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By Rafe Mair, on February 23, 2015, at 11:47 am Thomas Mulcair, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has thrown down the gauntlet with his promise of federal tax giveaways for LNG enterprises.
I expected this sort of nonsense – just one look at the smug sneer of power on the face of James Moore, Minister of Industry, over the last few months, indicated that this decision was coming and that the opinions of the people of British Columbia didn’t matter a tinker’s dam.
This I think is one of the central points.
When it comes to industry and the people with whom this government are philosophically aligned, (Read more…)
By The Mound of Sound, on February 10, 2015, at 11:36 am It’s been here for a while. It’s what happens when you begin to run short on something everybody needs.
It’s America’s frackers versus America’s farmers. They both want water and there’s not enough to go around. Frackers want it to get oil and gas out of the ground. Farmers need it to grow food.
This is only just getting started but, this year, an estimated 1.2-billion dollars of corn, soya and wheat crops are at risk to the industrial demand for scarce water.
…industrial water users typically have a higher capacity to absorb the increased costs associated with rising (Read more…)
By The Mound of Sound, on February 2, 2015, at 1:54 pm It seems that Alberta has claimed another world record. This time it’s for the magnitude of a fracking-induced earthquake, a 4.4-magnitude temblor last week at Fox Creek.
“The location of the earthquake is consistent with being induced by hydraulic fracturing operations,” confirmed Peter Murchland, a spokesman for the Alberta Energy Regulator.
“The AER regards all changes in seismicity that have the potential to indicate an increased risk associated with hydrocarbon production seriously,” Murchland added.
…For years industry and fracking experts argued the technology wouldn’t cause quakes that could be felt on the surface.
But specialists in earthquake hazards such (Read more…)
By Damien Gillis, on January 28, 2015, at 1:45 pm Trucking costs for radioactive waste in North Dakota’s Bakken oil field are too high, says the industry
Read this eye-opening Jan. 28 Reuters story on the push from North Dakota shale oil producers to loosen restrictions around the dumping of radioactive waste – a cost-cutting measure as prices for their resource plummet.
(Reuters) – North Dakota’s oil industry is pushing to change the state’s radioactive waste disposal laws as part of a broad effort to conserve cash as oil prices tumble.
The waste, which becomes slightly radioactive as part of the hydraulic fracturing process that churns up isotopes locked underground, (Read more…)
By Damien Gillis, on January 27, 2015, at 2:10 pm BG Group’s Methane Lydon Volney tanker (Photo: BG Group)
The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis and retired KPMG partner and chemistry Ph.D Eoin Finn will be in Nanaimo Wednesday night to discuss the province’s energy vision.
Finn has been a leading voice on the economic and safety risks of the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant near Squamish. Drawing on his MBA and years of experience at one of the world’s largest accounting firms, he will dissect the local and global economics of the BC Liberals’ LNG plans.
Gillis, meanwhile, will take the audience on a visual tour of northeast BC – featuring (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on January 10, 2015, at 9:46 pm The infrastructure already developed to accommodate cheap fossil fuels creates a psychological barrier to rational discourse on energy issues, says David Suzuki.
The post David Suzuki: Energy shift requires shift in conversation appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By The Canadian Progressive, on December 27, 2014, at 4:44 pm After years of delays and debate, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally decided that the risks of fracking outweigh the rewards, bans the practice.
The post New York State Bans Fracking appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Various Authors, on December 19, 2014, at 2:16 pm Advocacy groups and concerned citizens have signed an open letter demanding that the British Columbia government and Science World cancel their province-wide community seminars promoting the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
The post Groups call on BC and Science World to end LNG promotion appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Greg Fingas, on December 16, 2014, at 10:44 am This and that for your Tuesday reading.
- Carter Price offers another look at how inequality damages economic development. And the Broadbent Institute examines the wealth gap in Canada – which is already recognized as a serious problem, but also far larger than most people realize:
- Paul Buchheit discusses how the U.S. is turning poor people into commodities or criminals. Chuk Plante reviews some facts about child poverty in Saskatchewan – with a particular focus on the need to measure and reduce the alarmingly high rates of child poverty among First Nations children. Suzanne Moore points out how (Read more…)
By CuriosityCat, on December 15, 2014, at 1:35 am Is it better to have gambled and lost?
