All posts by Canadian Press

Nova Scotia approves LNG plant

March 21, 2014Energy and Resources, LNGfeaturedCanadian Press

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia granted conditional approval Friday to a proposed liquefied natural gas plant in Goldboro, clearing another hurdle for the terminal that’s slated to be operational in six years if Pieridae Energy Canada decides to proceed with the project.

Environment Minister Randy Delorey said the Calgary-based company must abide by 40 conditions if it goes ahead, which includes working with his department to find ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at each phase of the project. Other conditions are intended to protect wetlands and wildlife, he said.

“I am confident any potential environmental issues can be addressed and the economic benefits of this project can be realized,” he said in a statement.

Earlier this month, an environmental panel gave conditional approval for the project, which the company said Friday is estimated to cost US$8.3 billion in capital spending.

The province’s Utility and Review Board will have the final say on whether the project can go ahead.

Company predicts 200 long-term jobs

Pieridae said it anticipates the terminal will create up to 3,500 jobs during its construction and 200 full-time workers will be needed to operate the plant.

The company said it will make a final will decision on the project in 2015 and, if it proceeds, the terminal will be operational in 2020.

“We are very pleased to receive environmental assessment approval, which is an important milestone toward development of Goldboro LNG, ” said Alfred Sorensen, the company’s president and CEO.

Power plant for LNG terminal could affect harbour habitat

In addition to the LNG facility, the project also includes a 180 megawatt gas-fired power plant, a water supply intake and pipeline for a potable water supply from a nearby lake, and a marine wharf and jetty. The jetty would extend into Isaac’s Harbour, which includes habitat for lobster, fish and sea urchins.

The company said it will work with local residents, First Nations and the Environment Department as it works to meet the conditions placed on the project, which include management plans on air emissions, greenhouse gas and wetlands. It must also establish a fisheries advisory committee.

Project would raise province’s carbon emissions by 18%

The three-member environmental panel that reviewed the project said it would result in a number of “residual effects” on the environment, such as an increase in the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 18 per cent above 2010 levels by 2020. It says a number of fisheries in the general area would be compromised as well.

The environmental panel said it believes the economic benefits tipped the scale in favour of the project’s development.

Its report said the Goldboro project is projected to contribute 0.5 per cent of the annual national greenhouse gas emissions for Canada and that provincial emissions and targets must be carefully considered. The panel said Pieridae argued the increase will be offset largely by foreign customer’s replacement of coal by the company’s natural gas.

In its submission to the panel, the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre asked for the project to be “dismissed outright” by the Environment Department because its 2020 emissions would make it nearly impossible for Nova Scotia to reduce its overall emissions 10 per cent below 1990 levels by that same year.

Obama teams up with web companies to illustrate the effects of climate change

March 20, 2014Climate ChangeCanadian Press

Observed changes in sea level relative to land elevation in the United States between 1958 and 2008 (Photo: USGCRP 2009).

by Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration hopes to fight global warming with the geeky power of numbers, maps and even gaming-type simulations.

Officials figure the more you know about climate change the more likely you will do something.

“People need to understand what is happening and what is likely to happen,” White House science adviser John Holdren told reporters.

Web access to public climate data

The White House on Wednesday announced an initiative to provide private companies and local governments better access to already public climate data. The idea is that with that localized data they can help the public understand the risks they face, especially in coastal areas where flooding is a big issue.

The government also is working with several high-tech companies, such as Google, Microsoft and Intel, to come up with tools to make communities more resilient in dealing with weather extremes, such as flooding, heat waves and drought. They include computer simulations for people to use and see what would happen with rising seas and other warming scenarios. Also, companies will hold brainstorming sessions with computer programmers aimed at designing new apps on disaster risk.

For example Esri, a company that does geographic information systems, used federal data to show what would happen to New York neighbourhoods if sea level rises by 3 feet — which scientists say is likely by the end of the century. It would displace 780,000 people, Esri CEO Jack Dangermond said.

NASA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration will try get people to create simulations to understand flooding risks in an upcoming coastal flooding challenge. One effort would include putting sensors on Philadelphia city buses to collect data to track the effect of climate change.

How global warming effects people

In its second term, the administration has made more of an effort to connect global warming to its effect on people, especially extreme weather and disasters.

