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China explosions: Cyanide in waters near blast site said to be 277 times acceptable level
Drinking water in Tianjin meets national standards, health authority says
Chinese authorities warned that cyanide levels in the waters around the Tianjin Port explosion site had risen to as much as 277 times acceptable levels although they declared that the city’s drinking water was safe.
The local government, under pressure from China’s leaders in Beijing to improve industrial safety, also said it would relocate chemical plants away from the area, where thousands of residents were forced to evacuate last week after the release of toxic chemicals by explosions that killed 114 people.
China’s ruling Politburo Standing Committee called on all levels of governments during a special meeting on Thursday to do more to implement and monitor industrial safety rules, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
“Recently, there’s been a series of serious accidents in certain places, once again exposing grave safety risks,” Xinhua quoted from the meeting, which was called by President Xi Jinping to address the Tianjin explosions.
- 9 of the world’s worst industrial disasters
- China explosions: Warehouse executives used connections to get permit, state media say
- China explosions: Top safety official detained
- China explosion: Tianjin residents demand compensation
A report from the Tianjin Environmental Protection Bureau issued on Wednesday said that tests conducted the day before showed that cyanide levels in the river, sea and waste water in the evacuated area around the explosion site had risen sharply since the deadly blasts. One testing site at the mouth of a rain water pipe recorded cyanide levels 277 times above acceptable standards.
Drinking water in Tianjin, however, met national standards, according to a separate statement from health authorities on Tuesday.
The government has confirmed there were about 700 tonnes of the deadly chemical sodium cyanide in the warehouse that blew up late last Wednesday.
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‘Biggest El Niño of our generation’ may be tempered by The Blob
Climatologists unsure of outcome of battle of ‘Godzilla’ El Niño vs. the Pacific Blob
For many drought-weary Californians, it has become the ‘Great Wet Hope.’ Bill Patzert, a climatologist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, has given it a less enthusiastic nickname.
“This is the Godzilla El Niño,” Patzert says. “This potentially could be the El Niño of our generation.”
El Niño is the term for a massive patch of warm water that appears in the the Equatorial Pacific every few years, affecting weather patterns across the world. Typically, its appearance means more rain on the Pacific coast and a milder winter west of the Rockies.
- El Nino this year could be a record-breaker
- El Nino will be a hurricane slayer, forecasters predict
- Ocean ‘blob’ could be responsible for warmer temperatures
“Places that are normally dry get extremely wet, and of course that would include the American west,” Patzert says. “So we’re kayaking down the street in Los Angeles, and they’re playing golf in February in Minneapolis.”
Climatologists suspected El Niño was coming. Now they’re predicting it’ll be even bigger than they thought.
Sea surface temperature anomalies for May 2014. Warmer colours indicate warm temperatures. (NOAA)
Sea surface temperature anomalies for May 2015. Warmer colours indicate warm temperatures, and are particularly noticeable around the equator and South America. (NOAA)
“A large El Niño like we saw in 1997 and 1982 has a big impact not only on the U.S. and Canada, but (also) all over the planet,” Patzert says. “The signal that we see in the Pacific from space is actually larger than it was in August of 1997.”
In 1997, a massive El Niño brought floods, mudslides and hurricanes. In California it killed 17 people and caused half a billion dollars of damage.
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U.S. allows Shell to drill for oil in Arctic Ocean off Alaska
Company hopes to drill 2 wells in the Chukchi Sea by late September
The U.S. government on Monday gave Royal Dutch Shell the final permit it needs to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northwest coast for the first time in more than two decades.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced that it approved the permit to drill below the ocean floor after the oil giant brought in a required piece of equipment to stop a possible well blowout.
The agency previously allowed Shell to begin drilling only the top sections of two wells in the Chukchi Sea because the key equipment, called a capping stack, was stuck on a vessel that needed repair in Portland, Ore.
Since the vessel arrived last week, Shell is free to drill into oil-bearing rock, estimated at 2,400 metres below the ocean floor, for the first time since its last exploratory well was drilled in 1991.
“Activities conducted offshore Alaska are being held to the highest safety, environmental protection, and emergency response standards,” agency Director Brian Salerno said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to monitor their work around the clock to ensure the utmost safety and environmental stewardship.”
Shell’s icebreaker Fennica, shown here in Portland, Ore., earlier this summer, arrived in Alaska Aug. 11 carrying vital equipment to use in the event of a blowout. Final permits for drilling hinged on its arrival. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
Environmental groups oppose Arctic offshore drilling, saying industrial activity will harm polar bears, Pacific walrus, ice seals and threatened whales already vulnerable from climate warming and shrinking summer sea ice. They say oil companies have not demonstrated that they can clean up a spill in water choked by ice.
