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By Greg Fingas, on May 6, 2013, at 9:51 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- As would-be frackers show us exactly why it’s dangerous to give the corporate sector a veto over government action, Steven Shrybman suggests that corporations are mostly doing only what we’d expect in exploiting agreements designed to prioritize profits over people: Canadian businesses are simply playing by the rules of free trade which encourages the outsourcing of everthing that isn’t glued to the local Tim Hortons or the tar sands (to cite two prominent examples): that means value-added processing (where the jobs are) of natural resources that are simply ripped and shipped to the (Read more…)
By Greg Fingas, on February 22, 2013, at 8:53 am Assorted content for your Friday reading.
- Michael Moss writes about the amount of time and money spent by corporate conglomerates to push consumers toward eating unhealthy food: The public and the food companies have known for decades now — or at the very least since this meeting — that sugary, salty, fatty foods are not good for us in the quantities that we consume them. So why are the diabetes and obesity and hypertension numbers still spiraling out of control? It’s not just a matter of poor willpower on the part of the consumer and a give-the-people-what-they-want attitude on
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
By David Climenhaga, on December 31, 2012, at 1:34 am Happy New Year … and this time I mean it! Author and cook Stevie Cameron wearing the official regalia of a member of the Order of Canada. Actual Order of Canada recipients may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Ms. Cameron; Brian Mulroney, the 18th prime minister of Canada, wearing his OiC pin in his official portrait by Igor Babailov, which kind of captures the guy, you have to admit.
What a delightful and ironic twist on which to end one year and start another was the announcement yesterday that Stevie Cameron had been awarded the Order of
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Order of Canada for Stevie Cameron sets the right tone for the coming Year of Mulroney
By Greg Fingas, on December 18, 2012, at 10:08 am Simon Enoch’s study mapping corporate power in Saskatchewan may be one of the most important pieces of research I’ve seen in quite some time – and I’ll highly encourage visitors to give it a thorough read. But I’ll quibble with one aspect of Enoch’s conclusion – he’s done more work to tie together multiple stands of corporate influence than his proposed policy prescription could possibly hope to accomplish.
After analyzing the board and executive structures of corporations, interest groups and government structures alike and demonstrating the striking correlation between them, Enoch’s headline takeaway is this: As record amounts of corporate
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On revealed connections
By Greg Fingas, on December 13, 2012, at 10:04 am Thanks in large part to an extremely active provincial leadership campaign, I haven’t discussed the evolution of the federal NDP over the past few months in as much detail as I’d like. But while there will be plenty more to talk about over the next little while, I’ll comment on a couple of the new stories emerging at the end of the fall sitting of Parliament.
Let’s start with this from Lawrence Martin: For New Democrats, it’s time for a national powwow. National leader Thomas Mulcair is planning to bring together all provincial NDP leaders for a party conference in
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On needed advantages
By Guest Blog, on December 4, 2012, at 4:32 pm by The Polaris Institute | December 4, 2012:
A new report entitled “Big Oil’s Oily Grasp – The making of Canada as a Petro-State and how oil money is corrupting Canadian politics” released today by the Ottawa-based Polaris Institute found that six main oil industry players, including Enbridge and TransCanada, met with federal cabinet ministers 53 times between September 2011 and September 2012, the period when the business-friendly Bill C-38 – which guts environmental legislation – was being designed.
. . . → Read More: Canadian Progressive: Harper Conservatives and Big Oil turning Canada into a “petro-state”
By Greg Fingas, on October 25, 2012, at 9:22 am This and that for your Thursday reading.
- Richard Thaler criticizes Mitt Romney’s obsession with upper-end tax cuts by pointing out the factors which actually serve to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship: Romney wants to cut top rates by 20 percent, maintain the favorable treatment given to capital gains and dividends, and completely eliminate the estate tax, which currently only kicks in on estates in excess of $5 million for an individual or $10 million for a (heterosexual) married couple.
In other words, this is a strategy that emphasizes maximizing the after-tax returns if and when you hit it big. Yet
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
By Farron Cousins, on August 27, 2012, at 3:41 pm fuel economy standards.jpg
A proposed rule by the Obama Administration to raise fuel economy standards for cars and “light-trucks” is facing mounting attacks by Republican lawmakers. The proposed rule would require all newly manufactured automobiles that fall under the car or light truck category to achieve a minimum gas mileage of 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025.
The crusade against the new CAFE standards is being led by Republican Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Issa claims that the new standards amount to “coercion” of the auto industry.
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Fuel Economy Standards To Save U.S. Consumers Billions, Create Jobs, Yet Republicans Say Too Expensive
By Farron Cousins, on August 23, 2012, at 6:00 am dirty-air.jpg
Earlier this week, an appellate court in Washington, D.C. ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had overstepped their authority with their Transport Rule that was put in place to reduce the amount of air pollution being spewed from coal burning plants. The rule would have put stringent limits on the amount of pollution that was being emitted and carried across state lines by weather.