“The more people that have information, the harder it is for a few to block action” on climate change, Holdren said in reference to a 2012 North Carolina proposal that would ignore sea level rise from global warming in flood maps.

Social science literature shows that the more people think a problem, like global warming, is closer to home and immediate, the more likely they are to act, said Cornell University professor Jonathan Schuldt, an expert in environmental communications. But, he added, if people look online and see that their city is not at higher risk from climate change, that could backfire on the Obama administration and make those people less likely to do something.

Energy East pipeline would be for export, not local refining

March 18, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

Energy East pipeline would be for export, not local refining — Most of the oil from the proposed Energy East pipeline would be destined for export, says a new report

by Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

CALGARY – The proposed Energy East pipeline won’t be the boon to Eastern Canadian refineries that supporters claim because the vast majority of the oil in it would be bound for export markets, environmental groups argued in a report released Tuesday.

Alberta bitumen bound for India Europe

The $12-billion project would likely use the lion’s share of its 1.1 million barrel per day capacity to send unrefined oilsands crude to markets like India, Europe and possibly the United States, says the report, penned by The Council of Canadians, Ecology Action Centre, Environmental Defence and Equiterre.

The pipeline would run 4,600 kilometres from Alberta to Saint John, N.B., using repurposed pipe already in the ground for roughly two thirds of the way.

The company planning to build it, TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP), aims to file a formal regulatory application this summer and has been engaging with communities along the route in an effort to build support.

Backers in industry and government have said Energy East will help ailing refineries in the East — reliant on high-cost crude from abroad — by connecting them with a stable, low-cost supply from Western Canada. The proposal also includes export terminals in Quebec and Saint John, N.B., from which some of oil can be sent overseas by tanker, getting producers a better price.

Only 122,000 barrels a day to local refineries

The report Tuesday said the three refineries along the Energy East route — Suncor Energy’s (TSX:SU) in Montreal, Valero’s near Quebec City and Irving’s in Saint John, N.B., — have a combined capacity of 672,000 barrels per day.

Of that, the groups figure 550,000 barrels per day can come from elsewhere — offshore crude in Atlantic Canada, booming U.S. shale resources and, eventually, via Enbridge Inc.’s (TSX:ENB) recently approved reversed Line 9 pipeline between southwestern Ontario and Montreal. That leaves just 122,000 barrels per day of refining capacity that can be served by Energy East, the report said.

“It’s very frustrating to watch a company trying to convince Canadians that they should accept these massive risks based on some perceived benefit that they may receive. When you dig into it, you find that it’s an empty promise,” said Adam Scott, with Environmental Defence.

[quote]It’s just not true that Eastern Canada’s going to benefit in the way that TransCanada’s saying they are. And when you look and see that this is a project about putting vast quantities of oil onto tankers and shipping them out of the country, people who are convinced that ‘this is going to mean more local jobs for me’ are going to be very disappointed.[/quote]

TransCanada makes big economic promises

TransCanada has said the project’s economic benefits would be massive and has described it as a nation builder on par with the Canadian Pacific Railway.

A study TransCanada commissioned last September, conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP, noted Quebec and New Brunswick refiners would see big cost savings if connected with lower-cost western crude.

On a 100,000 barrel per day basis, Quebec refineries would save between $92 million and $336 million per year, while in New Brunswick the annual savings would be between $51 million and $377 million, the Deloitte report said. That’s assuming those refineries continue to use mostly light oil.

Suncor has been considering adding equipment to its Montreal refinery that would enable it to process heavier crudes, while the Irving refinery in Saint John, N.B., has the ability to process some heavy crude.

Deloitte report predicts 1,000 direct long-term jobs

The Deloitte report predicted the equivalent of 10,071 direct full-time equivalent jobs across the country will be needed to develop and build Energy East until 2018. Once the pipeline is up and running, Deloitte sees the creation of 1,081 direct jobs.

The study also found the project would add about $35.3 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product in the development and construction phase and over the 40-year life of the project. As well, it’s expected to add $10.2 billion in tax revenues at the municipal, provincial and federal levels the over that time.

Those economic figures don’t include the impact of higher Canadian crude prices that would result from being able to sell the product in lucrative overseas markets. Nor does it incorporate the lower crude costs eastern refineries may enjoy.

