Read this Nov. 19 story from The Vancouver Sun on Chinese-owned company ENN Canada’s plan to build liquefied natural gas plants in Vancouver and Edmonton to provide fuel for the trucking industry. CALGARY — Two companies are teaming up to build liquefied natural gas plants in Vancouver and Edmonton to serve the
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The Common Sense Canadian: Harper Government, CSIS spying on Enbridge critics
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is one Enbridge critic whose activities are being followed by CSIS (Damien Gillis) Read this Nov. 19 story from The Vancouver Observer on the spying of Harper Government agencies on critics of Enbridge, unearthed through an Access to Information search. The federal government has been vigorously spying on
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Talisman frackwater pit leaked for months, kept from public
Four frackwater pits in Talisman’s Farrell Creek operations in northeast BC – photo taken in March. Pond A, on the far right, suffered a rupture, leaking contaminants into the soil and groundwater (Two Island Films) by Damien Gillis and Will Koop A pit storing contaminated fracking water in northeast BC
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: International Coal Summit’s pipe dream of carbon capture & storage
A new study released today at the UN climate conference underway in Warsaw, Poland finds that new coal plants cannot be built if we are to keep global warming below the 2° Celsius threshold. That is, unless the coal industry can deploy commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS). The report,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG companies change pipeline routes to avoid bear sanctuaries
photo: Ian McAllister/Pacific Wild Valhalla Wilderness Society is reporting that a pair of proposed natural gas pipelines connected to liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals planned for Prince Rupert will no longer pass through two important grizzly bear sanctuaries. The changes come following public pressure from Valhalla and other conservation groups.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Premier Christy Clark defends LNG industry’s carbon footprint
photo: Tina Lovgreen / BCIT Commons Read this Nov. 13 story from CBC.ca on BC Premier Christy Clark’s response to mounting concerns over the massive carbon footprint associated with her government’s plan to build an LNG industry. The five major plants the province envisions for BC’s coast would dramatically boost
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada’s largest energy union wants national fracking moratorium
First Nations and supporters protest fracking in Vancouver last month (Damien Gillis) Canada’s largest private sector union, Unifor, has joined the growing chorus of concern over controversial shale gas development. The labour organization representing over 300,000 members in a wide range of economic sectors, including energy, is calling for a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NWT developing regulatory model for oil fracking before devolution
Controversial natural gas fracking operations in BC (Damien Gillis) CALGARY – With the Northwest Territories preparing to take control of its resource development next spring, its industry minister has been busy looking at the best way to regulate its nascent shale oil industry. A devolution agreement kicks in on April
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Regulator, Encana sued over fracking, water
Vancouver-based environmental law firm ecojustice announced a lawsuit Wednesday in BC court against the province’s oil and gas regulator over its allegedly unlawful issuance of water permits for fracking. The suit, which also names energy giant Encana, is being brought on behalf of the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Chinese state-owned oil company joint BC LNG hunt
State-owned CNOOC is making a play on BC LNG (Canadian Press) Read this Nov. 12 story from The Globe and Mail on the latest contestant in BC’s gas rush – announcing a deal to buy some crown land north of Prince Rupert for yet another proposed LNG plant on BC’s coast.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Map shows multiple proposed oil, gas pipelines in BC’s carbon corridor
A new map (scroll down to view) reveals the full scope of oil and gas pipelines proposed to criss-cross BC. Compiled by Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and Skeena Wild, the graphic depicts the planned routes for a staggering six new pipelines – five designed to carry natural gas to proposed
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Solar power already beating coal on job creation, energy cost
Read this Nov. 5 story from the Huffington Post illustrating 5 reasons why solar power is already a viable alternative to fossil fuels. It’s frustrating to still hear dissenters say that renewable energy is not ready to compete with fossil fuels as a means to power our country. The solar industry is growing
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG & Fracking: Risky Business for BC – Nov 18, Vancouver
The BC Government is touting liquefied natural gas (LNG) extracted by fracking as so profitable it could eliminate the provincial debt. But fracking to export LNG has questionable economics, and devastating effects including water pollution and GHG emissions about as bad for climatic stability as coal. Damien Gillis, a Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker will
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: World Energy Outlook 2013 – Executive Summary
Executive Summary from the World Energy Outlook 2013 The International Energy Agency’s authoritative World Energy Outlook provides an analysis of global energy markets highlighting the world’s energy and environmental challenges. Orientation for a fast-changing energy world Many of the long-held tenets of the energy sector are being rewritten. Major importers
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC struggles to reconcile carbon emissions with “clean” LNG claims
Australia’s Colongra gas-powered electrical plant – BC LNG would be powered by carbon-intensive plants like this one VICTORIA – Like the underground shale gas that Premier Christy Clark says will pave the way to a debt-free future, British Columbia appears caught between a rock and a hard place in balancing
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fracking, dead cows and…RADIATION?
Alberta cattle rancher Howard Hawkwood (photo courtesy of Green Planet Monitor) Alberta cattle rancher Howard Hawkwood has a beef with the local fracking industry. He’s convinced the controversial technique for gas extraction is responsible for killing off 18 of his cows and large swaths of his property near Airdrie, Alberta.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Support for First Nations critical after Clark-Redford pipeline deal
Chiefs of the Tsimshian First Nation speak out against Enrbidge at a 2012 Prince Rupert rally You would have thought that they would have had the decency to wait until the Joint Review Panel had made its report before the two western-most premiers made a deal on the pipelines. Of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Four months after Lac-Mégantic disaster, river highly contaminated
Quebec’s Chaudière River (photo courtesy of Greenpeace Quebec) Sediment from the Chaudière River, near the site of the Lac-Mégantic train derailment four months ago, shows high levels of contaminants according to testing done by Greenpeace Quebec and the Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP). Despite months of cleanup operations sediments
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Justin Trudeau, Oil Man
Justin Trudeau addresses a progressive think tank in Washington, DC (photo: Chip Somodevllla/Getty) To Justin Trudeau, it’s not that Keystone XL is a bad idea, it’s that Stephen Harper can’t sell it. For many Canadians, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau represents a fresh-faced, progressive alternative to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government. And
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: David Suzuki: Fukushima the most terrifying situation imaginable
A video of Dr. David Suzuki’s comments at a recent University Alberta event is going viral, elevating concerns raised by independent media outlets like The Common Sense Canadian surrounding the dire, ongoing risks posed by Japan’s badly-damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant. In the short video from October 31, posted by Aaron
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