The Courier-Journal has more:
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in a 2-1 ruling that the EPA
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: US Chamber Rejoices As Courts Rule For Polluters
By Farron Cousins, on July 29, 2012, at 4:13 pm oil-money.n.jpg
The average U.S. household has seen both their net worth and their average income steadily decline over the last seven years. Unemployment in the United States still remains at uncomfortably high levels, and the poverty rate is about to reach highs that haven’t been seen since the 1960’s. But as average citizens are struggling to provide food for their families and gainful employment, there are a special few in the U.S.A. who have more cash than they know what to do with. Those special few would be the oil industry.
While most of us
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: How Do You Spend $375 Million A Day? Ask The Oil Industry
By Carol Linnitt, on July 13, 2012, at 4:19 pm Picture 2.png
Enbridge, the Canadian company poised to build the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, received a scathing assessment this week from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) after an inquiry into a 2010 pipeline rupture in Michigan revealed the company’s mismanagement of what unfolded into a “tragic and needless” disaster.
A combination of “human error” and miscommunication culminated in the reckless release of over 843,000 gallons of Albertan diluted bitumen from the Enbridge Line 6B into the Kalamazoo River. The investigation found that 81 percent of the tar sands oil spill was the result of the . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Mismanagement Caused Kalamazoo Tragedy, Says NTSB
By Steve Horn, on July 12, 2012, at 6:02 pm marcellusmoney.jpeg
Consider it official: the Pennsylvania statehouse has been bought and sold by the shale gas industry, confirmed today, yet again, by MarcellusMoney.org.
In a press release, Marcellus Money, a project of Common Cause of Pennsylvania and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania laid out the sobering facts about the frackers' stranglehold over the PA state government, writing,
The natural gas industry and related trade groups have now given nearly $8 million to Pennsylvania state candidates and political committees since 2000…Top recipients of industry money given between 2000 and April 2012 were Governor Tom Corbett
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Marcellus Money: Statehouse Bought and Sold by Shale Gas Industry in PA
By Obert Madondo, on July 5, 2012, at 11:30 am Executive and company have strong and lucrative ties with the Canadian military and Harper government.
Opponents of the Conservative government’s crime Bill C-10 were justified to argue that private companies would profiteer from the new jail system the legislation proposed for Canada. On Tuesday, the Canadian Press reported that a Toronto-based construction company, Bird Construction Inc., had been awarded the contract to build the $38.5-million North East Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Nova Scotia. The 200-bed facility is due to open in 2014.
Turns out there’s a connection between the company and Enbridge Inc.: a man named J.
. . . → Read More: CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Enbridge executive’s company awarded first crime Bill C-10 $38.5-million prison project
By Obert Madondo, on July 4, 2012, at 12:14 pm US states are beginning to rely less on privately run prisons, but Canada may be a land of opportunity for the two biggest firms
By: BILBO POYNTER | The Guardian
US private prison firms are targeting Canada for fresh opportunities as pressure builds at home on the troubled multi-billion dollar industry from human rights groups and legal actions, and as more states look to scale back their reliance on them.
Two of the biggest operators in an industry once regarded as recession-proof, Geo Group and Management and Training Corporation (MTC), have been lobbying various government departments in the Canadian capital,
. . . → Read More: CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Private prison companies look to Canada as industry faces lawsuits in US
By Farron Cousins, on June 18, 2012, at 3:56 pm smoke-stack1.jpg
In a blatant insult to the millions of Americans who would breathe easier under the EPA’s air pollution controls, the dirty energy industry, along with other groups, has sued the EPA to stop regulating toxic industrial air pollution. The Center for American Progress has the story:
Two essential Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, regulations to protect children, seniors, the infirm, and others from air pollution are under attack from the coal industry and many utilities.
Last year the EPA issued two rules that would reduce smog, acid rain, and airborne toxic chemicals: the Cross-State Air
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Dirty Energy Industry Sues EPA Over Clean Air Initiatives
By Greg Fingas, on June 18, 2012, at 10:44 am Miscellaneous material to start your week.
- Tom Korski nicely captures the essence of the Cons’ omnibus attack on the environment (along with anything that stands in the way of a cheap and dirty buck): C-38 is a gift for oil and gas lobbyists.
It repeals 20 years of environmental case law; it eliminates some 90 per cent of all federal environmental assessments, by one estimate; it tilts the rules for industry where studies are unavoidable; it deliberately fails to define “significant effect” of industrial projects. Might that be, say, a tailings pond in a lake? An open pit mine
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Farron Cousins, on June 3, 2012, at 11:00 am lobbyist-payoff1.jpg
In a headline that would appear to be ripped off the pages of The Onion, The Guardian UK this week reported “Gas rebranded as green energy by EU.”
