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Is Natural Gas As Clean As We Think?
Is Natural Gas As Clean As We Think?
This week U.S. President Barack Obama took aim at the American coal industry as part of a comprehensive climate change plan to limit air emissions from what many consider the country’s worst polluter.
Under the plan, states will have until 2030 to cut CO2 levels by a third from what they were in 2005. Outside the United States, Europe is using less coal, the Canadian province of Ontario shut down its coal-fired power generation (albeit in favor of more expensive renewables), and the World Bank last week rejected the notion that coal can cure poverty.
Even coal-hungry China has banned coal-fired power plants in Beijing, finally cowing to health and environmental concerns in the smog-choked capital.
Having turned their backs on coal, many countries are looking to natural gas as an alternative power source. China is plunging headlong into building liquefied natural gas import terminals, and countries are lining up to export it, including Australia, Russia and the United States, which in 2014 approved its fourth LNG export terminal, Dominion Cove Point in Maryland.
Related: Global Oil Supply More Fragile Than You Think
British Columbia’s governing Liberal Party has staked its political future on developing LNG terminals to receive natural gas from the Canadian province’s northeast region, telling voters in the last election it would use revenues from LNG production to wipe out the provincial debt.
Part of the sales job was to characterize natural gas as a clean fuel whose use will actually help decrease global fossil fuel emissions, since nations that switch to it are typically moving from dirty coal-fired power to clean LNG.
But is natural gas really as pristine as its proponents claim?
Not according to a new report released by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in June. The report estimated the amount of gas that is leaked, vented or flared from natural gas and oil production on U.S. federal and tribal lands. It found that 65 billion cubic feet was released in 2013 – the equivalent of the greenhouse gases produced by 5.6 million cars. In New Mexico, a methane “hot spot,” was detected by NASA satellites and in one drilling-heavy part of Wyoming a town measured air pollution readings that rivaled Los Angeles.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says
50-year-old contamination that was never cleaned up still polluting water and fish, report says
Fifty years after a Dryden pulp mill dumped its effluent into a northern Ontario watershed, mercury continues to rise in some lakes, according to a study commissioned by the provincial government and the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
The report released Monday also reveals how little is known about the environmental and health consequences of the mercury that flowed freely into the English-Wabigoon water system between 1962 and 1970.
- Grassy Narrows: Why is Japan still studying the mercury poisoning when Canada isn’t?
- Japanese mercury experts push Canada to help Grassy Narrows
- CBC Digital Archives: Residents of Grassy Narrows still ill
The research review of human and ecological health in Grassy Narrows was conducted by fresh water scientist Patricia Sellers. It takes a wide-ranging look at all published research into the contamination and mercury poisoning of people at Grassy Narrows.
“We have bits and pieces, small amounts of data here and there throughout the years of the human health in Grassy Narrows and various health issues and an assessment of initiatives to address those health issues,” Sellers said. “But there hasn’t been anything very comprehensive.”
Fish remains a staple in the diet for the people of Grassy Narrows, despite the contamination. A new report says information about how much is safe to eat must be better communicated and supports put in place for people who can’t afford any other food. (CBC)
People in Grassy Narrows continue to suffer the effects of mercury poisoning, exhibiting symptoms such as loss of motor function, tingling and weakness in limbs, difficulty speaking and swallowing.
“We know little about the effects of low-dose exposure [to mercury] over the long-term,” Sellers wrote in the report.
Residents believe developmental delays and physical abnormalities in children are also related to the contamination, but Sellers says no studies have been conducted in Grassy Narrows on the effects of pre-natal exposure to mercury.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Canada 5 years behind Europe when it comes to banning neonic insecticides
‘Clear connection’ between DDT-like problems and neonics today, French researcher says
Canada’s wait and see policy on neonicotinoids, the controversial insecticide often blamed for the widespread death of bees, is “where France was five years ago,” says a researcher with the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
Jean-Marc Bonmatin says Canadian jurisdictions are five years behind France and most of Europe when it comes to banning neonics, adding, “there is a clear connection between what happened with DDT and what is happening now with neonics.”
Bonmatin, who is also vice-chair of a group of European scientists formed in 2009 amid growing concern over rapid declines in insects in Europe, reviewed more than 1,000 studies on neonics and concludes that the evidence is clear.
“Neonics are very, very toxic to all invertebrates including butterflies, earthworms and aquatic invertebrates, which are at the very heart of the food chain.”
- Senate report finds neonics harmful to bees but wants more study
- Bee researchers raise warning flags about neonicotinoid use
Alarmist?
Bonmatin was in Toronto recently as a guest of the David Suzuki Foundation to help bolster Ontario’s plan to dramatically restrict neonic use for the next growing season.
French researcher Jean-Marc Bonmatin says there is growing evidence neonics pesticide use is affecting humans. (CBC)
Ontario is, to date, the only Canadian jurisdiction to consider restricting neonic use, beginning next spring with corn and soybeans.
But Ontario grain farmers say statements like Bonmatin’s are alarmist and are derived from “cherry picking anti-pesticide studies to prove their point.”
