Author: Editor Northwest Coast Energy News

Anti Kitimat pipeline 1977 letter from Tommy Douglas goes viral on Twitter

Energy Environment Social Media

The environmental group the Dogwood Initiative has discovered a letter from the late New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas, opposing a Kitimat pipeline project in 1977. (pdf)

Dogwood’s initial post about the letter, which is on the institute’s website, quickly went viral on Twitter at least in British Columbia.

The Feb. 8, 1977, warns that a group called the Kitimat Pipeline Project, a consortium of U.S. owned or controlled companies planned to build a pipeline from Edmonton to Kitimat to then onship oil to ports in the United States.

The Douglas letter goes over arguments that are familiar to those following the current controversy over the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, the few jobs in British Columbia as opposed to jobs in the United States, why were there no refining jobs in Canada and the advantage of tax revenue all opposed to the prospect of a catastrophic oil spill on the west coast.

Douglas urges the people of BC to petition the federal government and to ask for public hearings. He concludes by saying:

Remember that in a democracy, governments are your servants not your masters. It is your land, your environment and your future that are at stake. Now is the time to speak out in clear and unmistakable terms and say “Keep tankers out of Kitimat.”

First nations seek fresh start with Enbridge over pipeline to coast: Globe and Mail

Energy Environment Politics

Carrie Tait writing in the Globe and Mail in First nations seek fresh start with Enbridge over pipeline to coast
 

First nations groups protesting against Enbridge Inc.’s controversial pipeline to the B.C. coast will reconsider their opposition to the project if its regulatory approval process is put on hold.

The Coastal First Nations in a September meeting told Pat Daniel, Enbridge’s chief executive, they want the Joint Review Panel (JRP) to delay hearings on the company’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline so negotiations between the two sides can resume and a stronger relationship can be built….

The Coastal First Nations say it is not to late for Enbridge to win them over on the Gateway plan.

“If we could have a fresh start and were able build a good relationship, the Coastal First Nations might be willing to take another look at the project,” Art Sterritt, the group’s executive director, said in an interview. “That wouldn’t mean we would necessarily come out and agree with it, but we would certainly take a closer look at it.”

Enbridge, EPA dispute amount of “oil” spilled at Kalamazoo

Energy Environment

AP reports that Enbridge and the US Environmental Protection Agency are haggling over how much “oil” was spilled into the Kalamazoo River. Enbridge is sticking with its estimate that 849,000 gallons were spilled when the pipeline was breached. The EPA says 1.1 million gallons have been recovered and there may be more to be recovered.
Apparently it all comes down to different definitions of the word “oil.”

Shell’s LNG terminal plans “substantially larger” than rivals: Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail reports Shell eyes LNG terminal in B.C. that would overshadow Kitimat

A group of major international energy partners led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC is contemplating an LNG export terminal for the British Columbia coast that is substantially larger than a rival’s project that could soon begin construction.

Shell, which has teamed with Korea Gas Corp., China National Petroleum Co. and Mitsubishi Corp., is looking to load 1.8 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas onto tankers bound for Asian markets, officials with Spectra Energy Corp. ) revealed Tuesday.

The Globe and Mail says Spectra spokesman Peter Murchland said Shell project would generate 1.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, That compares to the 1.4-billion cubic feet a day proposed by Kitimat LNG,

Kalamazoo River cleanup suspended as cold weather hits Michigan

Energy Environment

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports Submerged oil cleanup finished in Kalamazoo River for the year
 
The newspaper quotes Jason Manshum, spokesman for Enbridge Energy Partners, as saying that the majority of submerged oil has been collected and crews are shifting to start winter cleanup. During the winter, the crews “will continue to address oil on the over banks of the river.”

Manshum added that because of dropping temperatures, the methods to extract submerged oil are not as effective
.

“However, there are still some remnants of submerged oil in the Kalamazoo River,” Manshum said. “The exact quantity is difficult to measure, but we are currently trying to calculate the remaining amount based on core samples from the river bottom. These core samples have been collected and are now being tested analytically to better understand the remnant amounts.”

The Gazette says that because the heavy biutmen sank to the bottom of the river and mixed with sediment, the crews had to innovate new methods to extract it.

This spring, the EPA identified about 200 acres of submerged oil in three areas: the Ceresco Dam; in Mill Pond, just east of Battle Creek; and where the Kalamazoo River enters Morrow Lake in Comstock Township. Manshum said that number is a snapshot of submerged oil at the time. Since the river is dynamic, the oil moved with the water at the bottom of the river.

Crews have removed oil from some areas of the river multiple times because of the movement, Manshum said. Enbridge and the EPA will continue to assess and clean the river until it is clean.


Keystone XL decision – more questions than answers: Blog

A blog by Edmonton based, University of Alberta business professor Andrew Leach, Keystone XL decision – more questions than answers, analyzes the Keystone postponement through the rose coloured glasses we see often from Alberta (referring, of course, to the provincial flower, not the political party) and is more intelligent than what we’ve seen from the business press across Canada.

Interestingly Leach says:

It took exactly 3 minutes after I first heard the news for me to hear
someone say, “if they don’t want our oil, we’ll send it to China!”
Surprisingly, it took another 3 hours for me to hear someone make
reference to letting Americans freeze in the dark. 

