Yesterday in my email inbox, the chickens began to come home to roost for Postmedia – the Canadian newspaper chain. My first letter came from a constant correspondent who gave the Official statistics for BC Hydro losses going back to the old NDP years. Since the Campbell/Clark government, the losses have
Continue readingTag: Energy and Resources
The Common Sense Canadian: Lax Kw’alaams claim on Lelu Island could sink Petronas’ LNG project
Lelu Island and Flora Bank (foreground) – site of controversial proposed LNG plant (Skeena Watershed Conservation Soc.) Read this September 18 Vancouver Sun story on a claim by the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation to Lelu Island – the controversial site for Petronas’ planned LNG terminal in the Skeena Estuary near Prince Rupert.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Northern First Nations band together to block Petronas’ LNG plans
Gitxsan leaders of Madii Lii Camp are standing behind the Lax Kw’alaams (submitted) Several First Nations groups are banding together to block early work by contractors for Petronas’ Lelu Island LNG terminal. Leaders of the Madii Lii resistance camp – situated atop several proposed pipeline routes in the Skeena Valley – are rallying behind hereditary chiefs
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Nexen loses fracking water licence in Fort Nelson First Nation appeal
Fracking operations in northeast BC depend on large volumes of water (Damien Gillis) Read this Sept. 8 National Post story by Gordon Hoekstra on the recent victory by the Fort Nelson First Nation at BC’s Environmental Appeal Board, which stripped Nexen of its licence to withdraw up to 2.5 billion litres of fresh
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Tsartlip First Nation blasts Steelhead LNG over proposed Saanich project
Tsartlip Chief Don Tom opposing another unwanted project – construction of a luxury home on burial grounds The Tsartlip First Nation on southern Vancouver Island is weighing in on a proposed LNG project for the Saanich Inlet – pouring cold water on an August 20 announcement by proponent Steelhead LNG touting
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NDP, Green candidates oppose Woodfibre LNG outright; Liberal and Tory are different story
Green candidate Ken Melamed doesn’t see a future for Woodfibre LNG (facebook/Mitch Stookey) Local NDP and Green candidates are steadfastly opposed to the Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish, reveals a recent series of one-on-one interviews. Meanwhile, the Liberal candidate for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, is on the fence,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper and Clark: Quit goading First Nations with premature LNG, Site C work
Unist’ot’en Camp leader Freda Huson speaks to RCMP on July 15 (Youtube video screen capture/Stimulator) You’d hope we’d come a long way since the crises of Gustafsen Lake and Oka . You’d hope. This is, after all, 2015. Post-Tsilhqot’in decision. Post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission – out of which the Chief
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Why privacy matters in this Canadian election
While you are out this weekend enjoying the last days of summer on the beach and the RCMP come by to check whether your cooler is full of (gasp) beer or wine, you have every right to tell them (I would suggest politely) that no, they cannot look in your
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: First Nations occupying Lelu Island, blocking early Petronas LNG work
The battle over Malaysian energy giant Petronas’ controversial LNG terminal in the Skeena River Estuary is intensifying, as local Lax Kw’alaams First Nation members are setting up camp on Lelu Island, near Prince Rupert – the site of the proposed project. “Basically we’re going to be occupying our traditional land, exercising
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC’s biggest fracking quake yet? 4.6 felt by residents north of Fort St. John
Republished from the ECOreport. A recent earthquake near Wonowon, 100 km north of Fort St. John, is the largest of over 500 seismic events in northeastern BC, believed to be related to hydraulic fracturing. It may be remembered as BC’s 4.6m fracking quake. “Likely induced by hydraulic fracturing” Though the connection has not
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair’s ‘State of the Union’ on Canadian environmental politics
Before I get onto the federal election, let me say I have never been more depressed about governance in this country. A recent note from a reader pointed out the atrocious record of the Christy Clark government in erasing emails, losing emails, redacting emails (that’s bureaucratese for blacking out anything that
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Another 35 intervenors abandon ship on NEB’s Kinder Morgan review
Artist’s rendering of proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker expansion Republished from The ECOreport. There have been complaints about the flawed National Energy Board (NEB) Hearings, on the proposed Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP), from the beginning. Former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen withdrew last fall, calling the proceedings “a farce
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Wind power cost plummets to all-time low as capacity grows
Read this Aug. 10 story Ars Technica story by John Timmer on the continuing drop in the cost of wind power, as nine US states now generate more than 10% of their electricity from wind. After years of uninterrupted success, wind power experienced a bit of a pause around the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Media let Liberals get away with murder on IPPs, now LNG
Construction of a private power project on the Ashlu River (Photo: Range Life) A flash of anger came over me when Ian Jessup of CFAX 1070, Victoria, asked me to come on his show and talk about so-called independent power producers (IPPs), euphemistically referred known as “run of river”. No, I
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BCIT demands LNG lobby drop falsely used name from “partner” list
BCIT campus (Dago Agacino / Flickr CC licence) I find myself spending more time than I would like on Resource Works, the invention of The BC Business Council, that blindly supports approval of Woodfibre LNG in Squamish. To follow on last week’s column, where we learned that Resource Works’ website contained
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Malaysian paper claims Petronas ready for Sept. construction start on BC LNG plant
BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong announcing BC’s LNG Project Development Agreement (BC Gov. Flickr) Read this July 27 story from Malaysian news site TheStar.com, citing comments from BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong in that country as evidence that a construction start on Petronas’ proposed LNG project near Prince
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG lobby fakes partnerships with prominent organizations
Key Resource Works members (clockwise from top left): Teck’s Doug Horswill, ex-Vancouver Sun editor Stewart Muir, former A-G Geoff Plant, and Lyn Anglin of Geoscience BC Desperate people do desperate things. Today I want to talk about Resource Works, the shills for Woodfibre LNG, proposed for Squamish at the head of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: British Columbians reject premiers’ “Canadian Energy Strategy” – designed to push pipelines
Citizens on Burnaby Mountain the day Kinder Morgan’s injunction was read out (Mark Klotz/Flickr) Republished from the ECOreport. According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian Premiers are about to sign an agreement that would fast track pipeline projects. The 34-page-report describes how to deal with the opposition Energy East, Kinder Morgan,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC LNG Bill locks in public rip-off for a generation
Ex-Petronas CEO Shamsul Abbas shaking hands with BC Premier Christy Clark in 2014 (BC gov photo) Republished with permission from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Policy Note. By Marc Lee Last week, the BC government released the text of its Project Development Agreement with Pacific Northwest LNG (led by Malaysian
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG opponents take to waters of Howe Sound for Flotilla
Photo: Future of Howe Sound Society View article My Sea to Sea and other groups fighting to save Howe Sound from a proposed LNG plant and dangerous tanker traffic are inviting citizens to join them on the water Saturday July 11. “Are you ready to make some noise to Save
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