This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
More than 10,000 people have been forced to evacuate as wildfires spread in northern Alberta, Canada's CBC News reported Thursday. Smoke from the fires has choked skies across the province, raising the Air Quality Health Index in its capital city of Edmonton to a 10+ Thursday, the Edmonton Journal reported.
In an ironic turn, the fires prompted Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to cancel a celebration of the repeal of the province's carbon tax, Canada's National Observer reported.
*This event has been cancelled so the premier can receive an internal, real-time briefing on the status of Alberta's wildfires," the government said in a statement reported by Canada's National Observer.
.@Jkenney ends the #Alberta #CarbonTax
— Jaro Giesbrecht🇨🇦 (@JaroGiesbrecht) May 31, 2019
Just hours later, the skies of #Edmonton darkened with smoke from #Wildfires in the north of the province#Albertawildfires
https://t.co/5CoOCpijrD pic.twitter.com/mNFqj3Vc7L
Kenney had promised to repeal the carbon tax and roll back other climate change policies in the April 16 general election. A bill to repeal the tax was the first his government introduced after gaining power. While the bill has not yet passed, fuel sellers were expected to stop collecting the tax at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, the Edmonton Journal reported.
"Just hours later, the skies of Edmonton darkened with smoke from wildfires in the north of the province," the paper wrote.
Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna criticized the repeal and said she was working on a national tax.
"We know we're feeling the impacts of climate change. In Alberta, you have forest fires this year that have started earlier than before, major concerns about the impacts of these fires this year," McKenna said, as the Edmonton Journal reported. "We're going to work as quickly as possible to make sure it's no longer free to pollute."
The tax had charged Albertans an additional 6.73 cents per liter for gasoline and $1.51 per gigajoule of natural gas.
The current fires had forced around 5,000 to evacuate more than a week ago, according to Canada's National Observer. They continued to spread this week, as smoke forced even more people to flee their homes Thursday.
"We began the day yesterday with approximately 5,500 evacuees and we currently have over 10,000," Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen said, as CBC News reported Thursday.
Officials said the Chuckegg Creek fire was spreading especially quickly.
"It traveled about 30 kilometers (approximately 18.6 miles) south yesterday between noon and four o'clock this morning, which means it was traveling at a rate of about 23 meters (approximately 25 yards) a minute," Christie Tucker from Alberta Wildfire said.
The Chuckegg Creek wildfire in the High Level Forest Area experienced extreme fire behaviour yesterday with significant growth to the south towards Paddle Prairie, across Highway 35 by Highway 697 and spotted across the Peace River.
— Alberta Wildfire (@AlbertaWildfire) May 30, 2019
Latest information at: https://t.co/Su9d1ehf9a pic.twitter.com/zsH9mXG8JP
The Maria Lake and MacMillan Complex fires were also spreading and growing closer together. Dry, windy conditions made firefighting more difficult.
Fires destroyed 11 homes in the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement, the Edmonton Journal reported further.
"The roads are melted," Blake Desjarlais, director of public and national affairs for the Métis Settlements General Council, told the Edmonton Journal.
Desjarlais was frustrated by the lack of support his community was receiving from the Alberta government, Global News reported. He said they were not fighting the fire on the western side, which would most protect the evacuated community, and also that they were not doing enough to help evacuees.
Desjarlais also said the fire could have a long-term economic impact on the community.
"We've lost trap lines, they're a strong economic driver for us," he said, as Global News reported. "Most of the regional farmers have had to cut animals loose."
The impact of the fires hasn't been limited to Alberta. Smoke from the fires has contributed to cloudy skies in western Ontario, southwestern B.C. and the U.S. Midwest, Global News reported Thursday.
If you notice the sky looks hazy today, here's your reason why: smoke from wildfires across northern Canada has once again been transported down into the upper Midwest. Should make for a nice sunrise/sunset!#mnwx #wiwx pic.twitter.com/Gcb22P3rYF
— NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) May 30, 2019
On Thursday, smoke covered Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City and reached as far south as Denver, Global News reported.
Climate Change Is an Existential Crisis—It Should Be ​the Top Political Issue, Too https://t.co/TLF31z1oEZ #Climatechange #Canada #Carbontax pic.twitter.com/RpkodPEwFg
— Renewable Search (@RenewableSearch) January 12, 2019
- Alberta, Canada's oil sands is the world's most destructive oil ... ›
- Aerial footage of northwest Alberta wildfires shows large smoke ... ›
- Watch: UCP Leader Jason Kenney on the federal carbon tax ... ›
- As Alberta Burns, Jason Kenney Repeals Carbon Tax - VICE ›
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
National Butterfly Center: Trump’s Border Wall Threatens Pollinators and Other Wildlife
While Trump's border wall has yet to be completed, the threat it poses to pollinators is already felt, according to the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, as reported by Transmission & Distribution World.
Immediate Action Needed to Avoid Thousands of Heat-Related Deaths in U.S., New Study Says
by Jordan Davidson
Taking action to stop the mercury from rising is a matter of life and death in the U.S., according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.
By Alisa Opar
For Chinook salmon, the urge to return home and spawn isn't just strong — it's imperative. And for the first time in more than 65 years, at least 23 fish that migrated as juveniles from California's San Joaquin River and into the Pacific Ocean have heeded that call and returned as adults during the annual spring run.
Trending
Protesting Against Air Pollution Crisis, Extinction Rebellion Stalls Rush-Hour Traffic in London
By Jessica Corbett
Dozens of students, parents, teachers and professionals joined a Friday protest organized by Extinction Rebellion that temporarily stalled morning rush-hour traffic in London's southeasten borough of Lewisham to push politicians to more boldly address dangerous air pollution across the city.
Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Moment / Getty Images
By Bridget Shirvell
On a farm in upstate New York, a cheese brand is turning millions of pounds of food scraps into electricity needed to power its on-site businesses. Founded by eight families, each with their own dairy farms, Craigs Creamery doesn't just produce various types of cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss and Muenster cheeses, sold in chunks, slices, shreds and snack bars; they're also committed to becoming a zero-waste operation.
Trending
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Summers in the Midwest are great for outdoor activities like growing your garden or cooling off in one of the area's many lakes and streams. But some waters aren't as clean as they should be.
That's in part because coal companies have long buried toxic waste known as coal ash near many of the Midwest's iconic waterways, including Lake Michigan. Though coal ash dumps can leak harmful chemicals like arsenic and cadmium into nearby waters, regulators have done little to address these toxic sites. As a result, the Midwest is now littered with coal ash dumps, with Illinois containing the most leaking sites in the country.
picture-alliance / AP Photo / NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
The Group of 20 major economies agreed a deal to reduce marine pollution at a meeting of their environment ministers on Sunday in Karuizawa, Japan.