* Ready or not, painful or not, we are in the middle of a huge shift from an oil dependent economy to one that is run on renewables, the Great Transition. Our governments and the corporations that control them – the people and structures that have become out-of-this-world wealthy from the way we do things […]
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When I watched this stunning moment in Question Period today, at first I couldn't believe it. Then I was outraged, and then I was disgusted.For nothing could have summed up better the total and absolute moral corruption of the Con regime.Read more » It's like a really bad horror movie.One that could only happen in Harperland, where madness reigns, and the Big Lie RULES.A B-movie where Thomas Mulcair gets swarmed by a small army of Con oil pimps, for warning the Americans the pimps are trying to scam them. While the Con pimps, who are selling us out to foreign interests, accuse him of snitching on them. Or betraying Canada, like Alison Redford charged today. Read more » So it’s come to this has it? Premier Redford has officially abdicated responsibility for the Canadian natural resource strategy to her communications director, Stefan Baranski, who persuaded Ms Redford to place an ad in today’s New York Times. The ad, entitled Keystone XL: The Choice of Reason, was meant to counter the Times “just say no” editorial that urged President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline*. The Times’ position in a nutshell was this: A president who has repeatedly identified climate change as one of humanity’s most pressing dangers cannot in good conscience approve a project . . . → Read More: Susan on the Soapbox: Redford’s Keystone Ad in the New York Times: The St Patrick’s Day Blunder Uh oh. He's BAAAAACK!!!Joe "Oily" Oliver, the screaming scarecrow of the Tar Sands.First he called Canadian environmentalists job killing extremists, and tools of foreign interests.Then he promised we would be able to drink the tarry bubbly from the tailing ponds. And that it would taste like prosperity.Now he's back as crazy as ever, waving his twiggy arms around, and claiming that Thomas Mulcair is unfit to govern.Read more » It's been the weirdest winter ever where I live.It was so warm for so long it took forever for the canal to freeze, until it was safe enough to skate on.Then it thawed so quickly, the net got stranded in the middle of nowhere, with the ice too thin to retrieve it.And since I blame global warming for this latest disaster, and so many others, I wasn't exactly thrilled by this news.Read more » The word on the street is that the Harper government has informed Washington that, if it doesn’t approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, there will be a catastrophic rupture in Canadian-American relations — “the biggest deep freeze in Canada-U.S. relations ever.” Now, there’s a threat which must have caused panic in Washington. Iran is going nuclear, North Korea is going ballistic, and Canada is going — blue. If the U.S. doesn’t want our sticky oil, what are we to do? It’s looking more and more like the pipeline to Kitimat is a non-starter. Perhaps the Harperites will have . . . → Read More: Northern Reflections: The Second Coming Among proponents of the Alberta Oilsands, there exists two broad camps that are differentiated from each other on the basis of how best to advocate for the sector’s continued growth in the face of mounting opposition. For the purposes of this post, I label them oilsands hawks and oilsands pragmatists. Obviously, there is considerable overlap between the two camps and proponents can fall into both, depending on the context. Proponents who fall under the oilsands hawk label range in their views. There are those who believe that developing the resource is an end on to itself, as development has some . . . → Read More: Straight Outta Edmonton: Between Hawks and Pragmatists, Currents in Oilsands Policy It was a stirring sight.Tens of thousands of protesters braving the freezing cold to try to stop the planet from burning.Demanding that Obama kill the Keystone XL pipeline.Canada’s carbon-intensive oilsands industry was the guest of dishonour in Washington on Sunday, where the largest in a series of nationwide climate rallies demanded President Barack Obama call a halt to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.Although I HATED the way the New York Times framed this story. Read more » “If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” says Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address which devoted a substantial portion on climate change. Direction is set for more oil and gas drilling, but also more funding for electric cars and energy efficient buildings. The Globe and Mail’s reaction: “Very strong on climate change … If you are a Canadian environmentalist, you can be glad in your heart. If you are part of the Canadian oil industry or the Canadian government trying to get the Keystone pipeline approved, not so good … It’s the (Read more…) Richard Hughes-Political Blogger It struck me from the outset that the Natives were Canada’s best chance for pushback against corporate