Gary Galon Last Letter Wednesday-Night History

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada, July 8, 2003 (ENS) - Gary Gallon, president of the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, and editor of "The Gallon Environment Letter," died after a long battle with cancer on Thursday, July 3. He was 58. A memorial service was held for Gallon this afternoon at the Church of the Advent, Montreal.

Six weeks ago, on May 23, Gallon was awarded Canada's Life Time Achievement Citation for his environmental contributions. The award, established in 2002 by "Canadian Geographic" magazine, was presented by Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson at a gala ceremony at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

Gary Gallon (left) receives the Life Time Achievement Citation from Environment Minister David Anderson. (Photo by Simon Bell courtesy Canadian Geographic)

His early campaigns attempted to raise public awareness of the hazards of pesticides and the benefits of household recycling. He worked on oil spill prevention and the protection of wildlife from coal mining.

"Canadian Geographic" quoted him as saying, "I've always been bothered by excess consumption and wanton destruction of habitat. Human ethics must allow space for other lifeforms."

In 1977, Gallon was chosen to be executive director of the Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI) in Nairobi, Kenya, where he served for four years. There he met Janine Ferretti, now Canada's Chief of Environment for the InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington, DC, who would become his life partner.

Upon Gallon's return to Canada in 1982, he helped to found Toronto based Probe International, and became an environmental researcher for Ontario's Liberal Party, then in opposition. When David Peterson's government came to power in 1985, Gallon was named senior policy adviser to Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley.

In the early 1990's Gallon opened a consulting business, Environmental Economics International, which advised corporations on their environmental rights and responsibilities.

During the 1990s he worked with the Canadian Environment Industry Association, and at the time of his death, Gallon was president of the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment.

In 1996, Gallon began publishing the "Gallon Environment Letter," a twice monthly compliation of articles by newswires, service organizations, and other environmental sources, that was widely circulated to media and to the general public.

Gallon leaves his wife, Janine Ferretti, and children Kalifi and Jenika. He leaves his parents Thomas and Marilyn, brother Jack and sister Becky in California.

Gallon has asked that he be remembered with donations to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, PO Box 48446, Vancouver, British Columbia V7X 1A2, or the Sierra Club of Canada, 1 Nicholas Street #412, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7.

Gary Gallon, 58

Wednesday Jul 9, 2003 TORONTO — One of Canada's most influential environmental activists, Gary Gallon, died Thursday in Montreal after a long battle with cancer.

Although Mr. Gallon may not have been a household name, Canadians almost everywhere will recognize one of his major achievements, the setting up of the country's first blue box recycling program in Ontario during the late 1980s.

He also had a hand during the 1970s in establishing Greenpeace, and maintained a lifelong passion for environmental causes evident in his series of twice-monthly newsletters, called the Gallon Environmental Letter.

"I've always been bothered by excess consumption and wanton destruction of habitat. Human ethics must allow space for other creatures," he said recently.

Born in the United States in 1945, Mr. Gallon moved to Canada in the late 1960s to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. He settled in Vancouver and began working by writing newsletters promoting mining stocks listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

After work, he turned to his true passion, the environment, joining the nighttime meetings of the Society for the Promotion of Environmental Conservation, a group that at the time opposed the use of the British Columbia coast for supertanker routes.

"He became concerned that what he was doing [by selling stocks] was causing environmental damage," said David Oved, a Toronto environmental consultant who worked with him in the Ontario government.

Mr. Gallon's biggest impact on the country's conservation movement occurred when he was senior policy adviser for Jim Bradley, Ontario's Liberal environment minister from 1985-90, one of Mr. Bradley's surprise hires.

It was a risky move for the new Liberal government to employ one of Canada's leading environmental radicals for such a post.

Mr. Gallon instantly became known as one of "Bradley's brats," the moniker given the group of dedicated environmentalists assembled by Mr. Bradley within the Ontario government who helped originate such programs as the blue box and the province's acid rain reduction program.

In the mid-1980s, municipal recycling had been an experimental effort in a few communities.

Mr. Gallon worked to establish the blue box across the province. Mr. Oved said Mr. Gallon could often influence opponents within the government through his use of the inventive turn of phase or image.

In one particularly bitter debate, cabinet was discussing preservation of Ontario's Temagami forest region, an area containing some of Canada's last remaining stands of towering old growth red and white pines.

Mr. Oved said some politicians were questioning why environmentalists in Toronto and elsewhere in Southern Ontario were arguing to preserve a forest in the north that they might never see.

Mr. Gallon said forest preservation was part of the ideal that Canadians held of the society they would like to be part of.

"Gary's comment was 'People here may never see those forests, but they value green spaces in their minds,' " Mr. Oved said.

Mr. Oved said the turn of phase impressed then-premier David Peterson, who began to affectionately call Mr. Gallon and Mr. Bradley's other environmental activists "space cadets."

