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Trudeau and His North Van Climate Minister Are ‘Wrestling’ with a Massive Oilsands Decision
Trudeau and His North Van Climate Minister Are ‘Wrestling’ with a Massive Oilsands Decision
Teck’s Frontier mine would kill emissions targets, say analysts.
The Trudeau government is under intense scrutiny for a looming decision — one that will powerfully signal whether it favours oil patch growth over fighting the climate emergency.
Will the Liberals approve a new bitumen mine twice the size of Vancouver that alone is expected to add 20 per cent of additional oilsands emissions over the next three decades?
Or will Justin Trudeau’s government make good on its promise to set Canada on the path to having “net-zero” emissions by 2050 by rejecting the Frontier mine being proposed by Vancouver-based Teck Resources?
Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who represents the riding of North Vancouver, is reportedly “wrestling” with the decision, which is expected sometime next month. The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t respond to The Tyee’s interview request.
Wilkinson has said that achieving Canada’s aggressive net-zero target, which would result in the country effectively ceasing to contribute to global temperature rise within three decades, is not open to negotiation: “That is a target that is not informed by politics. It’s informed by science.”
If that’s the case, then the Liberals need to forcefully reject what is one of the biggest oilsands mining projects ever proposed, says Eriel Deranger, executive director of the Edmonton-based group Indigenous Climate Action. “We cannot afford more destabilization of critical ecosystems and the creation of massive amounts of carbon emissions,” she told The Tyee.
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Evidence Released at TransCanada’s Keystone XL Permit Renewal Hearing Sheds Light On Serious Pipeline Risks
Just because TransCanada continually states that the Keystone XL pipeline will be the safest pipeline ever built, doesn’t mean it is true.
The company’s pipeline construction record is facing intense scrutiny in America’s heartland, where many see no justifiable rationale to risk their water and agricultural lands for a tar sands export pipeline.
New documents submitted as evidence in the Keystone XL permitting process in South Dakota — including one published here on DeSmog for the first time publicly — paint a troubling picture of the company’s shoddy construction mishaps. This document, produced by TransCanada and signed by two company executives, details the results of its investigation into the “root cause” of the corrosion problems discovered on the Keystone pipeline.
TransCanada Corporation is continuing its push to build the northern route of the Keystone XL pipeline. On July 27, the company appeared at a hearing in Pierre, South Dakota, to seek recertification of the Keystone XLconstruction permit that expired last year.
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission must decide if TransCanada can guarantee it can build the pipeline under the conditions set in 2010, which it must do in order to have the permit reapproved.
High-profile spills and other incidents already tar TransCanada’s safety record. The company faces at least two known ongoing investigations by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The incident records of thesouthern route of the Keystone XL (renamed the Gulf Coast Pipeline) and the Keystone 1 Pipeline call into question TransCanada’s claim that its pipelines are among the safest ever built.
Over the last couple of years TransCanada’s public relations team, with the help of friendly regulators, have kept critical evidence away from the public and quashed many media inquiries.
But evidence of TransCanada’s poor performance continues to emerge. Earlier this year, DeSmog obtained documents
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OPEC is frying bigger fish than just Canada’s oilsands
OPEC keeping the taps wide open, letting Saudi Arabia pick off many birds with one stone
OPEC’s masterminding of the world oil market is leaving Canada to wonder where exactly our reeling energy industry fits within the scheme of the cartel’s strategic thinking.
By leaving its production targets unchanged at its semi-annual meeting in Vienna this week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is sticking with a measure that will continue to bleed competitors around the world.
In Canada, the fallout of the oil shock is already something of a national preoccupation. The idea, then, that our oil industry, at least in the mind of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, is just some happy collateral damage likely won’t do much for any lingering traces of our bygone global inferiority complex.
‘Here is a situation in which the Saudis, with one single chess move, are able to achieve multiple objectives’— OPEC watcher Atif Kubursi
“Obviously, we weren’t the main target, but anything that slows overall growth of non-OPEC production is good in the eyes of the Saudis,” said Vincent Lauerman, the director of energy and the environment at the Conference Board of Canada. “Taking us down a couple notches certainly supports their end goal.”