and oil and gas interests. Who else could or would stop the Enbridge Pipeline, the Keystone, the Pacific Trails Pipeline, the fracking? The NDP today is a mere shadow of the past progressive force that it was for decades but today they essentially have turned their back on those left of centre voters. Yes, they stand against Enbridge Pipeline but are in agreement with similar forces when it comes to fracking and they are awkwardly straddling the fence when looking . . . → Read More: Cowichan Conversations: Unist’ot’en Action Camp: Stopping Pipelines In Their Tracks shutterstock_48011347.jpg TransCanada was once in the limelight and targeted for its Keystone XL pipeline project. Now, with few eyes watching, it is pushing along two key pipeline projects that would bring two respective forms of what energy geopolitics scholar Michael Klare calls "extreme energy" to lucrative export markets. Pipeline one: the southern segment of the originally proposed TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, popularly referred to as the Cushing Extension, but officially referred to as either the Gulf Coast Project or the Cushing Marketlink pipeline. This pipeline will carry tar sands crude, or "dilbit," . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: TransCanada’s Latest Extreme Energy Export Pipelines in the U.S. and Canada 
 AP, Apache Canada, apache corporation, Army Corps of Engineers, Associated Press, B.C., Barack Obama, British Columbia, coal, Cushing Extension, David Daniel, E&E News, Elana Schor, EnCana Corporation, energy security, Enron Oil and Gas, EOG, EOG Resources, Ethical Oil, Export Pipelines, fracking, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the Earth U.S., Gas Exports, Gulf Coast Project, Horn River Shale, hydraulic fracturing, Jay Carney, Keystone Pipeline, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, Keystone XL southern segment, Kim Huynh, King Coal, Kitimat, Kitimat LNG, LNG, Obama State Department, Oil Exports, oil sands, OPEC, Pacific Trails Pipeline, PetroChina, pipelines, President Barack Obama, Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Royal Dutch Shell, shale gas, Shale Gas Exports, shell, shell oil, Tar Sands, tar sands action, Top Tar Sands Oil Pipelines, TransCanada, TransCanada Gulf Coast Project, TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline, U.S. State Department, unconventional gas shutterstock_14976709.jpg Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man on the planet (net worth: $44 billion), often referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha," is the target of a May 5 action called for by Stop Coal B.C. Well, not Buffett directly, but a rail company he owns through his massive holding company, Berkshire Hathaway: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway. BNSF Railway is the second largest freight rail company in the United States and the exclusive carrier of thermal coal from coal basins in the northwestern U.S. to docks in British Columbia, . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: B.C. Protest This Saturday to Stop Warren Buffett’s BNSF Coal Trains
Alberta, Alberta tar sands, Arch Coal, Arora Group, B.C. British Columbia, Bakken, Bakken Shale, Barack Obama, Ben Jervey, Berkshire Hathaway, bill gates, Black Thunder, Black Thunder Coal Mine, BNSF, BNSF Railway, Buffett Tax, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Calgary Herald, Center for Responsive Politics, Citizens United, Citizens United v. FEC, coal, coal exports, Coal Transport, Coal Transportation, Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs Energy Center, Cushing, david roberts, Democratic National Comittee, Democratic Party, Desmogblog, forbes, Forbes Magazine, fracking the future, Greg Palast, Grist, Institute for Southern Studies, Iowa, keystone, Keystone Pipeline, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, King Coal, MidAmerican Energy, Nigam Arora, Obama, oil sands, open secrets, Oracle of Omaha, Port Arthur, Powder River Basin, Prince Rupert, Priorities USA Action, Ridley Terminal, Stop Coal B.C., Sue Sturgis, Super PAC, Tar Sands, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, TransCanada Corporation, warren buffett, washington state, Wyoming Cushing .jpg It's the multi-pronged fight that never seems to end. The Alberta Tar Sands have been near the forefront of the North American energy and climate debate, thanks in large part to growing public concern and grassroots efforts like Tar Sands Action, a campaign led by climate activists to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The temporary derailing of Keystone XL by President Obama – who in January delayed permission to construct the pipeline for the foreseeable future - was labeled a "victory" by many activists. But complicating the "victory" narrative, Obama later granted permission to TransCanada Corporation . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Obama Sojourns to "Pipeline Crossroads of the World" for Campaign Speech
