The Magical Thinkers: Horgan and Kenney
I’m not sure what’s more bizarre, BC Premier John Horgan’s rationale for asking the BC Supreme Court to rule on whether BC can limit the amount of diluted bitumen flowing…
Trans Mountain Pipeline
Jason Kenney’s Non-Partisan Request
This just in from “the train-has-left-the-station” department. Let’s see, how should Alberta respond to BC’s announcement that it will limit bitumen shipments from Alberta until it completes consultation on more…
A modest proposal to defuse the looming constitutional and national unity crisis caused by Western Canadian pipeline plans
PHOTOS: Protesters opposed to expansion of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline in Vancouver last fall. (Photo: William Chen, Creative Commons.) Below: Police and protesters square off in Burnaby, near Vancouver, where…
The Alberta NDP’s Sour Grapes Strategy will only strengthen Coastal B.C.’s nearly universal opposition to pipelines
PHOTOS: Grape vines grow in B.C.’s beautiful Okanagan Valley, one of the prime wine producing regions of the world (Photo: Kelowna Wine & Cuisine Flickr, Creative Commons). Below: Alberta Premier…
Huffing and Puffing “Leadership”
Last week BC Premier John Horgan said BC would ban any increase in shipments of diluted bitumen (dilbit) to BC until a scientific advisory panel determined whether shippers can adequately…
Politics and the Debate Club
I know, I know, you’d rather watch the Grey Cup game, so I’ll make this quick. Yesterday, Ms Soapbox and a friend judged the final round in the Sir Winston…
Question Period? Really?
How much longer do we have to put up with this nonsense? The Alberta Legislature has been in session for eight days and the UCP is using Question Period to…
Guest Post: In a democracy, quiet is rarely a good sign, and Alberta’s relationship with Big Oil is very quiet indeed
PHOTOS: Part of the Jackpine Oilsands Mine north of Fort McMurray, formerly owned by Shell and now operated by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (Photo: Pembina Institute.) Below: Author Kevin Taft.…
Approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline was based on faulty assumptions
One of the key faulty assumptions underlying Canada’s approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline is that Alberta’s bitumen is being unfairly discounted by U.S. buyers and that its price…
Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, who gave as good as she got, leaves Alberta oilsands advisory role
PHOTOS: Former Oil Sands Advisory Group member Tzeporah Berman. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Progressive Conservative Legislative Caucus Leader Ric McIver, and Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. Tzeporah Berman, the high-profile…
Report questioning tidewater premium for Alberta petroleum undermines a powerful narrative … expect fireworks
PHOTOS: No Smoking … no kidding! An oil tanker sits in a Spanish port. B.C. environmentalists don’t want to see scenes like this on their coast. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons) A…
Kinder Morgan’s IPO: Risk > Reward
Thursday, June 1, 2017 Kinder Morgan’s risky Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion just got a whole lot riskier, just as the company was taking steps to offload some of that risk…
Genial and in control, Alberta premier fields questions about B.C. politics with aplomb at hospital announcement
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Health Minister and Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman announce a new hospital on Edmonton’s south side. Alberta Health services CEO Verna Yiu is visible on…
Rachel Notley’s tough talk on pipelines evokes the Peter Lougheed Era of energy policy confrontation
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton. (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta) Below: Earth scientist David Hughes (Post Carbon Institute photo), B.C. Premier Christy Clark…
Donald Trump helps build the case for Rachel Notley’s social license policy on energy exports
PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump – he’s lookin’ at you, Canada. (Photo by Gage Skidmore, Flickr.) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. If Alberta’s conservatives imagined U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision…
A Kinder Morgan snapshot
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 It’s been a while since we’ve updated you about Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion project (KMX). A lot has happened in the past…
Shoreline, True Grit, photo-bombing, certainty and the Deity: random observations from Alberta’s Throne Speech
PHOTOS: Alberta Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, clad in a purple official gown, reads the NDP Government’s third Speech from the Throne in the Legislature in Edmonton yesterday afternoon. Below: Party…
Former B.C. NDP premier’s pro-pipeline sentiments boost Rachel Notley’s ‘social license’ strategy
PHOTOS: One of the few photos your blogger could find of Dan Miller (found on the Internet, original source unknown). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan…
Trudeau’s approval of Kinder Morgan pipeline a call for Standing Rock-style intervention
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project spurred anger. We need strategy to stop the project. The post Trudeau’s approval of Kinder Morgan…
Field notes: A week of pipeline action and cross-Canada solidarity
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 Staff Counsel Eugene Kung recounts an action-packed week preparing for – and responding to – the federal government's approval of the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline…