BC Hydro’s 5,000-page plan: Public given just 1 week to respond
BC Hydro gave the public all of one week, stretching through Labour Day Weekend, to respond to its 5,000-page draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) – and that doesn’t sit well…
Common Sense Journalism
Al Jazeera comes to America
Somewhere in the United States on August 20, 2013, a technician flicked a switch and Al Jazeera America joined the other networks that bring television news to Americans. At that…
The Ecology of Wealth
What is a man to do with a “main palace” of 420 rooms, a customized Boeing 747 jumbo jet for his exclusive use, a private zoo and amusement park, and…
BC Hydro customers victimized again with $750M Powerex settlement
In the year 2000, the price for electricity in California rose almost overnight by nearly 1300%. For its role in this fraud, BC Hydro’s energy trading subsidiary, Powerex, recently agreed…
BC Hydro inflates demand to justify Site C Dam
Throughout the past several decades, Hydro has consistently been off by 10-20% in its forecasting and that proud tradition continues today, with the release of its draft Integrated Resource Plan.…
Beaver Lake Cree case reveals flaws in environmental review process
A fundamental flaw in the environmental assessment process is that it focuses on each proposed development as something that stands alone. But an individual well or dam is not separate…
The Thorium reactor energy option
For half a century, the electrical power industry has been trying to make success of failure, safety of danger, and efficiency of wastefulness because it chose the wrong nuclear fuel…
The Carbon Dilemma
The carbon dilemma first received public attention in 2012 when Bill McKibben, an American environmentalist and founder of 350.org, publicized the growing conflict between the known carbon that is stored…
Is geoengineering a silver bullet for climate change?
Geoengineering to combat climate change is largely untested. Because we’ve stalled so long on reducing carbon emissions and still aren’t doing enough, we may have to consider it. What will…
How Alberta oil companies bought BC election – and the media missed it
One man, Allan Paul Marking, an Alberta Oil dude, gave $150,000 to the Liberals. Alberta oil and gas companies Encana and Cenovus gave them $68,000 and Texas based Spectra Energy…
LNG plant’s comment period extended over missing river controversy
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) announced today that it’s extending the public comment period for a controversial, proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant near Prince Rupert. Concerns were raised…
Corky Evans on what’s wrong with the BC NDP
I remember when one of the Leaders I worked for asked some guys many of us know to purge our Party of the troublemakers (that was not the word he…
Sacred Headwaters mine stand-off: Meeting CEO fails to ease tensions
An emergency Aug. 17 meeting between Fortune Minerals CEO Robin Goad and the Tahltan Nation elders who recently issued his company an eviction notice from the Sacred Headwaters failed to…
The Rite of Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The event in Paris on May 29, 1913, was a watershed moment for…
Mine’s CEO to meet with Tahltan elders in Sacred Headwaters over eviction notice
Fortune Minerals CEO Robin Goad is reportedly flying into the Sacred Headwaters, in northwest BC, for an emergency discussion this evening with elders of the Tahltan Nation. The 5 pm…
We can’t ignore the little things that keep us alive
In our concern with protecting grizzlies and polar bears, whooping cranes and redwood trees, wolves and caribou, we give short shrift to the small creatures that keep the planet livable.…
Malaysian energy giant makes Skeena River disappear in LNG proposal
You would think Malaysian energy giant Petronas would have learned a lesson from fellow fossil fuel pipeline and coastal export terminal proponent Enbridge’s “disappearing islands” debacle last year. Enbridge was…
Canada’s Green Economy needs public investment
While public banks in countries like China, the US, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Brazil are investing billions in renewable energy development, as clean tech expert Will Dubitsky explains, Canada…
Let’s get serious about cigarette litter – no ifs, ands, or butts
In 1965, half of Canadians smoked. By 2011, that had dropped to about 17.3 per cent, or 4.9-million people, with only about 13.8 per cent daily smokers. Unfortunately the downward…
Runaway train fuels runaway narrative
Read Kevin Logan’s analysis of the Lac-Mégantic train disaster. Logan provides a comprehensive breakdown of the facts, and where the mainstream media lost sight of the truth. Using a series…