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Energy East
Instead of trying to diversify Alberta's economy according to the global markets of the 21st century, Mr. Kenney is trying to find a scapegoat.
"New tar sands pipelines don't make sense."
As the year draws to a close, it's worth looking back at some of the public policy issues that made headlines over the past 12 months, and that have a good chance of being in the news during the next 12 as well.
As the month of August draws to a close, the National Energy Board (NEB) begins its hearings on the Energy East pipeline project amidst a swirl of controversy. But the most objectionable aspect of the hearings of the NEB is the fact that it is engulfed in a sea of questionable ethical considerations.
Ezra Levant is angry with the NO delivered to Energy East from the 82 mayors of Montreal's Urban Community to TransCanada Pipelines last January, and is accusing Mayor Coderre of favouring "Shariah" petroleum by saying NO to the "ethical" petroleum of Canada. But there is an important major flaw in Mr. Levant's argument.
On the TV news and in newspapers, we have seen that a pipeline, property of Husky Oil, has spilled more than 200,000 litres of petroleum in the North Saskatchewan River. The oil slick is rapidly moving downstream, polluting the river bottom as well as the drinking water of wildlife, livestock and the citizens living in its watershed.
I think I'm reasonably well versed in issues surrounding the Energy East Pipeline, both economic and environmental. But I am struck by how, in any official TransCanada communications about environmental implications of the project, climate change is never mentioned.
President Obama rejected Keystone XL because he was convinced it was not "in the best interest" of his country. Unhappy with this decision, TransCanada Pipelines chose to directly challenge the sovereignty of the government of the United States with this $15-billion lawsuit.
Energy East is more than a mere pipe that transports the product from point A to point B. It is an essential link of the industry. It is clear that Energy East is co-responsible for all the GHG produced by the 1,100,000 barrels that will travel through this pipeline on a daily basis.
Last week marked the 10th anniversary of An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore documentary that catapulted climate change onto the global agenda. Here's a quick look at developments over the past decade, both the inconvenient and the convenient.