The rationale that OPEC’s move away from production quotas last November, which cratered global oil prices, was a cannon shot in the battle for market share is certainly valid.
Many birds with one stone
That said, squeezing the competition by keeping the oil market oversupplied is only one of the kingdom’s many objectives. For the Saudis — whose wants can be taken as synonymous with those of OPEC despite the fractious nature of its various factions — the real elegance of this latest oil price war is how it serves so many of its purposes with a single stroke.
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Canada needs to confront its oilsands ‘challenge,’ German ambassador says
Observers say Canada and Japan are attempting to block ‘decarbonization’ pledge from G7 declaration
Germany’s ambassador to Canada says Ottawa’s new targets to cut carbon pollution mean it will have to tackle the problem of the oilsands.
In an interview with CBC News, Ambassador Werner Wnendt said he recognizes the oilsands are an asset for Canada.
- Analysis: How can Canada cut emissions 30% by 2030?
- Oilsands emissions will rise faster than ability to curb them, cabinet told
- Canada sets carbon emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030
“On the other side, this is a challenge. Of course we know that the oilsands and the production of oil in the oilsands does produce a lot of carbon and Canada needs to deal with it,” he said.
Germany is putting a top priority on climate change as it prepares to host the two-day G7 gathering in the Bavarian town of Schloss Elmau in June. Germany wants the world’s richest industrialized countries to send a clear message they’re not going shirk their responsibilities in tackling rising global carbon pollution.
By the mid-term of the century we should come to a point where economic growth can work without the emission of carbon– Werner Wnendt, Germany’s ambassador to Canada
“The signal is that the leading countries in the G7 group do take this very seriously, that they are ambitious in their own targets and they are ready also to support countries that need to be supported financially.” Wnendt said.
The leaders of the seven industrialized countries are being told to be prepared to discuss their new national carbon-cutting goals in preparation for the crucial UN climate conference in Paris at the end of the year.
Canada announced its target for greenhouse gas emissions earlier this month, setting a goal of a 30 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030.
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New York State Reverses Decision, Requires Full Environmental Review of Tar Sands-by-Rail Facility
New York State Reverses Decision, Requires Full Environmental Review of Tar Sands-by-Rail Facility
In what came as a welcome surprise to activists in Albany, New York, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reversed an earlier decision and now will require a full environmental review for a proposed tar sands oil heating facility at the Port of Albany.
“It is good for New York State that the DEC came to a proper decision in one of the most important environmental matters facing the state. We look forward to participating with the state on a full public safety and environmental review that is robust and protective of our communities and our waterways,” said Riverkeeper President Paul Gallay.
Riverkeeper is one of many groups fighting the plan by Global Partners to add tar sands oil to the Bakken oil it is already moving down and along the Hudson River in large amounts, efforts highlighted in this recent New York Times Op-Doc.
Riverkeeper also recently filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Transportation’s recent new oil-by-rail regulations.
Albany has become the largest distribution hub for crude oil on the East Coast due to its rail access and its port on the Hudson River and this transformation happened with so little fanfare that the local community was initially unaware of what the DEC had permitted.
There were no ribbon cutting ceremonies or big public announcements made by local government officials who were aware of what was happening. The mayor of Albany could be found cutting ribbons for the opening of Subway shops orbars, but not a word about the 2.8 billion gallons a year of oil that were permitted to arrive in Albany by train by the DEC.
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Rising carbon emissions from oilsands a ‘unique’ challenge, federal cabinet told
Canada may need international emissions credits to offset increasing emissions from oilsands
Greenhouse gas emissions from increasing oilsands production will rise faster than Canada’s ability to curb them, the federal government was warned before new emissions reduction targets were announced last week.
Cabinet documents obtained by CBC News reveal the thinking behind the scenes as the cabinet members mulled over various proposals for Canada’s target to cut its greenhouse emissions by 2030.