Follow @LaurenKrugel on Twitter

Democrats’ election-year debate over Keystone XL pipeline

March 15, 2014Canadian Press, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

U.S. Senators from the Senate Climate Action Task Force urge action on climate change in Washington (Photo: Yuri Gripas, Reuters).

by Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Democrats are grappling with an election-year dilemma posed by the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Wealthy party donors are funding candidates who oppose the project — a high-profile symbol of the political debate over climate change. But some of the party’s most vulnerable incumbents are pipeline boosters, and whether Democrats retain control of the Senate after the 2014 midterm elections may hinge on them.

The dilemma was highlighted Thursday as President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser — and now a consultant to the oil industry — said Obama should approve the pipeline to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message that “international bullies” can’t use energy security as a weapon.

$100 million towards making climate change an election issue

The comments by retired Gen. James Jones came as a top Democratic donor again urged that the pipeline be rejected.

Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmentalist, has vowed to spend $100 million —$50 million of his own money and $50 million from other donors — to make climate change a top-tier issue in the 2014 elections.

Steyer, who opposes Keystone, declined to say whether he would contribute to Democrats who support the pipeline, including Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and John Walsh of Montana. All face strong challenges from Republicans in energy-producing states where Obama lost to Mitt Romney in 2012.

Still, a spokesman said Steyer believes Democratic control of the Senate is important from a climate perspective.

Approving pipeline would send message to Putin

Jones told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Canada-to-Texas pipeline is a litmus test of whether the U.S. is serious about national and global energy security. Approval of the pipeline would help ensure that North America becomes a global energy hub and a reliable energy source to the U.S and its allies, Jones said. Rejecting the pipeline would “make Mr. Putin’s day and strengthen his hand,” he said.

Jones, who left the Obama administration in 2010, now heads a consulting firm that has done work for the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s chief trade group, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Both groups support the pipeline.

Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, pressed Secretary of State John Kerry on the pipeline issue Thursday at an appropriations hearing. Landrieu called approval of the pipeline “critical” to the national interest and said that in Louisiana, “it’s hard for us to even understand why there is a question” whether it should be approved. The State Department has jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crosses a U.S. border.

Kerry told Landrieu he was “not at liberty to go into my thinking at this point,” but added: “I am approaching this, you know, tabula rasa. I’m going to look at all the arguments, both sides, all sides, whatever, evaluate them and make the best judgment I can about what is in the national interest.”

Steyer battles public opinion on pipeline

Polls show Americans support the pipeline, with 65 per cent saying they approved of it in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Twenty-two per cent of those polled opposed the pipeline.

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, spent more than $10 million to help elect Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., last year. In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Steyer declined to comment on where his advocacy group, NextGen Climate Action, would spend money this fall. But he noted the views of Landrieu and other endangered Democratic incumbents were well known.

“I think those senators voted on this long before 2014,” he said, “so I don’t think there’s any real change here.”

Steyer hosted a fundraiser last month at his San Francisco home attended by at least six Democratic senators, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. The event, which raised $400,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, also was attended by former Vice-President Al Gore, who said the party needs to make global warming a central issue in the midterm elections.

Democrats’ control of the Senate

Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who advises Steyer, has said the group would not go after Democrats, even those who support the pipeline.

“We’re certainly not subscribing to what I would call the tea party theory of politics,” Lehane said. “We do think it’s really, really important from a climate perspective that we maintain control of the Senate for Democrats.”

Steyer said Thursday he has not decided whether to spend money in Colorado, where Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is likely to be challenged by GOP Rep. Cory Gardner. Udall was among more than 30 Democratic senators who engaged in a talkathon urging action on climate change this week, but he has largely stayed out of the Keystone fight. Udall voted against budget amendments urging both support and rejection of the pipeline, arguing that they injected politics into a process that should remain at the State Department.

Udall wants to evaluate the project “on the merits and using objective, scientific analysis,” said spokesman Mike Saccone.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said he hoped Thursday’s hearing would offer “a balanced, thoughtful” approach that “puts aside some of the politics that have surrounded this debate” over the pipeline.

“We are here to find answers and shed more light than heat on the issue,” Menendez said, although the hearing soon devolved into a series of claims and counterclaims.

The $5.3 billion pipeline would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada through the U.S. heartland to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

EPA report helps pipeline

Pipeline supporters, including lawmakers from both parties and many business and labour groups, say the project would create thousands of jobs and reduce the need for oil imports from Venezuela and other politically turbulent countries.

