The 3-member Joint Review Panel for the Northern Gateway pipeline overruled 98% opposition to the proposal The approval of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline by the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel (JRP) landed with a dismal and predictable thud. It is a view that needs to be reviewed, an assessment
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The Common Sense Canadian: Peter Mansbridge tries to come clean on Oilsands talk
CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge giving a talk paid by CAPP (image: facebook) by Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press TORONTO – CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge defended himself Thursday after a report that he made a paid speech to petroleum producers, saying he has never publicly promoted or opposed oilsands development. “If
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Alberta doctor to US senate: Canada ‘lying’ about Tar Sands health impacts
Dr. John O’Connor (photo: saveourmedevac.ca) Read this Feb. 26 story by Mychaylo Prystupa in the Vancouver Observer on Alberta doctor John O’Connor’s warning to US senators that Canada is concealing the health impacts of the Tar Sands. A northern Alberta doctor warned U.S. Senators on what he says have been the devastating
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Joe Clark blasts PM Harper for attacks on environmentalists
On a US book tour, Joe Clark had some strong words from one Conservative PM to another by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press WASHINGTON – Former prime minister Joe Clark says he can’t understand why the Harper government would bar the opposition from a delegation to Ukraine and suggests its combative
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NEB audit exposes gaps in TransCanada’s pipeline safety
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling announces Energy East pipeline on Aug. 1 (photo: (Jeff McIntosh / CP) CALGARY – Problems flagged in the National Energy Board’s audit of TransCanada Corp.’s pipeline safety practices should have Canadians worried, a group fighting that company’s proposed Energy East pipeline said Tuesday. The audit report,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada’s LNG exports threaten energy security: Geologist
Graph depicts National Energy Board’s projection of BC Government’s gas production compared to other LNG export levels. (Photo: David Hughes, Global Sustainability Research Inc) Read this Feb 18th article from SNL Financial about David Hughes’ assessment of the BC Government’s immediate focus on its LNG exports without a safety net will
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Dan Murphy skewers Janet Holder’s Enbridge Pipeline PR
Former Province cartoonist Dan Murphy’s latest poke at Enbridge’s ongoing efforts to buff up the image of its controversial Northern Gateway pipeline. Here, Murphy takes on the “face” of Enbridge’s PR efforts, Janet Holder, whose mug and voice have filled newspapers, websites and airwaves in recent months with fuzzy reassurances about
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG Pipedreams: Global investors getting cold feet?
by Anna C. Novacek The projections supporting the BC Liberals’ prosperity fund rest on the assumption that there will be indefinite demand to buy into BC’s fledgling LNG market. However, as the Common Sense Canadian has reported, the numbers guaranteeing prosperity to Canadians, while assuring maximum profit for investors, aren’t adding
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Justin Trudeau backs Kinder Morgan oil pipeline to Vancouver
Justin Trudeau in Kamloops, where the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline would pass (Graham Hughes/CP) Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau sat down recently with Metro Calgary, discussing everything from legalizing marijuana to funding public transit – but it was his response to this question that was of particular interest to The Common
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals: federal govt study
Syncrude tailings pond (David Dodge, Pembina Institute) Bob Weber, The Canadian Press EDMONTON – New federal research has strongly backed suspicions that toxic chemicals from Alberta’s vast oilsands tailings ponds are leaching into groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River. Leakage from oilsands tailings ponds, which now cover 176 square
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Exploding BC LNG Myths – Part 2
BC Minister of Natural Gas Development, Rich Coleman (BC Govt photo) “The opposition wouldn’t know LNG if it came up and bit them, they’re totally uninformed.” – Rich Coleman, BC Minister of Natural Gas Development. For over three years, Rich Coleman has led the BC LNG charge; however, he has taken
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: David Suzuki: Trading water for fuel is fracking crazy
Fracking protest in New Brunswick (photo: Colin McPhail) It would be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be impossible to live without water. Yet, in our mad rush to extract and sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading precious water
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Chevron offers pizza to victims of fracking explosion
Read this Feb. 18 story from RawStory.com on Chevron’s offer of coupons for pizza to Pennsylvania residents affected by a massive explosion at a fracking site owned by the company. Buy one explosion, get a pizza free. Last Tuesday, residents of the small town Bobtown, Pennsylvania woke to an explosion
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: TransCanada gas pipeline ruptures in Alberta
TransCanada gas pipelines ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Alta. – The National Energy Board says it is investigating a natural gas pipeline rupture in west-central Alberta. The federal regulator says the TransCanada (TSX:TRP) pipe broke this morning about 10 kilometres north or Rocky Mountain House. It says the pipe has been shut
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC First Nation takes “Great Land Grab” to international court
An interview with Robert Morales, Chief Negotiator for the Hul’qumi’num First Nations Treaty Group, about the E&N Railway Land Grants of 1887 and the lasting repercussions of this massive “land grab” for the Hul’qumi’num people today. Robert Morales represents the six Hul’qumi’num First Nations (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt, Lake
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Will thorium save us from climate change?
As knowledge about climate change increases, so does demand for clean energy. Technologies like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal and biofuels, along with energy-grid designs that will help us take advantage of renewables, are part of the equation, as is conservation. But many argue that, despite Fukushima and other disasters,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Last chance to apply for Kinder Morgan oil pipeline hearings
The window for the public to apply to participate in the upcoming National Energy Board hearings into the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion to Vancouver closes Wednesday at 11 AM (PST). The project would see close to a tripling of Alberta bitumen piped to the company’s Burnaby terminal and a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Exploding BC LNG Myths – Part 1
The BC Government recently published an online quiz to “test the knowledge” of British Columbians on the coming LNG revolution. It amounted to a propaganda exercise with the sole purpose of testing how well the BC Liberal LNG rhetoric has pierced the minds of the BC populace. The infamous Harold
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Europe leads the way on building a green economy
The European Union has fast become the global leader on migrating to a green economy, with its Emissions Trading System (cap and trade scheme) in place since 2005. Canada has much to learn from the current and future EU debates on establishing new targets for 2030 – particularly how to
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC LNG: All pain no gain as Liberals fail to deliver on tax regime…again
The Clark Govt has once again delayed the announcing its LNG royalty regime (Tina Lovgreen / BCIT Commons) British Columbians have been patiently waiting since before the Liberals were re-elected for an explanation of the financial terms that will deliver the much-vaunted 100 Billion-dollar LNG “Prosperity Fund” that will allegedly eliminate the
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