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Students federation says N.L. grant plan should be adopted nationally
Students federation says N.L. grant plan should be adopted nationally
The Canadian Federation of Students wants to put growing education debt on the federal election radar and says other governments should follow Newfoundland and Labrador’s shift to student grants instead of loans.
“We have a crisis in Canada when it comes to overall student debt burdens,” said national chairperson Bilan Arte.
“Without a deliberate, national plan around post-secondary education and youth employment, we are going to see this generation failed again,” she said in an interview.
“As students, we cannot stand for that.”
Daniel Rumbolt is about to start his fourth year at Memorial University of Newfoundland in fine arts and hopes to become a professor. He works three part-time jobs in addition to a full course load. Still, he expects to rack up about $16,000 in student loans by next spring, he said in an interview.
Provincial grants will save him at least $3,000. Rumbolt said it’s a huge morale boost that’s inspiring students to stay in the province after graduation.
“I think people are becoming more and more motivated to support the province that’s supporting us.”
Current loans system stifling graduates, says CFS
Arte said Newfoundland and Labrador’s shift to grants should be copied across the country. She called the current system of federal and provincial funding an “ineffective” approach that’s putting higher learning out of reach as graduates shoulder historic debt loads.
The federation argues what is now spent running the Canada Student Loans Program, related tax credits and savings schemes should be shifted to up front grants.
Many graduates are typically too broke to even think about cars, houses or other economy-driving investments, Arte said.
“We’re just thinking about how to pay next month’s bills.”
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Alberta climate-change panel to consult before taking action
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips takes step toward ‘made in Alberta’ plan
Alberta’s NDP government took a first step toward a new climate change strategy Friday, but made it clear that new emissions targets and the policies to implement them will have to wait until the end of a consultation process.
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips has appointed a five-member panel that will spend the next few weeks gathering information and seeking public input as the province moves toward a “made in Alberta” climate change plan.
“It is my goal to have a new proposal prepared in advance of the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Paris this December,” Phillips said. “To get this right, we need to hear from Albertans.”
Phillips said previous Alberta governments have set greenhouse gas targets but pursued virtually no new policies to help meet them. Asked repeatedly when her government will set its own targets, Phillips said hard numbers will have to wait until the panel delivers its report, expected by the end of October or in early November.
“I expect that the panel will have a tremendous amount to say on the topic of targets, and they will be offering us their best advice and options on how to move forward on that,” she said.
Public consultation
Over the next several weeks, Albertans will be invited to go online or attend public sessions to share their ideas to address climate change.
The panel, chaired by Andrew Leach, academic director of energy programs at the University of Alberta school of business, will hold one-day public sessions in Edmonton and Calgary this September.
The report compiled by the panel will try to answer four key questions, Phillips said.
- How to put a price on carbon.
- How to transition to more a sustainable electricity system.
- How to grow the renewable energy sector.
- How to increase energy efficiency across the province.
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Oil storage tanks filled to levels not seen in 80 years
U.S. oil inventories at levels not seen in at least 80 years
North American oil prices could take a hit this fall as there are renewed concerns about a lack of storage capacity.
A recent report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency suggests crude oil inventories “remain near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.”
The concern is what will happen this fall and whether oil supplies will hit “tank top.” North American refineries are running at near capacity this summer, buying up oil and converting it to gasoline and other products. Several refineries will shut down in a few months for maintenance and there could be more unplanned outages because refineries are operating at such a high level.
- Cheap oil will last through 2018 at least, Moody’s says
- Oil sinks to six-year low
- Oilsands companies feel the pain as Canadian oil price falls
- $100 oil: Will we ever see it again?
Each fall, it’s typical for inventories to begin to build, but “the problem is we are at a much higher starting point,” said Jackie Forrest, a vice-president with ARC Financial, who monitors trends in the Canadian oil and gas industry. A lack of storage could impact North American oil prices and in particular West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for the continent.
“It could cause a bit of a disconnect where WTI becomes a bit cheaper than global crudes, but I don’t think it is going to cause a serious problem where there is no room to store crude,” said Forrest.
Canadian oil production is expected to rise over the next few decades.
The oilpatch had similar concerns in the spring. At that time, some companies began turning to ‘fracklog’ as one method of storing oil. Producers continue to drill wells, but stop just short of pumping out the oil. It’s a way of storing the oil in the ground. The goal is to hold on to the oil until prices rebound.