Opponents say the pipeline would carry “dirty oil” that contributes to global warming. They also worry about possible spills.

The State Department said in a Jan. 31 report that building the pipeline would not significantly boost carbon emissions because the oil was likely to find its way to market no matter what. Transporting the oil by rail or truck would cause greater environmental problems than the pipeline, the report said.

CNRL faces charges over potentially deadly gas leak near First Nation

March 10, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Tar SandsfeaturedCanadian Press

CNRL faces charges over potentially deadly gas leak near First Nation — Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s Horizon oilsands upgrader

By John Cotter in Edmonton

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is facing 11 environmental charges over the release of a potentially deadly gas near an aboriginal community in northern Alberta.

The Alberta government said the charges stem from the release of hydrogen sulphide gas on August 2012 from the CNRL Horizon oilsands upgrader facility north of Fort McMurray.

The province said it learned of the leaks after getting complaints from the Fort McKay First Nation and reports from air monitoring stations.

“These are definitely serious charges,” Nikki Booth, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment said Friday.

“It is something that we felt we needed to do to ensure that there is environmental responsibility on the part of the company.”

The province alleges that CNRL (TSX:CNQ) released the gas, failed to use its equipment properly, failed to report what happened properly and provided misleading information to the government and the Fort McKay First Nation.

There was no information on how much gas was released.

Each charge carries a possible maximum fine of $500,000.

Environment Minister Robin Campbell was not immediately available for an interview. He instead issued a written statement that doesn’t mention CNRL or the charges, but says the government takes environmental protection seriously.

“Our ability to open new markets for our oil — or to maintain the markets we have today — depends on our credibility when it comes to responsible oilsands development,” the statement says.

“Alberta is a leader when it comes to having stringent environmental monitoring, regulation and protection legislation. We are proud of this and remain committed to ensuring that we develop our resources in a responsible and sustainable way.”

Officials with Calgary-based CNRL and the Fort McKay First Nation were not immediately available for comment.

Alberta Environment says hydrogen sulphide can be highly toxic and smells like rotten eggs. Exposure at low concentrations can irritate the eyes, nose and throat or cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea.

Exposure at higher concentrations can result in sleepiness, blurred vision or death from respiratory failure.

Mike Hudema with Greenpeace Canada said the allegations show that the oilsands industry needs much heavier oversight, and the policy of simply trusting oil companies to do the right thing has to end once and for all.

He said what happened could have been very serious.

“The fact CNRL not only released a deadly gas but allegedly misled Fort McKay First Nation about it is deeply troubling and begs the question of whether monetary fines go far enough,” he said.

CNRL already faces three environmental charges over a similar release of hydrogen sulphide gas that occurred in May 2010.

Those charges allege the energy company released hydrogen sulphide gas into the atmosphere and failed to report it. These charges are still before the courts.

The company is to appear in Fort McMurray provincial court on the latest charges on April 14.

CNRL’s website says its Horizon operation includes surface oilsands mining, bitumen extraction and upgrading plants.

Energy Board approves Enbridge Line 9 reversal

March 6, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

The National Energy Board has approved energy giant Enbridge’s plan to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of a pipeline that has been running between southern Ontario and Montreal for years.

The green light for the Calgary-based company is subject to certain conditions and requirements.

A statement from the National Energy Board says “the board’s conditions require Enbridge to undertake activities regarding pipeline integrity, emergency response, and continued consultation.”

Enbridge will also have to submit a plan to manage cracking features in the pipeline, and manage water crossings.

The board says that with these conditions in place, the project will be “safe and environmentally sensitive.”

Pipeline hearings saw heated protest

The decision on the controversial Line 9 comes some four months after the federal regulator held public hearings on Enbridge’s proposal.

During those sessions, a three-member panel heard from a wide range of parties including First Nations, environmental groups, private citizens and representatives from municipal and provincial governments.

Enbridge’s own final submissions were delivered in writing after the board cancelled its final day of Toronto hearings over security concerns stemming from a planned protest.

300,000 barrels flowing East

Line 9 originally shuttled oil from Sarnia, Ont., to Montreal, but was reversed in the late 1990s in response to market conditions to pump imported crude westward. Enbridge now wants to flow oil back eastwards to service refineries in Ontario and Quebec.

It plans to move 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the line, up from the current 240,000 barrels, with no increase in pressure.