Saudi Arabia is calling the shots in the steep price decline of oil in recent weeks, by refusing to cut its output so as to remove production from the market and increase prices. Why is it doing this? One possible reason is that it is underestimating the remorseless drive for profits (Read more…) . . . → Read More: CuriosityCat: Oil Price: Has Saudi Arabia gambled and lost?
By Common Sense Canadian, on December 11, 2014, at 6:10 pm
Read this Dec. 9 story from The Globe and Mail on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statement that it would be “crazy economic policy” to apply climate regulations to the oil and gas sector.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has retreated further from his pledge to regulate carbon emissions in the oil industry, saying it would be “crazy” to do so at a time of fallen crude prices.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, the Prime Minister rebuffed calls for new measures to deal with the country’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases just a day after an Environment Canada report (Read more…)
By Common Sense Canadian, on December 11, 2014, at 12:14 am Environmental consultant Jessica Ernst on her land in Alberta (Colin Smith photo)
Read this Dec. 10 Tyee story by Andrew Nikiforuk on the Alberta government’s surprise announcement that it will not be appealing a recent court ruling enabling landowner and scientist Jessica Ernst to proceed with her lawsuit over fracking impacts.
Jessica Ernst, the businesswoman and oil patch scientist defiantly challenging the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in Alberta, has scored another legal victory.
The Alberta government will not appeal a recent ruling that allows Ernst to sue Alberta Environment for the alleged negligent investigation of water well contamination during the (Read more…)
By Damien Gillis, on December 8, 2014, at 9:59 pm Ministers Rich Coleman and Shirley Bond watch a recent demonstration on the “science of LNG” (BC Govt)
The BC Liberal government’s all-out push to build an LNG industry is extending into the province’s classrooms and the minds of its students. The latest partner in this effort, Science World, is co-hosting a series of community seminars in rural communities to educate students “about the fundamentals of energy science.”
Alongside presentations by Science World, an October government media advisory promises:
…young people will be able to talk with government and industry representatives and take part in Find Your Fit, an interactive event where (Read more…)
By Richard Hughes, on December 1, 2014, at 8:09 pm Dorothy Field
Dear John and Carole,
I have to say you’ve lost me now. There is already much study done on fracking and it shows it’s a bad idea – bad for the environment, poisoning ground water.
And many, many people with rock solid information you could consult — Andrew Nikiforuk is the first who comes to mind but there are others.
I understand your concern that the NDP can’t always be saying NO but there is so much you could be saying YES to:
YES to GREEN TECHNOLOGY,
YES to PROTECTION AND MONITORING OF OUR WATER RESOURCES,
YES to (Read more…)
By Common Sense Canadian, on November 26, 2014, at 7:09 pm Petronas CEO Shamsul Abbas shakes hands with BC Premier Christy Clark
Read this Nov. 26 Reuters story on the BC Liberal government’s approval of multiple LNG infrastructure applications.
VANCOUVER — British Columbia has approved a liquefied natural gas export terminal being developed by Malaysia’s Petronas, along with two pipelines to service Canada’s fledgling LNG industry, the province’s Ministry of Environment said on Tuesday.
A federal environmental review of Petronas’ Pacific NorthWest LNG project is continuing, with the Malaysian state-owned energy firm expected to make a final investment decision on the $11 billion facility before the end of the (Read more…)
By Common Sense Canadian, on November 24, 2014, at 2:49 pm
Join The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis and Council of Canadians’ Leila Darwish for a multimedia discussion about BC’s energy future – this Wednesday evening in Victoria.
Gillis, who is also co-directing the documentary film Fractured Land, will tackle the economic and environmental myths and realities of the proposed LNG industry – sharing photographs and video clips of the shale gas development in northeast BC that would feed LNG plants on the coast.
Darwish will examine the growing resistance in BC to this LNG vision – from citizens in Howe Sound confronting the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant to grassroots First (Read more…)
By Damien Gillis, on November 17, 2014, at 1:29 pm Rich Coleman tries to conjure up some good LNG PR with this youtube video (BC govt youtube page)
The BC government is worried it can’t control the way fracking and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are being criticized through social media, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request reveal.
As a result, the Liberal administration fears losing the “social licence” required to advance its LNG strategy – the core policy of its recent election platform and economic vision.
The June, 2014 briefing note (view full document here) was dug up by Propeller Strategy, a non-profit group with a focus on environmental and public (Read more…)
By Common Sense Canadian, on November 12, 2014, at 4:36 pm Environmental consultant Jessica Ernst on her land in Alberta (Colin Smith photo)
An Alberta woman has the right to sue the provincial environment ministry for allegedly failing to properly investigate water contamination she says Encana’s hydraulic fracturing caused on her property, a Calgary judge has ruled.
