Plaintiffs in the Ecuadorian case against Chevron have filed a lawsuit in Brazil, seeking to enforce an $18 billion court ruling against the oil giant. The initial case concerned pollution from Texaco, which was later acquired by Chevron, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the company, working with Ecuador's state-owned oil company, dumped drilling waste into unlined pits that is alleged to have caused illnesses among indigenous people. The plaintiffs sought a judgment that would force Chevron to pay both the cost of cleanup and damages to injured groups.

Sierra Club Canada and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have asked the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review of two approvals by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission that would allow the shipment of radioactive materials. Michael Binder, head of the commission, said that opposition to the approvals, which would allow Bruce Power Inc. to ship 16 steam generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, is "not any more about safety" and is a ploy by anti-nuclear activists to prey on people's fears.

Oilsands projects and their subsidies have become a contentious issue in the Canadian federal elections, as the New Democratic Party's Jack Layton vowed to eliminate C$2 billion in oil and gas subsidies and use the money instead for renewable energy. The party has also proposed a moratorium on new oilsands projects pending efforts to manage their environmental impacts.

Canada's Conservative party's plan to battle industrial pollution may be the most costly to government, the most damaging to the economy, and the least effective at cleaning the atmosphere, according to a federal government analysis of climate change policies. "This approach requires many initiatives, likely by three different orders of government, with the associated administrative costs," said the report.

On Thursday, a Conservative Alberta legislator called for a bill that would block foreign funding of the Canadian environmental movement. MP Brian Jean hinted that aboriginal chiefs may have received payments to oppose major projects, such as the Northern Gateway pipeline, while asking for details on research showing U.S. trusts had given $300 million to environmental groups in Canada.

A European Union committee of technical experts failed to agree to a proposal to label oil sands fuel as more polluting than other fuel sources. The committee, which met last week, was tasked with determining whether oil sands should be labeled as "dirty" under the Fuel Quality Directive, which is designed to cut the carbon intensity of transport fuels by 6 percent by 2020. Such a label would make oil sands more costly to import, a measure Canada has called unjustified and discriminatory. Canada made it clear it would take trade action if the proposal went ahead.

While Canada's greenhouse gas emissions remained largely unchanged from 2009 to 2010, the nation will have difficulty meeting its 2020 target, according to government figures. The Conservative government said that its environmental plan "is working," hailing the fact that emissions remained stable at a 0.25% increase while the economy grew 3.2%. Canada's emission peaked in 2007, at 751 megatons, and fell to 692 in 2010.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said last week that Canadian cuts to science budgets are disproportionately affecting climate change scientists, compromising the government's ability to assess risks to critical infrastructure, communities, and industry. May warned of risks from flood damage, an issue, she said, Canada is already facing from overflowing sewers. Ian Rutherford, director of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, estimated that Canada has cut science research in half and is also moving away from funding research networks.

T. Boone Pickens' Texas-based renewable energy firm Mesa Power Group said on Thursday that it had initiated a complaint with Canada after "last-minute changes" to Ontario's energy plan that, it claimed, violated NAFTA. Mesa Power was unable to win contracts for wind energy projects in western Ontario in the latest round of feed-in tariff awards, which pay above-market rates for renewable energy. A spokeswoman for Ottawa's Trade Department said that the province would "vigorously defend" the nation's interests if Canada chooses to proceed with the complaint.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent announced the release of a new oil sands monitoring plan last week, saying he hoped to speed up approval of a pipeline designed to transport crude to the Gulf Coast. Kent said that the oil sands industry is willing to pay the costs of the program, a $50 million tab annually that, he said, was a small price to pay for an industry estimated to generate $80 billion next year. However, the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said that it was "premature" to say that the industry would pick up the costs.