Opponents — some of whom have staged protests and held sit-ins at pumping stations — argue the Line 9 plan puts communities at risk, threatens water supplies and could endanger vulnerable species in ecologically sensitive areas.

Critics disappointed, not surprised

Officials at Greenpeace Canada said they were disappointed, but not surprised, by today’s decision. Said Keith Stewart, Greenpeace Canada’s energy campaign co-ordinator:

[quote]This decision is no surprise, given how the federal government and the oil industry have rewritten our environmental laws to fast track the approvals of tarsands pipelines. These drastic changes barred thousands of Canadians from participating in decisions that will affect their air, water and health for decades to come and banned any consideration of the climate change impacts of this project.[/quote]

Critics also worry that Enbridge will run what they claim is a more corrosive product through the 831-kilometre-long line — a move which they claim will stress the aging infrastructure and increase the chance of a leak.

Enbridge has insisted that safety is its top priority and has characterized the scope of the reversal as “actually very, very small.”

Previous bitumen spills erode confidence in Enbridge

It has said a reversed Line 9 will not be transporting a raw oilsands product, although there will be a mix of light crude and processed bitumen.

It has stressed, though, that the products that will flow through the line will not erode it.

The company has also said the refineries it supplies can currently only take a small portion of heavy crude and would have to invest significantly in infrastructure to take more.

Despite the company’s assurances, Line 9’s opponents have often pointed to an Enbridge spill in Michigan, which leaked 20,000 barrels of crude into the Kalamazoo River in 2010. There are concerns the same thing could happen in Ontario or Quebec in the future.

Some opponents have also suggested the Line 9 reversal is ultimately so Enbridge can transport oil to the Atlantic coast for export — something the company denies.

A portion of the line has already received approval for reversal and has been sending oil from Sarnia to North Westover, Ont. — about 30 kilometres northwest of Hamilton — since August.

US judge blocks $9 Billion judgement against Chevron over lawyers’ illegal conduct

March 4, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&GasfeaturedCanadian Press

US judge sides with Chevron over $9 Billion Ecuadorian contamination case — Photo: Teun Voeten/Reporters/Redux

by Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

NEW YORK – A federal judge on Tuesday blocked U.S. courts from being used to collect a $9 billion Ecuadorean judgment against Chevron for rainforest damage, saying lawyers poisoned an honourable quest with their illegal and wrongful conduct.

“Justice is not served by inflicting injustice. The ends do not justify the means,” U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote. The judge said it was a sad outcome to have to rule that the Ecuadorean court judgment “was obtained by corrupt means,” because it will likely never be known whether there was a case to be made against the San Ramon, Calif.-based oil company.

Wrote Kaplan in a nearly 500-page ruling that followed a trial last year:

[quote]It is distressing that the course of justice was perverted.

[/quote]

New York lawyer for plaintiff corrupted case

He said a New York City lawyer, Steven Donziger, and Ecuadorean lawyers corrupted the case in Ecuador by submitting fraudulent evidence, coercing a judge and arranging to write the multibillion-dollar judgment themselves by promising $500,000 to the Ecuadorean judge to rule in their favour.

Donziger, criticized heavily in the ruling, said he will seek an expedited appeal of “an appalling decision resulting from a deeply flawed proceeding.”

He said Kaplan was “wrong on the law and wrong on the facts.” He accused Kaplan of letting “his implacable hostility toward me, my Ecuadorean clients and their country infect his view of the case.”

In a statement, Chevron Corp. called the decision “a resounding victory for Chevron and our stockholders” and said any court that respects the rule of law will find the Ecuadorean judgment “illegitimate and unenforceable.”

The case resulted from a long-running court battle between Amazon rainforest residents and oil companies.

Ecuadorian court cut initial judgement from $18 billion to $9.5 billion

In February 2011, a judge in Ecuador issued an $18 billion judgment against Chevron in a lawsuit brought on behalf of 30,000 residents. The judgment was for environmental damage caused by Texaco during its operation of an oil consortium in the rainforest from 1972 to 1990. Chevron later bought Texaco.

Ecuador’s highest court last year upheld the verdict but reduced the judgment to about $9.5 billion.

Chevron has long argued that a 1998 agreement Texaco signed with Ecuador after a $40 million cleanup absolves it of liability. It claims Ecuador’s state-run oil company is responsible for much of the pollution in the oil patch that Texaco quit more than two decades ago.

