were outside of Enbridge facilities, and that no spills have occurred in the Straits of Mackinac or on the Bad River Reservation. Still, the section of the pipeline on the floor of the Straits of Mackinac has been dented by boat anchors dropped in the lakes, including from Enbridge-contracted vessels.
Despite Indigenous peoples’ concerns, Line 5 continues to gain momentum, in part because of the amount of energy it supplies to the U.S. and Canada and the countries’ continued dependence on fossil fuels.While the international community agreed to curb fossil fuels this month at COP28, there’s no agreed-upon timeline for actually doing so, and the consumer demand for affordable energy remains high, especially in light of inflation driving the prices of food and housing.
Meanwhile, more than 60 tribal nations, including every federally recognized tribe in Michigan, have said the pipeline poses “an unacceptable risk of an oil spill into the Great Lakes.”
“The Straits of Mackinac are a sacred wellspring of life and culture for tribal nations in Michigan and beyond,” the nations wrote in an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit challenging the pipeline.
To Gravelle from the Bay Mills Indian Community, the issue is deeply personal and goes beyond maintaining access to clean water and the ability to fish safely. Fishing is deeply intertwined with her peoples’ culture. When a baby is born, their first meal is fish, and when her people hold traditional ceremonies, they serve fish.
“Our traditions and who we are as a people are all wrapped up into what we do with fish,” Gravelle said. “Our relationship with the land and water is more important than any commercial value that could ever be realized from an oil pipeline.”

11. What Paris Can Teach Us About Taking Back Public Space from Cars
Received from the Globe and Mail, Jan 2, 2024 – Andre Picard

“In 2020, Rue de Rivoli, in the heart of Paris, was a six-lane street jammed with soul-sucking, horn-blasting traffic. Today, it has a single bus/taxi lane and expansive bike lanes crammed with riders, even on a cool winter’s day.
The street’s remake is symbolic of the transformation of Paris from a car city to a cycling city, a remarkable feat of political will as much as engineering.
In the early 1990s, the French capital had a laughable five kilometres of bike paths. Today, there are 4,017 kilometres of paths in the greater Paris area, with 2,158 more kilometres planned – all of it with concrete dividers and steel bollards, not just a splash of paint.
Most of that change has occurred in the past decade, though the embrace of bikes and e-bikes rose dramatically during a lengthy transit strike in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
More than one million of the greater Paris Region’s 12 million residents now cycle daily, and that’s only expected to increase as infrastructure improves.
Since the turn of the century, car trips have declined 60 per cent, public transit ridership is up 40 per cent, and car crashes down 30 per cent – all this according to the Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris since 2014, has been the catalyst for much of the change, elected on a promise to create “a Paris that breathes.” Promoting cycling is the cornerstone of a larger plan to fight climate change, reduce air pollution, and expand green space.
There have been countless initiatives to make the city more livable.
Paris has closed streets to traffic near elementary schools and daycares. So far, 168 streets have been transformed into play areas.
To discourage trips to the historical centre of the city, parking rates have been jacked up to €6 an hour. The speed limit has dropped to 30 kilometres an hour.
The bike-share program Vélib has 20,000 bicycles available at 1,400 stations. A quick, cheap rental is a great way for business people to make short trips to meetings, and a delightful way to be a tourist.
Paris has also created “low-emission zones,” where older, more polluting cars are banned. By 2030, there will be a total ban on gas-powered vehicles.
In most major cities, including Paris, cars – including roads and parking – occupy more than half of all public space. That’s an obscenity – a costly, inefficient one.
The pandemic reminded us that people need space to walk, to breathe, and to play. The redistribution of public space is long overdue.
While Ms. Hidalgo is often denounced as “anti-car,” she is actually pro-pedestrian, and pro-cyclist. Deadly heatwaves and a growing number of smog days fuelled the need for urgent change.
Paris is a city where millions of people live in cramped apartments, where the street is an extension of the home – it’s where children play, where merchants hawk their wares, where people eat and socialize.
But over the decades, streets have been commandeered by cars.
Is there anything more Parisian than strolling a grand boulevard? Well, now there is: Cycling that same boulevard.
Let’s not forget that Paris is a city with already tremendous public transit. The Métro, with daily ridership of more than four million people, features 16 lines and 308 stations, without counting the RER regional train service.
And it’s about to get better. The system is in the midst of a massive expansion, with four new lines and 68 new stations, most set to open before the 2024 Olympics. The Grand Paris Express will mostly facilitate travel from the suburbs to the city, but also connect suburbs to each other, which is almost unheard of in large metropolitan areas.
The suburbs, too, are greatly expanding their bike lanes and green spaces around these new transit hubs. Nationally, France has committed €2-billion to doubling its cycling infrastructure by 2030.
In Canadian cities, the cycling and public transit infrastructure is lamentable, with few exceptions.
We spend our time making excuses – the weather, the weather! But Toronto’s weather is not much different from that of Paris.
What’s lacking in Canada is political will – we need politicians and policy-makers to say we no longer accept the tyranny of the car. We need the recognition that, if we want to tackle climate change and make cities livable, the focus should be on improving the lots of cyclists and pedestrians.
To change people’s lives, we have to change the way they move.

