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In the News
Links to items on other sites of interest to Common Sense Canadian readers, writers, and editors.
Read this report from CBC.ca on criticism of a study produced by McGill University researchers that minimizes the health impacts of asbestos. (Feb 2, 2012)
A major 40-year study on asbestos safety completed by a group of scientists at McGill University is flawed, lacks transparency and contains manipulated data says Dr. David Egilman, a professor at Brown University, health activist and longtime industry critic.
The study, which followed the health of 11,000 miners and mill workers in Quebec between 1966 and the late 1990s, is used by the Chrysotile Institute — a lobby arm funded by, overseen and closely associated with both Liberal and Conservative governments — to promote the use of asbestos overseas.
According to Egilman, as the dangers of asbestos became better known in the 1960s, the industry decided to do its own research and hired Dr. John Corbett McDonald at McGill University's School of Occupational Health. Industry documents obtained by CBC News showed it wanted to conduct research similar to that in the tobacco industry, which stated that "Industry is always well advised to look after its own problems."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/01/asbestos-study-mcgill.html
Read this story from Forbes.com on the incredible benefits of LED lights. The only problem is, some of the big players in the lighting game, like General Electric, don't hold LED pattents like they do with competing and clearly inferior CFL lights. (Jan. 27, 2012)
“It’s projected that the shift to LED lighting is going to be huge. It’s going to capture 60 percent of the market globally in the next ten years.”
That shift will be motivated not only by a global response to climate change, but especially by the economic benefits of LED lights.
“They’re clearly a superior product,” Weissbourd said, “but not yet market accepted.”
That slow acceptance derives, in part, from higher initial cost. An LED “bulb” costs $35, compared to $1.25 for an incandescent bulb or $3.95 for a compact fluorescent that illuminates at the same brightness.
But that LED light will cost only $95.95 to operate for the next 50,000 hours, compared to $652.50 for the incandescent and $159.75 for the CFL.
The economics of LED lights are so favorable that as market acceptance develops, and as start-up costs drop, building owners will be able to shift to LED lighting without requiring much, if any, financial assistance, he said...
...“Whether we can compete in the green economy depends on whether we have companies that can redeploy their assets into it,” Weissbourd said.
The light bulb market is dominated by a small number of manufacturers, including Sylvania, Philips and GE. Those companies offer LED lighting but have not promoted it. Weissbourd compared them to Kodak, which he said invented the digital camera, then shelved it to avoid competing with its more traditional products. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 19.
Read this story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2012/01/27/led-poised-to-light-up-the-world-study/
Read this story from Jeff Lee of The Vancouver Sun on the firing of the City of Vancouver's director of planning, Brent Toderian. (Jan 31, 2012)
This morning Frances Bula, the former Vancouver Sun reporter who now freelances for The Globe and Mail, used anonymous sources to break the story of Toderian’s firing.
Council has since ratified Toderian’s termination, and everyone from Mayor Gregor Robertson and Ballem on down are being nice in how they describe what can only be described as a major change, both for Toderian and for the city. (See Ballem’s internal memo and the public statement below.)
Toderian told me in a telephone conversation that he was surprised by his firing and that it was done “without cause”. That precludes a wrongful dismissal suit, but it also preserves his much-valued integrity because his termination comes down to a difference of opinion, rather than a messy split. It has cost the city plenty: at least one year’s salary at more than $200,000.
As can be expected, people have weighed in on all sides about what caused his departure and what it means in the long term.
Toderian is brash, hard-nosed and ambitious. That style created among some developers, architects and community groups. But that Type-A personality was also in direct conflict with at least one other similar personality, that of Ballem, who has consolidated decision-making under her reign.
Read more: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/01/31/brent-toderian-fired-as-vancouvers-director-of-planning/
Read this story from CTV.ca on a new round of federal environmental hearings into the proposed Prosperity Mine at Fish Lake. (Jan. 29, 2012)
With all eyes on hearings for the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline that would link Alberta's oil sands to tankers on the B.C. coast, a federal environmental review of another contentious B.C. project is quietly getting underway.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has released guidelines and terms of reference that will form the framework for an environmental review of Taseko Mines Ltd.'s (TSX:TKO) proposed Prosperity gold and copper mine in the B.C. Interior.
The agency is seeking comments on the documents until Feb. 22.
But the approach of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government toward the federal hearings on the Northern Gateway doesn't give First Nations opponents much faith in the environmental review of the mine.
"We feel the writing's on the wall," Chief Joe Alphonse, leader of the Tsilqhot'in National Government, said in an interview.
"Mr. Harper is making statements around the Enbridge project that anyone opposing the project is an enemy of Canada. That's the same situation."