The Ecuadorean plaintiffs said the cleanup was a sham and didn’t exempt third-party claims.

The decision came in a lawsuit Chevron brought in Manhattan against Donziger and two of his Ecuadorian clients to prevent any of them from profiting from what the oil company characterized as a fraud.

Kaplan on Tuesday barred Donziger and the other defendants from trying to collect the judgment through U.S. courts and said they may not take any actions to profit from the judgment.

A lawyer for Donziger — Richard Friedman — said the ruling was disappointing but not unexpected. He predicted it will be reversed on appeal.

Donziger’s appeals lawyer, Deepak Gupta, said Kaplan’s ruling amounted to “what is in effect a global anti-collection injunction that would preclude enforcement of a judgment from another country in every jurisdiction.” He said it was indistinguishable from a ruling by Kaplan in early 2011 banning collection of the judgment anywhere in the world. That was decision was struck down on appeal.

No ‘Robin Hood’ defence

During the trial, Donziger acknowledged that he stood to make about $600 million if the $9 billion judgment was approved.

Donziger said in his statement Tuesday that his clients will try to collect the judgment in other countries.

“The villagers deserve justice, and I am confident they will get it despite Chevron’s effort to flout the rule of law,” he said.

Kaplan said in his decision that it did not matter if the efforts by the villagers came in a just pursuit, writing:

[quote]There is no ‘Robin Hood’ defence to illegal and wrongful conduct. And the defendants’ ‘this-is-the-way-it-is-done-in-Ecuador’ excuses — actually a remarkable insult to the people of Ecuador — do not help them.[/quote]

“The wrongful actions of Donziger and his Ecuadorian legal team would be offensive to the laws of any nation that aspires to the rule of law, including Ecuador — and they knew it.”

Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power

March 4, 2014Energy and Resources, RenewablesfeaturedCanadian Press

Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power — The world’s first commercial-scale tidal power generator, in Northern Ireland (Photo courtesy of Siemens)

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom have agreed to work together on research aimed at generating electricity from high tides like those in the Bay of Fundy.

Energy Minister Andrew Younger and Corin Robertson, the acting British deputy high commissioner to Canada, announced a memorandum of understanding today in Halifax.

Under the agreement, the Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom’s Technology and Strategy Board will each contribute $250,000 towards research.

Younger says the agreement will increase the province’s research capacity and create business opportunities in Nova Scotia and the U.K.

The agreement will also result in joint proposals being issued for research projects in both Canada and the U.K.

Peter Mansbridge tries to come clean on Oilsands talk

February 28, 2014Energy and Resources, Media, Oil&Gas, Tar SandsfeaturedCanadian Press

Peter Mansbridge tries to come clean on Oilsands talk — CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge giving a talk paid by CAPP (image: facebook)

by Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge defended himself Thursday after a report that he made a paid speech to petroleum producers, saying he has never publicly promoted or opposed oilsands development.

“If I leave a speech and those in attendance think they know where I stand on any controversial issue, then they’re guessing. Because they won’t find it in the words I’ve spoken,” he wrote in a blog post on the CBC website.

[quote]I would not, do not, and have not, given a speech either promoting oilsands development or opposing it.[/quote]

The anchor of The National said he gives about 20 speeches each year, about half of them unpaid. When he receives a fee, he often donates part or all of the money to charity, he said.

Mansbridge said the network’s senior management has always approved his speaking engagements and known when he is paid for them.

Some media watchers have suggested it’s not appropriate for journalists to accept money from groups or industries that are the subject of their reports.

CBC management vetted speech

On Wednesday, a CBC report on its president Hubert Lacroix’s appearance before a Senate committee said the anchor’s speaking engagements are vetted in advance.

“And each one is looked at to make sure there is no conflict of interest with respect … to editorial coverage and to make sure that our rules are respected,” Lacroix told the committee.

“He knows that he never offers up his opinion or takes a position on anything that is in the news when he makes those speeches.”

Murphy, Mansbridge both paid to speak by oil industry

This comes after a published report said Mansbridge was paid to speak to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in 2012.

He is the second CBC personality recently to face questions for reportedly receiving payment in exchange for speaking at events organized by members of the oil industry.

The network has acknowledged that Rex Murphy, who hosts the show “Cross-Country Checkup,” has given speeches supporting oilsands development.

