Former federal cabinet minister and Alberta Premier Jim Prentice, whose recent work with a major private equity firm has him acting as a strong advocate for multiple pipelines. (Canada2020/Flickr) By Joyce Nelson You may have caught the Sept. 12 headline in the Globe and Mail, the Edmonton Journal, etc: “Canada
Continue readingTag: Pipelines and Supertankers
The Common Sense Canadian: Electric Vehicles are set to take off…so why is Trudeau still pushing pipelines?
Tesla Model 3 at March 2016 unveiling (Steve Jurvetson/Flickr) In my previous March 2016 article “Pipelines to Nowhere“, I made the point that the proposed Canadian pipelines are about increasing the international supply of petroleum when all the signs are that demand fossil fuels are levelling off over the longer
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe to Justin: Kinder Morgan approval makes mockery of democracy
Rafe Mair calls out Justin Trudeau on Kinder Morgan and the mockery its approval makes of our democracy. “What right does parliament have to expose our lands, parks and waters to the certain destruction that will come from toxic tankers from the Kinder Morgan pipeline?”
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Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: 90% of world’s new electricity coming from renewables: Welcome to the end of the fossil fuel era
90% the world’s new electricity now comes from renewables. China is shuttering 1,000 coal plants and global emissions are on the decline. The end is nigh for the fossil fuel era…so why hasn’t Canada gotten the memo?
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Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Pipelines to Nowhere: Energy East, Kinder Morgan make no sense amid global green energy boom, tanking oil market
With the longterm decline of fossil fuel markets, Canada should abandon old-economy pipeline projects like Energy East and Kinder Morgan and focus on the booming green economy, argues Will Dubitsky.
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Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Reductio ad absurdum: Why we environmentalists are missing the boat with sham hearings, technical arguments
Technical arguments and sham hearings on the merits and risks of pipelines and tankers miss the point, argues Rafe Mair.
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Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC government comes out against Kinder Morgan
The BC Liberal government has come out in opposition to Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline expansion to Burnaby, stating that the company has failed to meet the province’s five conditions.
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Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Trudeau ‘disappointed’ at Obama’s killing of Keystone XL…Get over it
Justin Trudeau visits US Capital in 2013 (Susan Walsh/Associated Press) It’s official: After seven years of withering on the vine, the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the US Gulf Coast is dead, by President Barack Obama’s hand. Newly-minted Canadian Prime Minister and avowed Keystone supporter Justin Trudeau is reportedly disappointed
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: 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: Enbridge let off the hook in paltry Kalamazoo oil spill settlement
OIl lingering on the Kalamazoo River long after Enbridge’s 2010 spill (Jason W Lacey/Flickr) Read this May 13 story by Nancy Kaffer in the Detroit Free Press on the paltry settlement between Enbridge and the State of Michigan for the company’s 2010 oil spill, the effects of which linger in the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canadian oil industry slashes production forecast by 1.1 million barrels/day due to price slump
Enbridge tank farm at “Refinery Row” in Sherwood Park, Alberta (Damien Gillis) Read this June 10 Calgary Herald story by Stephen Ewart on the Canadian oil industry’s diminished projections for daily production, amidst $50 oil: Well, there’s a quick 1.1 million barrels a day towards the no-carbon economy. Day One of the 85-year
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC not ready for major oil spill, minister admits after Vancouver diesel spill
Minster Mary Polak Announces BC will move ahead on world-leading spill response team (BC govt) Republished with permission from the ECOreport. Within hours of Vancouver’s second oil spill of the year, BC Environment Minister Mary Polak was reassuring the public that the province will move ahead on a “world-leading” spill response team.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Major energy worker union opposes Kinder Morgan pipeline
Artist’s rendering of proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker expansion Read this May 28 Burnaby Now story by Jennifer Moreau on Unifor’s decision to oppose the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion through its submission to the ongoing National Energy Board Hearings. One of Canada’s largest unions for energy workers has come
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair’s Modest Proposal: Scrap environmental assessments
The 3-member NEB Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline (Damien Gillis) Do you enjoy being a raw hypocrite? Well, if you’re a taxpayer in Canada that’s what you are because you support raw hypocrisy every day in the various hearings on environmental matters that take place.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Suzuki: Canada seeing real change with energy, politics and First Nations
Tahltan First Nations and supporters peacefully occupying a Fortune Minerals drill (Beyond Boarding) Recent events in Canada have shown not only that change is possible, but that people won’t stand for having corporate interests put before their own. When plummeting oil prices late last year threw Alberta into financial crisis,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper, BC Tory MPs have oil on their hands from English Bay spill
A cleanup crew works on Third Beach following the recent English Bay oil spill I say three cheers for Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver. The verbal assault by the Premier on the federal government was more than justified by recent events and just happens to be a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Botched English Bay oil spill confirms BC ‘woefully unprepared’ for more pipelines, tankers: Open letter
Ocean pollution specialist Dr. Peter Ross displays an oily substance from English Bay (Vancouver Aquarium) The following is an open letter by Ben West of the group Tanker Free BC to Christy Clark. Dear Premier Clark, In a 2013 interview with Peter Mansbridge, you discussed Canada’s inability to handle a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Republicans fail to get 60 Senate votes for Keystone XL bill
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fell short of the 60 votes he hoped to get for Keystone XL Read this Jan. 26 story from The Washington Post on the setback suffered by Senate Republicans, falling short of the 60 votes they were seeking to move the Keystone XL pipeline forward
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada, Quebec’s political leaders blind to clean tech revolution
Part 1 of a 2-part story from innovation expert Will Dubitsky on Canada’s missed opportunity to build a prosperous green economy. The ardent defenders of our resource economy are in no way limited to the climate skeptics who support TransCanada’s Energy East project, the Keystone XL pipeline and the tripling of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline capacity to
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