Read more: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120129/bc_prosperity_mine_project_120128/20120129/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
Read this article from the Financial Post on the race to build gas pipelines and up to six liquid natural gas (LNG) processing facilities in BC to ship gas to the Asian market. (Jan. 28, 2012)
KITIMAT, B.C. — In a climate of growing hostility toward energy industry development across North America, Timothy Wall, president of the Canadian unit of Houston-based Apache Corp., took the road less travelled to the heart of Kitimat.
He flew multiple times to the 9,000-resident town on the northern British Columbia coast to ensure support for his liquefied natural gas plans.
He unleashed a team to explain the challenges and the benefits.
He won over the local aboriginals, the Haisla Nation, by meeting with them, acknowledging their rights, making them his landlords.
“We had a big push … trying to make this a win-win for everybody,” Mr. Wall, who is originally from Houston, said in an interview.
“We told the stakeholders in the Kitimat area that there would be challenges, but that we would work through them. That with everybody pulling in the right way, we would get there.”
The two-year effort paid off with widespread community support for Apache’s plan to pipe natural gas from fields at the other end of the Rockies, build a terminal down the canal in Bish Cove to liquefy it, and transport it by tanker to Asia.
All this at a time the same community was giving another major project, the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline, a rough ride.
Read more: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/28/the-race-to-china/?__lsa=0f08bb71
Read this report from CBC.ca on federal government documents recently obtained by Greenpeace that show the Harper Government listing off "allies" and "adversaries" to the Tar Sands. (Jan. 31, 2012)
The federal government considers the media, the biodiesel industry and environmental and aboriginal groups "adversaries" in its attempt to advocate for Alberta's oilsands, according to documents obtained under access to information legislation.
Energy companies, the National Energy Board, Environment Canada, business and industry associations, meanwhile, are listed as "allies" in a public relations plan called the "Pan-European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy." It is dated March 2011.
The documents were obtained by Greenpeace Canada and Climate Action Network and released to the media on Thursday. The groups say Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is working hand-in-hand with the oil industry to silence critics.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/01/26/pol-oilsands-campaign.html?cmp=rss
Read this story from The Vancouver Sun on the recent oil spill at Kinder Morgan's Abbotsford tank farm and why it rasises concerns about the company's planned pipeline and tanker expansion in the Lower Mainland. (Jan. 25, 2012)
ABBOTSFORD -- A crude oil spill at Kinder Morgan’s Abbotsford facility on Tuesday should serve as a wake-up call about the inherent risks associated with the energy company’s proposed expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline, according to a national environmental group.
“This should be a reminder to people that there is a very serious risk of oil spills when you’ve got oil pipelines and oil tankers,” said Ben West, a Vancouver-based healthy communities campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
Abbotsford residents first reported to police and fire service a strong oil smell as early as 4:30 a.m., according to Abbotsford police spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald.
Police investigated and determined it was coming from Kinder Morgan’s Sumas terminal site, in the 4100-block of Upper Sumas Mountain Road.
The spill was in a “containment area” and the only threat to residents was that of “nuisance odours,” said Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Lexa Hobenshield.
“We have placed foam on the oil, which should dissipate the odours significantly,” she said. The cleanup is expected to be completed sometime today, Hobenshield said. It is not known how much oil was released.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/spill+Abbotsford+tank+farm+raises+concerns+over+pipeline+expansion/6045480/story.html
Read this open letter from Andrew Frank - the recently fired ForestEthics campaigner who has gone public about the Harper Government's alleged threats to prominent environmental and charitable organizations over their work opposing the controversial Enbridge pipeline through BC. (Jan. 24, 2012)
My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small town in the Okanagan valley of BritishColumbia. My granddad taught me how to fish. My father was a well‐respected lawyerknown for his unwavering integrity, and my mother was a favourite kindergarten teacher.Both have always impressed upon me the importance of telling the truth.
Today, I am taking the extraordinary step of risking my career, my reputation and mypersonal friendships, to act as a whistleblower and expose the undemocratic andpotentially illegal pressure the Harper government has apparently applied to silence criticsof the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil tanker/pipeline plan.
As I have detailed in a sworn affidavit, no less than three senior managers with TidesCanada and ForestEthics (a charitable project of Tides Canada), have informed me, as theSenior Communications Manager for ForestEthics, that Tides Canada CEO, Ross McMillan,was informed by the Prime Minister’s Office, that ForestEthics is considered an “Enemy of the Government of Canada,” and an “Enemy of the people of Canada.”
Read open letter: http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canadians
Watch this video from CTV News reporting that several federal government programs receive charitable funds from some of the same US Foundations who support of Canadian anti-Enbridge campaigns. (Jan. 24, 2012)
OTTAWA — Rich American foundations are not only footing the bill for opposition to Canada's oilsands.