And later, Leach goes on to advise Albertans:

If Alberta wants to grow oilsands production beyond about 3 million barrels per day, we are going to need others to accept infrastructure in their backyards to get it to market. In the past, landowners along 1000s of miles of pipeline would have no easy way to come together and oppose the project – that has all changed and if you don’t believe me, ask the 4000 people who have signed up to intervene at the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel hearings, or the 10000+ people who converged on the White House to oppose Keystone XL.

Editor’s Note: Leach was part of a wide ranging Twitter debate after the Keystone XL was postponed. A key article that sparked the debate was a piece in the New York Times by Michael Levi, that talked about NIMBYism in the Keystone case, A Shortsighted Victory in Delaying the Keystone Pipeline.  That three minute record seems typical of the attitude on Twitter from many Albertans, who assume that the Northern Gateway pipeline  will go ahead.

‘Keystone Cops’ crippling U.S. economy: National Post

Energy Politics

Diane Francis, writing in the National Post, in Keystone Cops’ crippling U.S. economy,  a wide ranging piece attacking the decision to postpone the Keystone XL pipeline, makes her contempt for all the people of northern British Columbia pretty clear in her push to get the Northern Gateway pipeline going

The other priority is to fast-track the proposed pipeline through British Columbia to the West coast to ship oil to Asian markets. The aboriginal claims must be settled financially and generously as quickly as possible before the trans-national non-state players in the environmental movement organize them and stop the pipeline.

Editor’s note: Why do the business columnists across the Canadian media continue to believe that the people of northern British Columbia, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, are so stupid and helpless that they are under the thumb of the so-called “trans-national non-state players in the environmental movement” rather than local residents concerned about the environment where the live, work and play?? (Sounds like an editorial, which will be forthcoming)

Flaherty talks tough with U.S. in wake of Keystone pipeline delay : reports

Energy Politics

Finance minister Jim Flaherty is “talking tough” according to the Globe and Mail’s Steven Chase  and threatening the Americans with the Northern Gateway pipeline in the wake of the postponement of the Keystone XL project.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty [is] warning the postponement could kill the project and accelerate this country’s efforts to ship oil to Asia instead.

“The decision to delay it that long is actually quite a crucial decision. I’m not sure this project would survive that kind of delay,” Mr. Flaherty told Bloomberg News. “It may mean that we may have to move quickly to ensure that we can export our oil to Asia through British Columbia.”

The original Bloomberg article also reports:

Flaherty, 61, will travel later this week to Beijing, where he will discuss increasing energy exports to China and facilitating investment in Canadian natural-resource assets. Enbridge Inc. (ENB) has proposed building a pipeline, called Northern Gateway, that would transport crude from Alberta’s oil sands to Canada’s Pacific coast, while Kinder Morgan Inc. plans to expand its Trans Mountain route to do the same.

Keystone XL delayed until 2013, media reports say

Energy  Politics

Numerous media reports, quoting sources, are saying that approval of  the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas has been delayed until 2013,  after the current American election cycle.

The New York Times says U.S. to Delay Decision on Pipeline Until After Election
 

The Obama administration is preparing to delay a decision on the contested Keystone XL pipeline while it studies an alternate route, effectively pushing any action past the 2012 election, officials and lobbyists who have been briefed on the matter said on Thursday. An announcement is expected as early as Thursday afternoon.

The proposed project by a Canadian pipeline company had put President Obama in a political vise, squeezed between demands for secure energy sources and the jobs the project will bring, and the loud opposition of environmental advocates who have threatened to withhold electoral support next year if he approves it.

CBC reports Keystone project reportedly shelved until 2013

The U.S. State Department will order another environmental assessment for the Keystone XL pipeline route, allowing U.S. President Barack Obama to shelve the controversial issue until after the 2012 elections, media reports said Thursday.

Earlier Reuters and Bloomberg reported that US State Department had ordered new studies on the route of the Keystone pipeline.

Reuters says

The United States will study a new route for the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, U.S. officials said on Thursday, delaying any final approval beyond the 2012 election and sparing President Barack Obama a politically risky decision for now.

The delay was a victory for environmentalists who say oil sands crude development emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. It would deal a blow to companies developing Alberta’s oil sands and to TransCanada Corp, which planned to build and operate the conduit.

Analysts have said a long delay could kill the $7 billion project because it would cause shippers and refiners to look for alternative routes to get Canadian oil sands crude

The questions for northwestern British Columbia is, whether long delays in the Keystone XL pipeline will ramp up pressure to build the Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat. One big difference here is that Stephen Harper has already won re-election and has a safe and pro-pipeline majority government.

Enbridge confident of avoiding Keystone XL woes: Globe and Mail

Energy Link

In Enbridge confident of avoiding Keystone XL woes, The Globe and Mail reports on Enbridge’s US bound pipelines. (So it is not really a story about Northern Gateway, although the Keystone and Gateway projects are similar)

Enbridge Inc. is expressing confidence that it won’t be harmed by the problems that have dogged its rival TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL line.

Enbridge has secured substantial support for two of its own new U.S. pipeline projects – one called Flanagan South, the other Wrangler. But because the Enbridge projects would run through existing pipeline corridors, chief executive Pat Daniel said he believes the company can avoid some of the loud environmental criticism that has caused delays – and the threat of serious new problems – for Keystone.