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Kinder Morgan pipeline review by NEB loses 35 participants over ‘flawed’ process
‘We can’t abide by the system any more. It’s too flawed,’ says former participant
Dozens of participants have dropped out of the controversial National Energy Board review of Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, saying they can no longer support a “biased” and “unfair” process.
Thirty-five commenters and interveners, including the Wilderness Committee and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, sent a letter to the board Wednesday announcing their immediate withdrawal.
“It’s a sad day. We do not like to fly in the face of regulatory processes,” said Wilderness Committee climate campaigner Eoin Madden in a phone interview. “But we can’t abide by the system any more. It’s too flawed.”
- Kinder Morgan pipeline plan could cost Canada $22.1B, says SFU study
- City of Burnaby says no to extra RCMP at controversial pipeline hearings
The news came as the energy board was to release its draft conditions for the pipeline expansion. Commenters have six days to respond to the conditions, which are legally required and do not mean the board has made a decision yet.
The latest departures are in addition to the earlier withdrawal of two other high-profile interveners. Economist Robyn Allan announced her exit from the “rigged” process in May, while former BC Hydro chief executive Marc Eliesen called it a “farce” when he pulled out last year.
NEB disappointed by withdrawal
Spokesperson Tara O’Donovan said the board was disappointed the participants had chosen to withdraw.
“As interveners and commenters in the process they had an opportunity to add their voice to the record, and work to influence the decision of the board,” she said in a statement.
The review includes about 400 interveners, who can provide evidence and testimony, and 1,300 commenters, who can submit letters. O’Donovan said the board will consider all submissions and it is committed to a thorough and fair environmental assessment.
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Oilsands companies feel the pain as Canadian oil price falls
Alberta companies at break-even point or losing money as heavy crude sinks below $24 US a barrel
A drop in Canadian oil prices this week means companies in Alberta’s oilsands are breaking even or losing money on their operations.
Currently, oilsands companies are receiving about half as much money for oil compared to elsewhere in North America. That’s making it difficult for companies to cover their production and transportation expenses.
The value of oil from Alberta has dropped by 50 per cent since June.
“At today’s prices, the typical producer is just able to cover those variable costs; many producers are above the typical level and they would be losing money for each barrel that they produce, if they are selling at the spot price today,” said Jackie Forrest, a vice-president with ARC Financial, who monitors trends in the Canadian oil and gas industry.
Companies still have other costs to cover such as royalties and debt payments.
A double whammy has driven down Canadian prices since the beginning of July: North American prices have dropped and heavy oil from Canada has fallen further because of increased supply and the closure of refineries and pipelines.
This week, BP shut down one of its refineries for heavy crude. The facility in Whiting, Ind., may need one month to repair. Meanwhile, Enbridge shut down both its Line 55 Spearhead pipeline and nearby Line 59 Flanagan South pipeline, following a crude oil leak in Missouri on Tuesday.
“You have a bunch of demand for Canadian heavy crude that is gone, but it will resolve itself,” said Martin Pelletier with TriVest Wealth, which operates a Canadian energy investment fund.
Pelletier said the markets have been in flux with “selling across the board and panic and fear.”
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Desperate move by China a worrying sign: Don Pittis
Instead of boosting economy there is danger China’s sudden move will hurt confidence
As the world responds to this week’s extreme andunexpected devaluation by the Chinese central bank, it sounds as if Beijing was taking the good doctor’s advice. And while the obvious intent was to snap the Chinese economy back to health, the frightening thing is that Beijing’s move smacks of desperation.
The modern equivalent of that Hippocratic maxim is: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” As the Chinese currency and world markets took a dive, investors and trade partners around the world were asking themselves: “What does Beijing know that we don’t?”
Falling off a cliff. Chinese currency saw biggest one day decline in decades. (CBC news)
It’s not the first time this year that China has used strong government action to try to counteract inimical market forces. This spring, Beijing intervened, once to encourage stock markets to inflate, and then repeatedly in an attempt to stop the irresistible plunge when savvy traders realized stocks had become unrealistically high.
- Asian markets plunge despite measures to halt China meltdown
- China’s reminder that markets are never risk-free
The trouble is that markets do not like wild swings. And an economy that requires repeated radical intervention is one, like Russia, where no one knows what the government might do next.
Until recently, the fact that China was willing to back its own economy made it seem like an giant island of stability in a volatile world. In the darkest days of the great recession after 2007, China pumped money into its economy by encouraging borrowing and keeping the renminbi undervalued.