Tax returns show the Canadian government has also been the beneficiary of millions of dollars in largesse from some of the wealthiest private organizations in the United States.
And some of that money came from the same U.S. groups that helped fund Canadian environmentalists.
The grants to the federal government come to light as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives and the pro-oilsands website EthicalOil.org take Canadian environmental groups to task for accepting money from big American foundations to finance their campaigns against the oilsands.
Read this story from The Winnipeg Free Press on the case of a recently fired whistleblower's contention that the Harper Government threatened Vancouver-based charitable organization the Tides Foundation with shutting down all its charitable operations if it didn't cut off funding to ForestEthics - for its work opposing the Enbridge pipeline. (Jan 24, 2012)
A former employee of an environmental group critical of a proposed oilsands pipeline says the Prime Minister's Office threatened a funding agency if it didn't pull its support for the group.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper denies the allegations.
In a sworn affidavit released Tuesday to The Canadian Press, Andrew Frank says he was told by his supervisor at ForestEthics that a PMO official had referred to their organization as an "enemy of the state." The affidavit describes how staff were told their jobs were at risk after the official told Tides Canada, which supports the work of ForestEthics, that the government would "take down" all of the agency's projects unless it cut ForestEthics loose.
Tides gets most of its money from private foundations and funds a wide array of social and environmental charities in Canada — from Big Brothers and Big Sisters to the World Wildlife Fund. It also partners with major corporations and governments, including federal government agencies.
Frank was fired from his job as communications adviser at ForestEthics on Monday over his plans to go public.
Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/affidavit-accuses-prime-ministers-office-of-threatening-environmental-charity-137994418.html
Read this story form the Washington Post, which reports that Obama is expected to reject the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline today. (Jan. 18, 2012)
The Obama administration will announce this afternoon it is rejecting a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter.
However the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route through the sensitive habitat of Nebraska’s Sandhills. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns will make the announcement, which comes in response to a congressionally-mandated deadline of Feb. 21 for action on the proposed Keystone pipeline.
Read original post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/2012/01/18/gIQAwoVE8P_story.html
Read this report from the Calgary Herald on a recent incident in Alberta which has focused even more scrutiny on hydraulic fracturing operations. (Jan. 17. 2012)
CALGARY - Hydraulic fracturing of an oil well in southern Alberta could have caused an oil well blowout a kilometre away, according to provincial regulators.
Friday afternoon, a landowner in the Garrington area west of Innisfail spotted a pumpjack spewing what appeared to be oil and chemicals onto his neighbour's field.
Black fluid from the well sprayed 15 metres in the air until the man was able to alert a hydraulic fracturing crew working on a nearby well for Midway Energy.
They halted operations at the site, then shut down the Wild Stream Exploration pumpjack.
The Energy Resource Conservation Board was alerted about 5: 30 p.m. Friday by the Alberta Surface Rights Group at the behest of the landowner.
"We don't know the details yet . . . but my understanding is that it appears the fracturing process affected the other well," said an ERCB spokeswoman, Cara Tobin.
The incident could have repercussions around North America as the industry grapples with rising public discontent over rapidly increasing use of the technology to unlock shale gas and oil reserves.
Read this story from the Vancouver Observer, reporting that every speaker at the recent National Energy Board-led hearings in Smithers into the proposed Enbridge pipeline spoke out against the project. (Jan 17, 2012)
It’s unanimous: all of the interveners who gave testimony to the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel in Smithers oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. The Wet’suwet’en, BC Métis and Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson all asserted the Bulkley Valley is shared by different cultures which share a dependence on clean rivers for wild salmon.
Without salmon, none of the communities could thrive. The proposed pipeline puts the wild salmon and other wild food at risk.
The Wet’suwet’en have stood up for their heritage many times in the past.With the Gitxsan First Nation they blockaded logging in their traditional territory in the late 1980s, an action which culminated in the Delgamuukw decision of 1997. In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada held that aboriginal title is protected by the constitution and oral history can be presented as evidence of title.
Twenty two Wet’suwet’en spoke for about 15 minutes each. They identified themselves by chief status, house and clan, matrilineal lineage, patrilineal lineage, grandparents, mother, father, siblings, number of children and grandchildren.
Read story: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/01/17/enbridge-northern-gateway-joint-review-panel-smithers-finds-100-opposition
Read this column from Black Press's Tom Fletcher, predicting that the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline won't go ahead, while Kinder-Morgan's plans to twin the Trans Mountain Pipeline to Vancouver will. (Jan. 17, 2012)
After following the opening phase of the National Energy Board’s hearings on the Northern Gateway oil pipeline proposal, I have a prediction.