Kevin Armstrong, a farmer near Woodstock, Ont., and a director of the Grain Farmers of Ontario, says he has been planting neonic-treated seed on his farm for 10 years and he still sees plenty of earthworms, birds, fish in the stream, and bees.
The campaign against neonics, he says, is “nothing but an anti-pesticide agenda.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Stouffville Corner
A new section of my site, Stouffville Corner, aims to provide a variety of write-ups on topics I consider to be of primary importance/ interest. The aim was to have my local paper, Stouffville Tribune, publish them on a weekly/bi-weekly basis to bring the issues to the consciousness of my local community (thus the name). While the paper no longer accepts op-ed pieces due to its limited publication schedule (use to be published twice a week but now only once), I will still be offering the articles on a weekly/bi-weekly basis on my site beginning today with the introductory piece that has been accepted as a letter-to-the-editor.
Cheers…
Steve
Ontario’s Ring Of Fire, Formerly ‘The Next Oilsands,’ Sold For Peanuts
Ontario’s Ring Of Fire, Formerly ‘The Next Oilsands,’ Sold For Peanuts
A junior miner will soon be the biggest player in Ontario’s fledgling Ring of Fire mining development, after agreeing to pay US$20 million for the properties of Cliffs Natural Resources, a U.S. mining giant who has abandoned hope of developing the area.
Toronto-based Noront Resources is getting quite the deal for about 103 mining claims — including Cliffs’ flagship $3.3 billion Black Thor chromite deposit — in the region estimated to be worth $50 billion during the height of the commodity boom. Cliffs paid $240 million for the assets in 2009.
The market has since shifted and a lack of concrete movement in talks between First Nations, government and developers has turned many miners off of the 5,000 square kilometre area said to be rich with chromite, copper, zinc, platinum and other valuable metals.
The Ring of Fire was once touted as Canada’s next oilsands, but interest in the area has fallen off and the prospects for development in the remote region, located on First Nations land, have dimmed.
Cliffs decided to suspend its projects in the area in late 2013, citing numerous delays and difficulties that prevented the project from moving ahead. It was also drowning in debt amid a flagging market for commodities. It has shuttered its Toronto office and laid off many of its Canadian employees. In January, the company sought creditor protection for its Bloom Lake iron ore mine in Quebec after failing to find a buyer.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
CN Rail Train Derails In Northern Ontario, Fire At Site
CN Rail Train Derails In Northern Ontario, Fire At Site
GOGAMA, Ont. – CN Rail says a train carrying crude oil derailed early today in northern Ontario and there is a fire at the site.
It’s the third CN derailment in northern Ontario is less than a month, and the second in the same area.
Spokeswoman Emily Hamer says CN crews, including senior officers, are on the way to the scene near Gogama, Ont., about 200 kilometres north of Sudbury.
“Emergency crews are conducting a full site assessment and activating the emergency response plan with local officials,” Hamer said in an email.
Provincial police have closed Highway 144 in both directions, and set up a command centre in the area.
Hamer says the crew on an eastbound freight train reported that cars derailed about 2:45 a.m. and that there are no reports of injuries.
Photos on social media show a large fireball at the site.
A CN freight train derailed on Thursday 100 kilometres east of Hornepayne but there was no leakage from the 16 residue tank cars that contained crude oil or gasoline.
And on Feb. 14, 29 cars of a CN freight train carrying crude oil derailed in a remote, wooded area about 80 kilometres south of Timmins, Ont., with seven catching fire.
There were no injuries in those two derailments.
Ontario To Put A Price On Carbon Emissions: Environment Minister
Ontario To Put A Price On Carbon Emissions: Environment Minister
The Ontario government plans to put a price on carbon emissions to cut down on greenhouse gases, making good on a seven-year-old promise to fight climate change.
The province’s environment minister said Tuesday his new climate strategy will set Canada’s most populous region on a path to reduce its GHG emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. And, as The Globe and Mail reported “he pledges carbon pricing will be part of it.”
“We’re looking at how we can transition Ontario to a low carbon economy through initiatives such as setting a price on carbon, the adoption of cleaner fuel standards, energy efficiency and conservation measures,” Glen Murray said in an email to Huffington Post Canada.
Carbon pricing charges emissions from both corporations and consumers through various measures including emissions trading systems, carbon taxes or payments for emission reductions. Ontario has not yet decided which path to follow.
“Market mechanisms which encourage technological innovation can facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy and promote economic development and job creation not only in Ontario, but across Canada,” Murray said.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario’s Sustainable Development Plan Is Beginning To Fall Apart | Canadian Awareness Network
Ontario’s Sustainable Development Plan Is Beginning To Fall Apart | Canadian Awareness Network.
In recent weeks reports about green energy jobs surpassing oil sand job creation, of Ontario taking big steps into the growing green bonds market, and many more stories that would lead people to believe that sustainable development is excelling in the province. Have been splashed all over the news.
Is this true? Or just stories that do not paint the whole picture?
Green energy programs have created around 1,000 more jobs than the oil sands. That part is correct, but there is several points that have been left out.
