A series of five extensive audits of TransCanada Pipelines Management Program by the National Energy Board came back with only minor issues the regulator is asking the energy giant to iron out. TransCanada pipeline. “NEB audits proactively identify those aspects of a company’s management system that are working well along
Continue readingTag: American politics
reeves report: Canada-Ontario Agreement targets aquatic invasives in Great Lakes
Beefing up protections against aquatic invasive species like Asian carp has taken a prominent place in the latest Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA) governing how both governments aim to work together on protecting the Great Lakes. Asian carp in U.S. water. “Aquatic invasives have altered Great Lakes ecosystems and caused significant disruptions
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is the White House burning?
The last time Canada and the United States went to war on some pretext, our British troops went to Washington and set fire to the White House. That was 200 years ago. The current campaign against the American capitol is being run by the Ottawa office of a communications company
Continue readingthe reeves report: Reports question NEB’s approval process for Northern Gateway and Line 9 pipelines
Enbridge under fire as opponents of controversial pipeline projects worry the Canadian energy giant will be ill-prepared to handle potential ruptures throughout Southern Ontario and on B.C.’s rugged coast. Opponents of Enbridge’s Line 9B pipeline in Southern Ontario are scrambling in the wake of its tentative approval earlier this month by the
Continue readingthe reeves report: U.S. energy called on to help West handle Russia
America should rethink overhauling energy export policy in favour of ‘drill, baby, drill’ simply to flex muscle against Russia over Crimean play. Can boosting U.S. energy exports help declaw the prowling Russian bear? In the weeks following President Vladimir Putin’s military expansion into Ukraine’s Crimean region, manipulating U.S. energy sources
Continue readingthe reeves report: Separate Great Lakes from Mississippi River to contain Asian carp: study
A recent study led by the University of Notre Dame and the U.S. Forest Service confirmed that hydrologically separating the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River watershed would be 95 to 100 per cent effective at containing Asian carp. “Our study goes beyond just presenting barrier options by putting numbers
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Inequality Is What America Is All About
Change you can believe in. Yeah right. There are some things that never change and one of them is the tendency for the rich to get richer at everyone else’s expense, especially in America. Since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, 95% of the gains have gone to
Continue readingthe reeves report: Congress considers hydrologic separation to contain Asian carp
A bill from Michigan Representative Candice S. Miller tabled Wednesday with Congress would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consult, plan and build a barrier to hydrologically separate the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds in one year following its passage. “I believe total separation is the only way
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Revving up the Keystone pipeline controversy.
It is called doublespeak. Bureaucrats use it to leave themselves open to whatever their political bosses prefer to do. They have not said yes and they have not said no. The American State Department issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement on the last day of January and leaves everyone in
Continue readingthe reeves report: Canada must help U.S. pay to contain Asian carp
Canada has an obligation to help the United States pay for physically separating Lake Michigan and the entire Great Lakes basin from the Mississippi River watershed to contain the spread of Asian carp, though the cost may reach $18 billion or more. The latest report from the U.S. Army Corps
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: JFK
Fifty years ago today in Dallas, history was literally changed by a hail of bullets. It was before my time, but my parents were teenagers at the time and they recalled it vividly – JFK’s assassination caused grief in Canada too. It might be said that the JFK assassination started
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Watching the events down south
First off, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. In my family’s household, the tradition is to hold the big turkey dinner on the Sunday and make turkey soup from the leftovers on Monday… and that tradition continues today. Today.. I’ve been following the budget events in the US on their “Columbus Day”
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Obamacare: why far-right Republicans are trying to stop it
They aren’t trying to stop it by shutting down the US Government because of the devastation and damage it will bring to the US, as their hyperbole claims (never mind that the conservative Heritage Institute advocated this type of setup in the 90′s and former Mass. governor and last Republican
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: US government shutdown, and other fairy tales and political theatre
I’m not sure what to make of the hoopla going on in the US right now. I’m inclined to think it’s all just political theatre, as Gerald Celente calls it, designed to distract the people from the real issues – the central one being, who controls the government and the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The deeper reasons for the “war on drugs”
There is a deeper reason for the war on drugs, which is the central reason for the policy, even outweighing profits from private prisons and seizure of property by law enforcement officers, both of which no doubt are also significant and strong motivations for keeping the “war on drugs” going.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper’s friends form formidable phalanx.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has interesting friends. As the Prime Minister said in New York the other day, neither he nor his friends take ‘No’ for an answer. It was bad enough when we were ridiculing him and Jim Flaherty for lionizing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. It is less than
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The real reasons for threats of war against Syria
(that the mass media won’t tell you about) 1. The Middle East holds 60% of the world’s remaining energy reserves: therefore, the entire region is critical to control – for anyone with an empire fetish, that is. And if you’re serious about controlling the Middle Eastern oil reserves, then you
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The environmental waiting games.
The games are endless. Only the representatives of the people change. The current combatants are President Obama of the United States and Prime Minister Harper of Canada. Both have finite time left. Harper will have to face election in 2015 and Obama will be out of office in 2016. The
Continue readingthe reeves report: Great Lakes nuclear map shows troubling hot spots
Original Production by Irene Kock. Updated by Anna Tilman, April 2013, International Institute of Concern for Public Health Ontarians may have no idea of the volume of nuclear-related facilities in the Great Lakes basin, but a new map offers a clear picture. The Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map recently created by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Elizabeth Warren – Calm, Collected, Logical And Reasonable – A Rare Politician
Earlier today, Owen at Northern Reflections, commenting on a piece by Joseph Stiglitz, wrote a post on student debt, a scourge on both sides of the border. Here is a video of Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, for whom I have a great deal of respect, on her proposal for dealing
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