B.C. will never see this pipeline. And that’s probably the best outcome.
The first reason is the nearly unanimous opposition of informed Kitimat-area residents, led by Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Ellis Ross and skilled local volunteers who described the marine environment of the Kitimat estuary...
...B.C.’s likeliest alternative for oilsands crude is the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which has been pumping Alberta oil and refined products to the West Coast at Burrard Inlet for nearly 60 years. Port Moody’s Ioco refinery is gone, but Chevron’s Burnaby plant remains, and some crude goes out by tanker or pipeline to refineries south of B.C.
The current owner of Trans Mountain, Kinder Morgan Canada, is naturally watching the Enbridge battle closely. A Kinder Morgan representative provided the following information about tanker traffic from their Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.
Read column: http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/137496303.html?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150478275935773_19919729_10150478902555773#f1c0962d74c6416
Watch this video interview by CTV News of BC Premier Christy Clark, in which she joins EthicalOil.org and the Harper Government in decrying "foreign meddling" - via BC environmental groups and First Nations - in the hearings into Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline. (Jan. 15. 2011)
When it comes to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, British Columbia's premier says the debate and decision is best left to Canadians.
"I don't think Canadians benefit from foreign meddling in our decisions," B.C. Premier Christy Clark told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.
Watch video: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120115/qp-northern-gateway-pipeline-debate-120114/
Read this story form The Georgia Straight online, which reveals a leaked internal talking points memo at the BC Cancer Foundation to address growing criticism its title sponsor for the annual "Ride to Conquer Cancer" - controversial oil pipeline builder, Enbridge. (Jan 12, 2012)
Critics of Enbridge and its title sponsorship of the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer like to note that petroleum, which is the company’s business, is a source of carcinogens, such as benzene. And the B.C. Cancer Foundation is obviously hearing about these concerns.
The Georgia Straight has obtained a revised draft of talking points about the Enbridge sponsorship set to be circulated by the foundation to its staff. The Q&A is intended to help foundation staff deal with questions from the public on its acceptance of money from a “cancer-causing organization” and other related matters.
Read memo: http://www.straight.com/article-583381/vancouver/talking-points-show-bc-cancer-foundation-facing-tough-questions-enbridge-sponsorship
Read this story form the Vancouver Sun, reporting that BC Premier Christy Clark has replaced her Chief of Staff Mike MacDonald with career lobbyist and federal Conservative adviser Ken Boessenkool - whose former clients include controversial pipeline builder Enbridge Inc. (Jan. 13, 2011)
Flagging in the polls, and with just 16 months to go before the next election, Premier Christy Clark has replaced her chief of staff with an influential Conservative strategist who has lobbied on behalf of Enbridge.
Ken Boessenkool, who has served as a senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, will start as Clark's chief of staff on Feb. 15, and is expected to make just under $200,000.
The move not only provides new leadership in Clark's office, but also helps bolster her Conservative credentials at a time she faces attacks from the upstart right-wing B.C. Conservative Party.
Boessenkool worked on three federal campaigns with Harper, reportedly playing a key role in the campaign's inner sanctum during 2011.
He has been a key adviser to Reform party founder Preston Manning and to Stockwell Day, former leader of the Canadian Alliance Party.
Boessenkool is also an influential federal lobbyist, having worked on behalf of dozens of top-flight clients including Enbridge, which is now pushing for a major pipeline across B.C.'s north.
Read this story form The Globe and Mail about the fears some environmental organizations face of losing their charitable status as a punishment for speaking up against the controversial proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. (Jan 13, 2012)
Environmentalists are fearful that the Conservative government is planning to limit their advocacy role after Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained that groups flush with “foreign money” are undermining a controversial pipeline review.
Mr. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver stoked activists’ fears in recent days by lashing out at environmental groups that have taken money from U.S. donors to build opposition to the $6.6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry oil-sands bitumen to the British Columbia coast.
The Conservative-dominated Commons finance committee is set to begin a review of the charity sector, and several activists say government MPs have told business groups that the committee will look at the environmental sector’s transparency, its advocacy role and the flow of funds from outside the country.
PMO spokesman Andrew MacDougall dismissed as “speculation” the concerns that the government is targeting the environmental sector. He said Ottawa is focused on streamlining the environmental-review process so that groups can’t employ delaying tactics, echoing Mr. Oliver’s pledge to introduce new rules in the coming months...
...But John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, isn’t reassured.
“I’m quite convinced that we’re the next on the hit list of this government that doesn’t know how to find compromises but only bully people,” Mr. Bennett said.
Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/foes-of-northern-gateway-pipeline-fear-revoking-of-charitable-status/article2298276/
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