12. Children Need Independence
Received  Jan 1, on Twitter – Jennifer Keesmaat

This is something: an article in the Journal of Pediatric Medicine makes the case that the rise in anxiety and depression in children and youth is linked to the severe (and relatively recent) curtailing of independence. Roaming, making choices, getting into a little trouble, it turns out, is a necessary part of growing up. When you take this away, children become unable to navigate the ebbs and flows of the real world. I made this argument in my TED talk a decade ago about the importance of walking to school – arguing that walking to school is not frivolous, but rather critical, to childhood. Another blow against cities designed for driving. “Our thesis is that a primary cause of the rise in mental disorders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.” https://jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00111-7/fulltext

13. Ontario’s Battery Plants Aren’t as Green as They Seem
Received from Canada’s National Observer Jan 3, 2024 – Ross Belot
“As usual, the recent UN climate talks produced wonderful words from Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister, Steven Guilbeault. “COP28 calls for groundbreaking goals to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, and, for the first time ever, we reached a historic consensus to move away from fossil fuels in energy systems,” he said, as the talks wound down in early December. Guilbeault played a key role in producing that successful final communique.
We’ve been hearing how great Canada is at every one of these conferences since the Liberals took office in 2015. Our own Catherine McKenna, who also served as environment minister, was instrumental at COP21 in Paris and helped establish the aspirational goal to limit the end of the century temperature rise to 1.5C. McKenna said back then “Canada is ready to do its part.”
Canada recently was rated as being in the G20’s next to worst group for having “highly insufficient” greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plans for 2030. We share that spot with China and India. McKenna now has a job at the UN calling out entities who claim to be doing their part but aren’t and Canada should be on her list.
The basics of the UN process is that each country tracks its own emissions and reduces them based on committed targets. The idea of the target is to actually reduce our own emissions, not just say we are going to it and then do the opposite. Key phrases to remember are “reduce” and “own emissions”. The Trudeau government seems confused about that.
Now, the prime minister and his people are back at it again. Their most recent expenditure is tens of billions to subsidize profitable global corporations to build battery plants in Canada. That sounds green on the surface but in actual fact battery plants themselves are large GHG emitters, requiring fossil fuel burning and large amounts of electricity. The batteries produced will mostly be for export, meaning they will be placed in foreign cars and the resulting emissions reductions will benefit countries other than ours. Canada, in effect, is taking on increased GHG emissions to help other countries meet their goals and paying tens of billions for the privilege.
The government knows this. But it doesn’t talk directly about how bad these plants can be for Canada’s climate goals. They talk about how a Quebec battery plant is perhaps the world’s most environmentally friendly because of Quebec’s green electricity supply but there is silence on the Ontario plants’ emissions. That’s because Ontario is probably one of the last places battery plants should be built from a climate action perspective based on recent behaviour.
Let’s look at some battery plant company material that attempts to reduce that GHG concern. Stellantis/LG says about their $5 billion dollar plant, the one our governments are giving $15 billion to in Windsor, Ont. “Canada is committed to establishing a broad, local battery ecosystem by leveraging, among other things, its leadership in the generation of electricity from renewable sources,” the site boasts. To believe that, you’d have to believe Windsor hasn’t been in Ontario.
The current leadership of Ontario in 2018, their first year in office, canceled hundreds of green energy projects at a cost of hundreds of millions dollars and has not been encouraging any new renewable solar or wind development. Let’s look at the record on that. According to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association in 2022 1.8 GW of wind and solar energy was added in Canada. Impressive. How much of that was in Ontario? A mere .01 GW. Essentially nothing.
Ontario’s Independent Energy System Operator (IESO) pivoted somewhat in December of last year, with a plan to add 5 GW of renewables in the 2030’s. Stellantis has a global goal of being carbon neutral by 2038 which may have helped inch the Ford government towards the green side of things. We should celebrate that. But keep in mind that the Trudeau government has committed to a goal of a 40-45 per cent reduction in Canada’s emissions by 2030. These plants go the opposite way with significant emissions starting very soon.
Enbridge has applied to dramatically increase natural gas supply in Southwestern Ontario for the new battery plant among other users, forecasting a 50 per cent increase in demand in the area by 2030. Ontario’s IESO is also installing major new electricity infrastructure in the area, and much of the region’s incremental load will be met with natural gas fired electricity for the next several years at least, according to the City of Windsor. Does any of this sound like Guilbeault’s upbeat take away from COP28?
If your answer is yes, then you aren’t watching what the Trudeau and Ford governments are doing. Our UN commitment calls on Canada to reduce emissions and, by extension, our own use of fossil fuels. We are moving in the wrong direction for a variety of reasons – economic as well as political. Our primary goal must be our UN commitment because, as we keep saying, climate change is an existential threat. Perhaps Catherine McKenna can call us out on that.”

USUAL FUN STUFF AT THE END? 
14. Not exactly fun but informative
Excellent Water Brothers Doc about the forever chemicals (PCBs and PAHs) which are in the Inner Harbour as well as Lake Ontario.  We should all be aware.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7df1VdnK58&t=71s
If you have fun things I could include in the next update, do send them to me.
Always happy to receive suggestions.

So that’s it for now.

Cheers,
Mary Farrar, President,
Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour