Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Neil Irwin highlights the reality that top-heavy economic growth has done nothing to reduce poverty in the U.S. over the past 40 years: In Kennedy’s era, [the “rising tide lifts all boats” theory] had the benefit of being true. From 1959 to 1973,
Continue readingTag: Keystone XL
Cowichan Conversations: Climate Change is Here Now
Richard Hughes-Political as hell! Climate change is happening and has been happening for some considerable time. The Climate Deniers have gone to great lengths attempting to convince us that it is not true. In spite of their efforts it is now a part of our consciousness and although we know
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Obama Punts Keystone XL (Again) — Harper Learns a Lesson in Humility (Maybe)
“If you were a betting man (or woman) what odds would you place on President Obama approving the Keystone XL pipeline before the end of his term and why?” Ms Soapbox posed the question to a panel* discussing the future of Alberta’s energy industry. The panelists, bless their hearts, didn’t
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Edward Greenspon’s report on the Keystone XL review process is well worth a read – particularly in exposing how the Harper Cons have handled their U.S. relations (along with many other policy areas) based on the presumption that nobody will ever see fit
Continue readingreeves report: NEB finds compliance issues with TransCanada’s environmental protections
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 readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Play Cowboys and Indians
Why not? It seems to be working in Washington, DC. And you know what? They’ve got our backs. When ranchers are farmers and tribal communities realize that the tarsands and their toxic pipelines threaten us all, it’s pretty easy to figure out how working together gets things done. They’re even
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: What’s the risk? Climate activism aiming at supply and demand
One way to think about climate activism is to see if it focuses on the supply of or demand for fossil fuels – pipelines or cars, hydrocarbons or carbon emissions. This distinction is not a new one, is doubtless very simplistic and has often been used to chastise activists. Here,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Chris Hall notes that Brad Butt’s admitted fabrications can only hurt the Cons’ already-lacking credibility when it comes to forcing through their unfair elections legislation. And Ed Broadbent sums up what’s at stake as the Cons try to rewrite the rules to
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: 400 peaceful Keystone XL pipeline protesters arrested at White House
by: Obert Madondo Nearly 400 youth were arrested on March 2 outside the White House during the XL Dissent, a non-violent, student-led action to stop TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. The students had marched from Georgetown University, where US President Barack Obama made a significant climate change speech last summer, to the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Barack to Steve, Let’s Deal with Climate Change
“He Didn’t Hear a Word I Said.” After their private tete-a-tete in Mexico, the president of the United States and the prime minister of Canada each released summaries of their discussion. When it comes to climate change you might, on reading the summaries, think they weren’t even in the same
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper Embarrasses Himself, His Office and Canada to Boot
The president’s gone, Mr. Harper. You can come out now. Give the man his due, Stephen Harper towers over every other prime minister before him in how he has managed to embarrass himself, the office of prime minister and the country he supposedly represents on the world stage. He was
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Nebraska Court Decision Bad News For Keystone Pipeline
Keystone XL access shut down by Lancaster County Judge Oil pipeline faces prospect of more delays because of staunch opposition.Now, unless the law is reinstated by a higher court, Calgary-based pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. might be forced to seek permission from every last landowner on the route. Read the full CBC story
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Big Oil Preps Harper for Obama Meeting
Stephen Harper apparently didn’t get the message that Obama doesn’t want to be pestered about the Keystone XL pipeline. U.S. officials in advance of the North American leaders summit in Mexico went out of their way to make it clear that Harper should back off. So, what did Stevie do?
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline would increase Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions
By: Pembina Institute | Press Release OTTAWA — The proposed Energy East pipeline would enable a significant increase in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, says a new report from the Pembina Institute. Climate Implications of the Proposed Energy East Pipeline is the first public estimate of the west-to-east pipeline’s upstream climate impact.
Continue reading350 or bust: The Real Math on Renewable vs Nonrenewable Energy Jobs
406 Billion dollars in government subsidies go to the fossil fuel industry per year to create 7 million jobs globally. Renewable energy provides 5.7 million jobs already, but with 60 Billion dollars, less than one sixth of government support. * * Read more at International Renewable Energy Agency’s website. Take
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Proselytizing on Pipeline Politics
The controversial Keystone XL pipeline has received a big bolster of support by a US State Department report finding that the pipeline won’t create a significant increase in greenhouse gases, effectively ensuring that Barack Obama will OK the proposal. A huge amount of momentum in the environmental movement was tied
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Ex-Harper adviser blasts Keystone XL, calls Canada a “rogue state”
Ex-Harper appointee Mark Jaccard trashed the Conservatives’ support of the tar sands industry during a key Keystone XL summit in Washington D.C. on Monday. The post Ex-Harper adviser blasts Keystone XL, calls Canada a “rogue state” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Dents, Sags, Structural Flaws Plague Keystone XL: Report
A new report by Public Citizen says the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is riddled with structural flaws that could spark dangerous leaks and spills. The post Dents, Sags, Structural Flaws Plague Keystone XL: Report appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Frances Russell finds that authoritarianism and bozo eruptions are two of the defining characteristics of right-wing politics in Canada: Put simply, the double standard states “ I can do it but you can’t because…” followed by a lengthy list of inequalities: because I’m
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On bad-faith negotiations
I’ve written before about the Cons’ blatant strategy of saying just enough about regulating greenhouse gas emissions from the oil industry to confuse voters about the issue while blocking the way toward any action. And so the real news in their offer to let the U.S. write the regulations they’ve
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