- Canada sets carbon emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030
- The House: Wynne calling for more than Ottawa’s ‘nebulous’ targets
- How Canada’s provinces are tackling greenhouse gas emissions
The documents marked “secret” also suggest Canada should try to negotiate new North American-wide rules to reduce oil and gas emissions in lockstep with the U.S. and Mexico.
And they advise cabinet to follow Alberta’s lead when it comes to adopting a national plan to cut emissions — though that advice came a week before the provincial NDP’s surprise victory in Alberta’s May 5 election.
‘Increasing [oilsands] production is expected to outpace improvements in emissions intensity.’— Document to federal cabinet
Last Friday, federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Canada would cut its emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The target is Canada’s required contribution to a new global climate change agreement and has to be submitted to the G7 meeting in early June and filed with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Aglukkaq said Canada will meet its target by bringing in regulations to reduce methane that leaks from industrial processes and pipelines and by cutting emissions from the chemical and fertilizer industry and natural-gas fired electricity. All these align Canada with U.S. plans for the same sectors.
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Harper’s Folly: Canada Losing $30+ Billion/Year on Tar-Sands Oil
Harper’s Folly: Canada Losing $30+ Billion/Year on Tar-Sands Oil
Oil is our most-precious commodity as fuel for the global economy. It is also becoming a scarce commodity, as global production has flattened, while global demand continues to climb relentlessly, everywhere in the world except for the dying economies of Europe and North America. It is a classic “seller’s market.”
Then we have Canada. Under the Harper regime; Canada has rapidly/recklessly ramped-up production of tar sands oil (vying with U.S. shale-oil production for the title of “world’s dirtiest oil”). In less than 20 years; tar sands production has increased by a factor of ten, from less than 200,000 barrels per day to over 2 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2014. This amounts to annual tar sands production of roughly 750 million barrels.
Thanks to this reckless over-production; Canadian tar sands oil production has created three ultra-expensive/ultra-inefficient bottlenecks for itself:
a) Insufficient refining capacity
b) Insufficient shipping/pipeline infrastructure
c) Insufficient skilled labour
Because of (a) and (b); Canada’s tar sands oil has been sold at “discounts” of up to $40/barrel. Because of (c) and other factors;production costs for tar sands oil (which was already the world’s most-expensive) continue to soar.
Legions of workers must be flown in, housed and fed, adding to costs. Competition for labour is so fierce that some companies now subsidize mortgage payments on $600,000 houses to entice workers to stick around.
The combination of a grossly insufficient labour force, and grossly insufficient infrastructure to support this production is that while it is “the lowest priced oil in the world”, currently trading at a pathetic $36.02 per barrel, it is the most-expensive oilin the world to produce.
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RESOURCE CRISIS: Oil prices keep going down, but this is not good news
RESOURCE CRISIS: Oil prices keep going down, but this is not good news.
There is plenty of movement in the oil world: after five years of relatively stable prices, the legendary“barrel” is coming down from over $ 100 to under 90, and it looks like it will keep falling. What’s happening?Has anyone found new resources? Or is it Saudi Arabia using the “oil weapon” to bring down Russia, the heir of the old “evil empire”?
In reality, it is nothing like that. There are no major new discoveries of oil in the world and the Saudi oil weapon is much less fearsome than it is normally described in the media. But, then, why are prices going down? There are good reasons, but we need to understand them and, more importantly, to explain why thelikely future drop in oil prices would NOT be a good thing; indeed it could be a planetary disaster.
First of all, we should take into account that oil is a finite resource, but also that it is subject to the laws ofsupply and demand; it cannot escape the control of the entity we call “the market“. So, we are seeing twocontrasting trends in the oil market. One is the gradual depletion of the so-called “conventional” oil; that isliquid oil extracted at relatively low cost from wells. As a consequence, the production of conventional oil is static or declining almost everywhere. The other trend is the increase in the production of “unconventional” oil, that is combustible liquids which are obtained, for example, by treating oil sands, or biofuels, or “oilshale,” the kind you obtain by means of the “fracking” process.
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