Some of the biggest run-ins that Mr. Gallon had during the 1980s were with Inco, one of Ontario's major emitter of chemicals that cause acid rain.

At one testy meeting, Mr. Gallon, dressed in a pink shirt, had exchanges with Inco's former chairman, Chuck Baird, who was later so annoyed at being pressed on the company's pollutants, that an Inco official called Mr. Bradley to complain.

"I got a call the next day asking who where those young radicals in pink polo shirts asking those impertinent questions," Mr. Bradley said.

TV broadcaster and Greenpeace founder Robert Hunter said that Mr. Gallon related to him that the Inco chairman "had never run into such serious sass from mere political minions."

Of his experience in government, Mr. Gallon once said "you have less room to rail but more power to get things done."

Mr. Gallon suffered from colon cancer, which had spread to his lungs and liver.

Despite the pain of the disease and its treatments, he kept up his hobby of competitive swimming, winning in his age group in a Quebec swim meet last year, according to Mr. Oved.

Last month, the Royal Canadian Geographic Society's magazine gave Mr. Gallon its national environmental award for lifetime achievement.

Mr. Gallon was picked in 1977 to be executive director of the Nairobi-based Environment Liaison Centre International, where he met his wife-to-be, another prominent Canadian environmental activist, Janine Ferretti.

Ms. Ferretti was executive director of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation and now holds a senior position with the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington. Mr. Gallon is survived by his two children, Kalifi and Jenika.

Gary T. Gallon 1945 - 2003

MAJOR ARCTIC NATURAL GAS PROJECT CLOSER TO REALITY

CALGARY, Alberta - North America's first multibillion-dollar Arctic natural gas project came closer to fruition Wednesday as major oil firms, a native group, and Canada's biggest pipeline firm finalized a partnership deal. The agreement to develop a C$4 billion (US$3 billion) natural gas pipeline south from Canada's Mackenzie River Delta, near the Arctic Ocean, comes at a time when fears of dwindling gas supplies are growing. Under the deal, companies led by Imperial Oil Ltd. will allow TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. into their fold in exchange for TransCanada's commitment to fund the early planning costs of a Northwest Territories native group, called the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. If the 1,350-km (840-mile) project goes ahead, the industry consortium will assist the aboriginal group in getting its share of construction money from banks or other sources. It could also be a lender of last resort. The much-delayed agreement paves the way for regulatory applications and the prospect of more than 1 billion cubic feet a day of Arctic natural gas flowing to the Northwest Territories-Alberta border and on to thirsty Canadian and U.S. markets as early as 2008. Including the pipeline and development of the big Taglu, Parsons Lake, and Niglintgak gas fields, the overall project is worth C$5 billion. Wednesday's deal puts it well ahead of plans for a bigger and far costlier venture next door in Alaska.

"I am excited to report to the aboriginal community of the Northwest Territories that we have established the framework for an unprecedented partnership between the aboriginal population and industry," said aboriginal group Chairman Fred Carmichael.

His group is based in the town of Inuvik in the Mackenzie Delta. It comprises Dene, Inuvialuit, and Metis communities along the proposed pipeline route hungry for economic development.

Reaching a deal proved a Herculean endeavour involving several native leaders, four oil companies, a pipeline firm, and a legion of lawyers, officials said.

"To satisfy all those various interests and objectives and requirements: We view it obviously as a significant piece of work," Imperial spokesman Hart Searle said.

The development comes against a backdrop of fear, especially in the United States, that traditional gas fields will be unable to keep up with demand in coming years. Prices are more than double the level of one year ago. Under a 20-month-old memorandum of understanding between oil firms and native chiefs, the aboriginal group must own one-third of the line. Ottawa ruled out government loans and guarantees.

In February, TransCanada tentatively agreed to finance the aboriginal group's share of early development costs, but that required much legal wrangling and approval of the gas producers, which also include ConocoPhillips, Shell Canada Ltd., and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Under the new deal, the oil firms will give 5 percent of their pipeline stakes to TransCanada if the project proceeds. TransCanada, with gas lines throughout Canada and the northern United States, will lend the aboriginal group about C$80 million for project definition costs and help develop the line.

It also agreed to work toward extending northward its huge Alberta gas network - which feeds markets across North America - so the Mackenzie Valley line can connect with it.

The partners said they will now file a "preliminary information package" with regulators as a precursor to a full-blown application in 2004. If regulators and the various firms approve it, gas could flow between 2008 and 2010.

TransCanada shares rose 12 Canadian cents to C$25.42 in Toronto, close to a 52-week high. Imperial, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil, slipped 2 Canadian cents to C$46.30.

Gary Gallon (left) receives the Life Time Achievement Citation from Environment Minister David Anderson. (Photo by Simon Bell courtesy Canadian Geographic)

Gary Gallon, 58

Gary T. Gallon 1945 - 2003

MAJOR ARCTIC NATURAL GAS PROJECT CLOSER TO REALITY

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