After billions of dollars spent in lobbying efforts over the years, the dirty energy industry in the European Union has managed to convince leaders that natural gas – produced from both traditional extraction and from fracking – is a green, clean, renewable resource, no different than solar or wind power.
From The Guardian:
Energy from gas power stations has been rebranded as a green, low-carbon source
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Dirty Energy Lobby Wins In EU – Shale Gas Now Considered “Green Energy”
By Farron Cousins, on May 29, 2012, at 5:31 pm doctor silence.jpg
Polls conducted in recent years show that close to 80% of Americans trust their doctors. They believe, rightly so, that their personal doctors are looking out for their patients’ best interests, and that doctors will do what is necessary to get patients healthy. But what happens when a doctor is legally bound to keep vital health information away from not just their patients, but from the general public? Under new laws being pushed by the fracking industry, we’ll soon have an answer to that question.
Earlier this year, Mother Jones reported on a new law in Pennsylvania
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Industry Trying To Keep Doctors Silent About Chemical Dangers
By Greg Fingas, on May 28, 2012, at 11:39 am Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.
- T.C. Norris points out that one of the most important developing themes in economic research is the recognition that reductions in employment insurance benefits only force job-seekers into damaging situations rather than creating economic benefits. But as we all know, mere facts won’t stop the Cons from turning Canada into a case in point.
- Peter Julian suggests that the NDP’s “polluter pay” theme is both right in substance and appealing to the Canadian public. And Forum’s latest poll surely fits that thesis – though its numbers on inequality are even more
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Farron Cousins, on March 2, 2012, at 7:50 pm us_chamber_of_commerce_0.jpg
A bitter fight has erupted in Washington, D.C. in recent weeks surrounding the fate of a much-needed transportation and infrastructure bill. Congressional Democrats wanted to pass a bill that would fund projects to help rebuild roads and bridges, but Republicans were against the idea.
So, in an attempt to get something more tangible out of the legislation, Congressional Republicans loaded the bill down with dozens of handouts to the oil industry, including immediate approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and expanded access to U.S. lands for oil exploration. The amendments would also take national gas tax
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Chamber Hits The Road To Promote "Oily" Highway Transportation Bill
By Christine, on February 2, 2012, at 4:01 pm * Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and renewable energy pioneer and a giant in that field, is the speaker on this month’s Citizens Climate Lobby international conference call, this Saturday February 4th. His most recent book is “Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era.” For more [...]
By redtory, on January 23, 2012, at 11:12 pm Contrary to expectations and all the advance hype, it was quite a flat, disappointingly ineffective, and weirdly obtuse Republican “debate” hosted by NBC in Florida tonight.
That was probably the most heated exchange of the evening – a pointless quibble over what constitutes “lobbying” on behalf of government sponsored entities… Zzzzz. There was almost no discussion about jobs, the economy, or the fate of entitlement programs like Social Security.
By Greg Fingas, on January 16, 2012, at 8:03 am Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.
- Roy Romanow, Linda Silas and Steven Lewis make the case for significant federal involvement in shaping health policy in Canada: Provinces can’t transform their systems on their own regardless of how much money they spend. The politics of health care are simply too fraught, and the vested interests too powerful, to effect large-scale change. Even worse, the jurisdictions routinely engage in unconstructive bidding wars for personnel and are whipsawed by vendors, such as pharmaceutical companies, that exploit their isolation and vulnerabilities. Ottawa should play a major role in creating a more collegial and
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By Farron Cousins, on December 31, 2011, at 4:21 pm Earthjustice-Fracking.jpg
The practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has taken center stage this year as one of the most important environmental threats facing North America (and increasingly in other parts of the world). Thanks to inadequate state oversight and Dick Cheney's hamstringing of EPA oversight with the Halliburton Loophole, fracking has expanded through the United States incredibly rapidly over the past few years. In 2011, fracking faced much closer scrutiny as scientists, researchers and affected communities continue studying water, air and property impacts reported in areas where the controversial unconventional energy drilling is taking place.
Fracking awareness received a
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: The Year In Dirty Energy: Fracking
By Farron Cousins, on December 30, 2011, at 4:49 pm tarsands protests.jpg
This year, a deal between TransCanada and the U.S. government almost allowed one of the most disastrous plans in energy history to win aproval. The deal would have allowed TransCanada to build the Keystone XL pipeline across the U.S. border to carry an exceptionally dirty form of oil from Alberta's tar sands through several U.S. states to refineries along the Texas gulf coast.
But thanks to some bizarre GOP politicking in the year-end fight over payroll tax cut legislation, the table is set for President Obama to reject this fossil folly. The likely demise of
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: The Year In Dirty Energy: Keystone XL
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