Jessica Ernst launched a $33-million lawsuit in 2011 against Alberta Environment, the province’s energy regulator and energy company Encana.
She claims gas wells fracked around her land in Rosebud, Alta., about 120 kilometres northeast of Calgary, released hazardous amounts of methane and ethane gas and other chemicals into her water well.
Ernst claims there (Read more…)
By Rafe Mair, on November 5, 2014, at 8:33 pm Christy Clark and Marvin Odum, President Shell Oil Company at recent BC LNG conference (BC govt flickr)
I’m sure, like me, you were excited to read in the Vancouver Sun for November 4 that LNG Canada (Shell and its Asian partners) will build a plant in Kitimat which will be very, very “green” and put even less greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere than the maximum prescribed by the BC government.
Oh, there will still be GHG escaping but just a teensy, weensy bit. And, of course, we all know that how strict BC government standards are. After all if you (Read more…)
By cityprole, on November 5, 2014, at 12:01 pm Poloz’s prescription for unemployed youth: Work for free
TAVIA GRANT
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Nov. 04 2014, 12:40 PM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Nov. 04 2014, 7:03 PM EST
http://montrealsimon.blogspot.ca/2014/11/the-bank-of-canada-governor-and-young.html
Anyone familiar with British politics has heard it all before..the government of Cameron, right wing nutjob with an unspeakable ‘coalition’ of Lib-Dems (sorta like our BC Socred-Libs) forced those without jobs to work for nothing in dead-end companies to get any sort of financial government help..not enough to live on or pay rent..sound familiar?
All these half- baked regressive policies are leftovers (Read more…)
By Richard Hughes, on October 9, 2014, at 8:17 am Richard Hughes-Political Blogger
We are moving into autumn, our glorious climate change driven summer is wrapping up even though our confused tomato plants refuse to stop providing even more ripe tomatoes.
Last night our beloved Vancouver Canucks warmed our hockey deprived souls with a win in the season opener against the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome.
BC NDP Leader John Horgan is determined even as he is smiling.
Our BC Legislature has been a scene of activity featuring accusations and highly partisan posturing in a rare fall legislative session is in gear. NDP’s new leader John Horgan finally has the (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on October 8, 2014, at 3:44 pm A new poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians reveals that an overwhelming majority of Canadians oppose fracking, support “a national moratorium on fracking until it is scientifically proven to be safe.”
The post 70 of Canadians support a national moratorium on fracking: POLL appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Common Sense Canadian, on October 7, 2014, at 5:36 pm Fracking operations in northeast BC use enormous volumes of water (Photo: Damien Gillis)
Filmmaker and Common Sense Canadian publisher Damien Gillis takes us on a multi-media journey to northeast BC – the heart of the province’s industrial landscape – to better understand the implications of the government’s energy policy on our water, climate, and collective future.
Featuring highlights from the forthcoming documentary film, Fractured Land and an in-depth examination of fracking, liquefied natural gas plans, and the proposed Site C Dam.
WHEN
Oct. 8, 7-9 PM
WHERE
Bosa Film Centre, Capilano University – North Vancouver (see map)
MORE (Read more…)
By Will Dubitsky, on October 4, 2014, at 6:22 pm Shale gas is a big component of China’s future energy plans
China has declared war on coal and coal consumption is down as a result. But this coal war offers some good news, some not so good news for Canada, and some bad news, all at the same time.
China turns to clean tech, fracking
The good news pertains to: 1) China having become an unparalleled leader and investor in the global migration to a the green economy; and 2) China’s ongoing adoption of ambitious new policies and targets to accelerate this migration at a spellbinding rate.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned good (Read more…)
By Richard Hughes, on October 2, 2014, at 4:32 pm Richard Hughes-Political Blogger
Like so many of you my concern about this runaway climate change train wreck that our politicians are allowing and in many case aiding and abetting is troublesome to the point that it has become the number one issue facing the planet today.
I have read, seen and heard Andrew Nikiforuk as have many of you have. He is one of the most informed and knowledgable challengers to the threat of climate change facing us today. He provides invaluable information allowing us to better understanding of the realities and, the dangers that we face from this mad (Read more…)
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