1. Clean energy programs have created 23,700 jobs compaired to 22,340 by the oil sands projects. This leaves out that overall oil production in Alberta alone, employs more than 120,000 people. If we are going to compare job creation between the two industries, would it not make sense to include all stats and figures? This is leaving out the comparision of how many of these jobs are temperary and how many are permanent as well.
2. Green energy programs would have been halted a long time ago without government subsidies. Below is a breakdown of how much is being spent to keep the programs afloat and how much it is costing the people of the province.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario Auditor General Warns Province Is In A Debt Spiral
Ontario Auditor General Warns Province Is In A Debt Spiral.
Ontario’s auditor general is sounding the alarm about the province’s ballooning debt in her annual report, warning that it continues to grow faster than the province’s economy.
In her 600-page annual report released Tuesday, Bonnie Lysyk cautioned that despite Ontario’s work to eliminate its deficit, the province’s rising net debt — the difference between its liabilities and its total assets — could have a number of negative implications for its finances in the future.
Ontario’s majority Liberal government has pledged to eliminate its $12.5-billion deficit by 2017-18. But by that year, the province’s net debt will have soared to $325 billion — more than double the $156.6 billion a decade ago, Lysyk’s report estimated.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Harper To Ontario: Focus On Economy, Not ‘Confrontation’
Harper To Ontario: Focus On Economy, Not ‘Confrontation’.
MARKHAM, Ont. – The Prime Minister chastised the Ontario government on Thursday, saying it ought to focus less on “confrontation” and more on getting its fiscal house in order.
Stephen Harper made his comments at an event in Markham, Ont., where he was asked why it has been so long since he met with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The two last met a year ago and Wynne has repeatedly voiced her frustrations over not being able to sit down with the prime minister.
“I meet regularly with premiers across the country and we anticipate we will have another meeting at some point in time,” Harper said, before launching into a series of sharper comments.
“We all know that the government of Ontario has some pretty significant challenges. I would encourage the government of Ontario to focus on those things, not on confrontation.”
Harper did not mention Wynne by name, but took time to compare his federal Conservatives with Ontario’s governing Liberals.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Political Will Pushing Energy East Pipeline In Canada
Political Will Pushing Energy East Pipeline In Canada
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice met his Ontario peer Kathleen Wynne Wednesday as he presses for approval of TransCanada’s (NYSE, TSE:TRP) proposed Energy East pipeline, which would pass through the Central Canadian province.
After their first face-to-face meeting they sounded conciliatory, saying they consider the controversial $12 billion project as a “nation-building” exercise.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard released last month a list of seven conditions for the proposed pipeline, which would carry western crude to refineries located on the opposite side of the country. The most important of them is the potential impact of the pipeline on the environment.
But Wynne, reports Canadian Press, says her concerns about the pipeline’s contribution to climate change are limited to greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario and in Quebec from the pipeline project itself.
She added that the seven principles do not extend to “so-called upstream emissions resulting from getting the crude out of the ground, refining and burning it.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario’s Greenbelt is under threat | – Environmental Defence
Ontario’s Greenbelt is under threat | – Environmental Defence.
Ontario’s Greenbelt protects farmland and natural areas like forests and wetlands from urban sprawl. It ensures that nature isn’t a long drive away, and protects the sources of drinking water for millions of GTA residents. And it ensures that we in the Greater Golden Horseshoe have access to fresh, local food.
But, our world renowned Greenbelt is at risk. Today, the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance and Environmental Defence jointly released a new study, Ontario’s Greenbelt at Risk, which outlines four key threats to the Greenbelt:
- Proposals for infrastructure, such as new mega-highways that would pave over prime farmland, contribute to poorer air quality, and generate more greenhouse gases;
- Sprawl developments in the Greenbelt that would destroy farmland, forest and wetlands and the animals that live there;
- An unnecessary airport in the Greenbelt that would eliminate 7,530 hectares of prime farmland and forests, isolate Rouge Park from the Oak Ridges Moraine, spark development along the boundary of the Rouge Park and contribute to climate change;
- Dumping contaminated soil, which puts water and food sources at risk
The good news is that actions can be taken to reduce each of these threats.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario, Don’t Dump Our Money Into Rebuilding an Outdated Power Station | Mike Schreiner
Ontario, Don’t Dump Our Money Into Rebuilding an Outdated Power Station | Mike Schreiner.
The Ontario government has a decision to make: Raise your electricity bill to rebuild the Darlington Nuclear Station or lower your bill with water power from Quebec.
The historic Memorandum of Understanding signed at a joint Quebec-Ontario cabinet meeting on Friday opens the door to for electricity imports that will save you money.
The average household can save between $52 and $192 per year if Ontario cancels the Darlington Nuclear Rebuild and instead signs a power deal for existing Quebec water power. The province could save between $700 million and $2.6 billion per year — a whopping $52 billion over 20 years.
Quebec Premier Phillippe Couillard has made it clear that his province has surplus electricity, and Quebec is eager to sell it to Ontario, especially since U.S. demand for Quebec power is declining.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