Alberta, Alberta oil sands, Alberta tar sands, Bakken Shale, big oil, BNSF, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CBC News, Cushing, Cushing Extension, Cushing MarketLink, Desmogblog, flaring, fracking, Gas Flaring, hydraulic fracturing, keystone, Keystone Pipeline, Keystone XL, Keystone XL Pipeline, natural gas, natural gas flaring, oil sands, oklahoma, Port Arthur, shale gas, Stillwater News Press, Tar Sands, Texas, TransCanada, TransCanada Corporation, unconventional gas Oh dear. I see that Stephen Harper’s pathetic attempt to threaten Obama has been met with a chuckle and a shrug. The Obama administration is unfazed by Canadian warnings that delays in the Keystone XL pipeline review will add urgency to Ottawa’s effort to ship crude oil to China, U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says. And no wonder eh? When Harper is only helping Obama’s enemies. In condemning the ruling, Republican house Leader John Boehner accused President Obama of “shipping American energy security to China.” And like our homegrown oil pimps, the bonehead Boehner doesn’t know what he’s doing . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Great Pipeline Humiliation In Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford sees his reckless budget derailed. Who says you can’t fight City Hall? Torontonians who successfully pushed back against Mayor Rob Ford’s reckless cuts are the real winners in this year’s budget process. By the hundreds, they came to all-night public meetings; they inundated city councillors with expressions of concern; they tweeted, blogged and organized and, in many cases, took to the street in protest. It worked. Indeed, democracy worked. By a slim majority city council voted to take almost $19 million from last year’s surplus and use it to save pools and homeless shelters, daycare . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: Three Happy Lessons for Progressives The Star: This is the most realistic and sensible perspective I’ve seen on the environment-oil-pipeline dilemma. Olive is right: oil as our primary source of energy is not going to go away any time soon. It took well over 50 years to shift from coal as a primary source of energy to oil and natural gas. Given the slow pace of commercializing innovations in alternative energy, the complexities of implementation, and governments’ lack of political will to drive alternative sources aggressively and cooperatively, it will be much longer before we witness a fully established energy paradigm shift- probably not in our lifetimes. Bottom . . . → Read More: Politics and Entertainment: Keystone, Northern Gateway pipelines raise questions that need answers before approval In today’s Globe and Mail, Robert Redford — who lately has spent a lot of time in Vancouver — offers another take on the Canadian-American partnership, which Stephen Harper trumpets so loudly: I want to be very clear that I’m not pointing a finger at the people of Canada; neither is any American I know. We’re all in this together, and that’s the only way we’ll turn it around. We need to stand up, Canadians and Americans as one, to draw the line at tar sands. The Harperites have never believed that we are all in this together. . . . → Read More: Northern Reflections: True North When Megan Leslie and Claude Grevelle went to Washington this past week, Environment Minister Peter Kent was furious. The two NDP members of the House, he said, were taking “the treacherous course of leaving the domestic debate and heading abroad to attack a legitimate Canadian resource which is being responsibly developed and regulated.” But, as Tim Harper wrote in The Toronto Star: They went to Washington to provide a different point of view on the Keystone XL pipeline project and to tell American legislators that, contrary to the cheerleading of Stephen Harper and his cabinet, not every Canadian . . . → Read More: Northern Reflections: Limited Intelligence Oh no. How embarrassing. I see Stephen Harper was doing the hula hula in Hawaii today, trying to get Obama to change his mind about the Keystone XL pipeline. Because he said it was a “no brainer” so now he looks like an IDIOT.And so does little Jimbo F… . . . → Read More: Montreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Pipeline Debacle The U.S. is still somewhat of a democracy. Obama knows that he has to act like an environmentalist for another year. The oil companies will get their way, I am guessing, a few days after the election, next November. Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert says that those of us who object to the building of the #KeystoneXL are lying. A pretty strong accusation for a government minister no doubt borne of frustration since we’re winning, and their combined 28 c… . . . → Read More: Politics and Entertainment: Ron Liepert, Alberta’s Energy Minister, calls Opponents of Keystone XL Liars U.S. Oil Production a Threat to Canadian Oil Industry So let’s say the U.S. becomes relatively oil self-sufficient by 2017, as some argue, and let’s say that self-sufficiency does not fully offset imported oil from Mexico and V… . . . → Read More: Politics and Entertainment: U.S. Self-sufficient Oil Production would be a Threat to both the Tarsands and the Keystone Pipeline XL |
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