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Spin Cycle: Will all of the oilsands be developed?
Toronto Centre NDP candidate not the only one to suggest some oilsands ‘may have to be left in the ground’
“A lot of the oilsands oil may have to stay in the ground.”
— NDP candidate Linda McQuaig on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics
Alberta’s oilsands seem to always be a contentious issue both nationally and internationally. It was likely only a matter of time before it became a hot topic on the federal campaign trail. Comments by an NDP candidate for the riding of Toronto Centre are causing a stir and putting the spotlight on Alberta’s bitumen.
Linda McQuaig, a well-known author and journalist, told a panel discussion on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics Friday that for Canada to meet its climate change targets much of the oilsands may have to be left in the ground.
The Spin
McQuaig didn’t mention any specific climate change targets that Canada has pledged to achieve, but instead spoke about reaching Canada’s future environmental goals.
“We’ll know that better once we properly put in place a climate change accountability system of some kind,” she told host Rosemary Barton. “And… once we have a proper review process for our environmental projects like pipelines.”
McQuaig later tweeted that “NDP policy is sustainable development, overseen by strong (environmental) review process,” a policy NDP Leader Tom Mulcair expanded upon in response to questions Monday.
The counter-spin
The Conservatives wasted no time in jumping on the NDP and claiming the party wants to shut down the oil industry and introduce new taxes. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper accused the NDP of having a “not-so hidden agenda,” saying it “is consistently against the development of our resources and our economy.”
McQuaig’s comments spurred Michelle Rempel, Conservative candidate for Calgary Nose Hill, to accuse the NDP of proposing a moratorium on the oilsands, which would kill jobs at a time of instability in the oil sector.
Stranded assets?
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TransCanada quietly plots response as Keystone XL rejection seems imminent
Alberta company consulting lawyers on possibly suing U.S. under NAFTA
A source involved in Keystone XL said the main suspense now is how Obama will make his big announcement about the pipeline: quietly, in a mid-summer Friday afternoon statement, or boldly from a platform like his upcoming Aug. 31 trip to a climate-change conference in Alaska. (The Associated Press)
The Canadian company involved in the controversy-plagued Keystone XL project has begun planning its response as indications mount the proposed oil pipeline will be rejected by U.S. President Barack Obama.
In its public statements, TransCanada Corp. is expressing hope Obama might still approve the pipeline, which over the course of its years-long delay has become an irritant between the U.S. and Canadian governments.
The rumour is that the decision to deny has been made, and they’re just waiting for the right time– Source involved in Keystone XL project
But people close to the project say the company has become all but convinced a rejection is imminent based on signals the White House is sending publicly and privately — and it’s now considering the next move.
One possible response is a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement to recoup damages from the U.S. government. Another is immediately re-filing a permit application with the U.S. State Department before the 2016 presidential election..
A source involved in the project said the company is consulting lawyers on the mechanics of a NAFTA challenge, and weighing the legal and political implications.
He said the main suspense now is how Obama will make his big announcement — quietly, in a mid-summer Friday afternoon statement, or boldly from a platform like his upcoming Aug. 31 trip to a climate-change conference in Alaska.
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Syncrude bird deaths, Nexen pipeline spill show oilsands’ degradation of ecosystem: First Nation
‘Something is seriously wrong,’ says Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
The recent bird deaths at a Syncrude oilsands facility in northern Alberta along with last month’s Nexen Energy pipeline spill — one of the biggest in the province’s history — show the need for better oversight, a local First Nation says.
“In less than one month, we have seen two major events that clearly demonstrate that something is seriously wrong,” said Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), in a news release. “These incidents, and the countless more seen in recent past, are contributing to the degradation of the local ecosystems and the treaty and aboriginal rights of nations in the region.”
Alberta’s energy regulator said 30 blue herons died earlier this week at the Mildred Lake Facility north of Fort McMurray, Alta. An investigation into what caused the birds to die is still underway.
Bob Curran, a spokesman for the agency, says a Syncrude worker found one of the heron Wednesday. The animal was alive but had to be euthanized. After the company searched the area, they found the rest of the birds dead in a run-off pond.
“We have seen irreparable damages to the environment and now death of a species that is listed with special concern,” said Adam.
Adam is correct that the fannini subspecies of the great blue heron is listed as a species of “special concern” under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, but they mostly reside on the B.C. coast. According to the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Hinterland Who’s Who website, the overall great blue heron population is healthy, and scientists estimate there are tens of thousands of the bird in Canada.
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Federal election 2015: Choosing the best negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership
As politicians score point with loaded sound bites, does it matter if they avoid details?
“You can’t have a debate on such a key issue as the modernization of social programs in 47 days,” Conservative Leader Kim Campbell said during her unsuccessful 1993 election campaign.
The quote, widely interpreted to mean elections are no time for serious issues, was ill-advised. But it seems obvious that Campbell was trying and failing to articulate an absolute truth: that in election campaigns, complexity is washed away in waves of superficial, and often misleading, sound bites.
- Canada’s trade deficit narrows dramatically as exports surge
- Election 215: Mulcair says Harper is “weak and vulnerable” on TPP talks
- Trans-Pacific Partnership hits snag, no deal reached
That’s why in our current election, one of the most crucial issues facing Canadians — trade — is being reduced to caricature. The danger is that instead of a discussion of serious and complex issues, we will end up with a cartoon debate.
‘Oh, yeah?’
We don’t just want Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny taking turns shouting “Oh, yeah?” at each other. But neither do we need to be dragged through the detail of the trade deal. Campbell was right.
Negotiations among 12 nations bordering the Pacific Ocean ended on Friday without a deal, but more meetings are scheduled.
As a regional radio news reporter in Saskatchewan in the 1980s, tasked with making the original Canada-U.S. trade deal comprehensible, I can attest to the fact that sparking interest in the details of a trade deal is a hard sell.
The fact is trade deals are complex, affecting us decades into the future, and not even experts can foresee exactly how. Some of the things that will affect us the most are so nuanced, not to say boring, to
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Toxic algae blooming off West Coast endangering marine life and forcing seafood bans
Algae bloom is 64 km wide and 198 metres deep in places
A vast bloom of toxic algae off the West Coast is denser, more widespread and deeper than scientists feared even weeks ago, according to surveyors aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel.
This coastal ribbon of microscopic algae, up to 64 kilometres wide and 198 metres deep in places, is flourishing amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures. It now stretches from at least California to Alaska and has shut down lucrative fisheries.
Shellfish managers on Tuesday doubled the area off Washington’s coast that is closed to Dungeness crab fishing, after finding elevated levels of marine toxins in tested crab meat.
- Toxic algae bloom off West Coast might be largest ever
- Toxic algae blooms: What you should know about the mysterious phenomena
So-called “red tides” are cyclical and have happened many times before, but ocean researchers say this one is much larger and persisting much longer, with higher levels of neurotoxins bringing severe consequences for the Pacific seafood industry, coastal tourism and marine ecosystems.
Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the area now closed to crab fishing includes more than half the state’s 253-kilometre-long coast, and likely will bring a premature end to this year’s crab season.
“We think it’s just sitting and lingering out there,” said Anthony Odell, a University of Washington research analyst who is part of the U.S.’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association-led team surveying the harmful algae bloom, which was first detected in May. “It’s farther offshore, but it’s still there.”
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Low interest rates prompt savers to borrow to invest
Kevin Stone plans to borrow $20K this year to invest in various stocks
Kevin Stone is 28 years old and already has over half a million dollars of debt, including a mortgage and a loan to purchase farmland. But he’s not concerned, because that apparent burden is actually helping fuel his roughly $400,000 net worth.
He’s one of a number of Canadians taking a gamble and borrowing money at historically low rates not to fuel an excessive lifestyle, but to invest in the stock market. It’s a strategy one financial planner warns isn’t for everyone, and even seasoned investors can see things go wrong.
The Bank of Canada recently lowered its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points for the second time this year. Canada’s major banks partially followed suit and lowered their prime lending rates to 2.7 per cent.
These changes caused the rates for already low variable-rate mortgages, as well as home equity and personal lines of credit, to fall.
The low rates prompted Harry, an Albertan in his 40s who requested his last name not be used for privacy reasons, to look at his $100,000 home equity line of credit, or HELOC, a different way.
He plans to use that money over the next several years to maximize his unused RRSP contribution room. He’s withdrawn funds from his HELOCbefore to pay for a few vacations, but this will be his first time borrowing the money for investments.
Harry plans to use his annual tax returns as large, lump-sum payments against the loan, while paying down the remaining balance at a low 2.2 per cent interest rate.
“I think the bigger risk is not using other people’s money to invest,” says Stone, who blogs about his money maneuvers at Freedom Thirty Five, where he doesn’t shy away from aiming to join Canada’s one per cent. “By taking on these debts today, I can have a longer time to build up my assets.”
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