Murphy stood by his comments in a column published last week in the National Post, saying he always speaks his mind and his opinions can’t be bought.

To suggest otherwise is “an empty, insulting slur against my reputation as a journalist,” he wrote.

News Ombudsmen beg to differ

The executive director of the Organization of News Ombudsmen told CBC Radio that neither journalist should have accepted money — and that in doing so, they’ve undermined the broadcaster’s credibility.

“The problem is in the money received,” Jeffrey Dvorkin, a former managing editor for CBC Radio, told “As It Happens.”

“In the end, there is a suspicion laid on all of the CBC,” he said.

[quote]It’s about reputation here and what Rex has done, he has, frankly, I think, sullied the reputation of all CBC journalists by doing that and Peter Mansbridge hasn’t helped particularly in taking money from that source either.[/quote]

CBC defends Murphy

The CBC has defended Murphy’s actions, saying he is a freelance commentator paid to take a “provocative stand” on issues.

In a blog post published earlier this month and updated Thursday, CBC News editor-in-chief Jennifer McGuire said freelancers are given more leeway to express their views.

Full-time staff, however, must abide by an internal policy that states “CBC journalists do not express their own personal opinion because it affects the perception of impartiality and could affect an open and honest exploration of an issue,” she said.

Joe Clark blasts PM Harper for attacks on environmentalists

February 27, 2014Canada, Energy and Resources, Pipelines and Supertankers, PoliticsfeaturedCanadian Press

Joe Clark blasts PM Harper for attacks on environmentalists — On a US book tour, Joe Clark had some strong words from one Conservative PM to another

by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON – Former prime minister Joe Clark says he can’t understand why the Harper government would bar the opposition from a delegation to Ukraine and suggests its combative approach to international issues sometimes hurts the country.

Speaking to a U.S. audience, Clark, who also served as foreign affairs minister, said he regularly involved opposition parties on foreign missions — and Canada benefited as a result.

He cited one example in particular: his co-operation with former NDP MP Dan Heap. Clark said the Mulroney government was on the outs with some key left-wing actors in Central America, and the Toronto New Democrat helped establish valuable connections through his NGO contacts.

“Let me tell you what we did: we involved opposition parties regularly in activities overseas. We relied on them, heavily,” Clark said.

“I do not understand why there is this exclusion of parliamentarians (in Ukraine) — if it happened.”

He made the remark when asked about reports that Canada’s main opposition parties had been refused spots in a delegation to Kyiv this week. The Conservatives called it a government trip, and added that the opposition didn’t even deserve to go after Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau told a joke about Ukraine.

Clark spent an hour taking questions about his new book on foreign policy, “How We Lead.”

The book is deeply critical of what it describes as the Harper Tories’ “megaphone” approach to international affairs — in other words, plenty of loud grandstanding and not much constructive work on the ground.

Clark questions Harper’s attacks on environmentalists

He was equally critical when asked about the Keystone XL pipeline.

He said the government deserves some of the blame if the project is stalled. If the Harper government hadn’t spent a couple of years shouting at the environmental movement, he said, it might not have attracted such opposition.

Clark told the audience that the belligerence began with verbal attacks by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver after the Conservatives won a majority in 2011, and continues to this day with environmental groups having their tax status threatened.

All of that, Clark said, got noticed by U.S. environmentalists who carry some influence in the White House. Clark told the forum at the Wilson Center:

[quote]One of the real problems that I think lingers over that pipeline is, before the pipeline question arose, the Government of Canada deliberately went out of his way to be seen as an adversary of environmentalists.[/quote]

“It just seems to me to have been an unwise way to set the stage for the case that we had to make… The steepness of the hill that Canada has to climb was created, in part, by the attitude of the Government of Canada on environmental questions.”

A little praise mixed in with criticism

Clark was complimentary of the government on some fronts.

He credited Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird for his sustained effort on behalf of homosexuals being persecuted around the world.

He also applauded the prime minister for embracing a free-trade agenda that includes the signing of a potentially historic pact with the European Union, and involvement in talks toward a 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But there was plenty of criticism — just like in the book.

Canada’s ‘adolescent’ tone in foreign affairs

The book calls for a more creative approach to foreign affairs, retooled for a new age, and suggests better outreach with increasingly powerful non-state actors like NGOs.

He laments that the current government, too often, leans toward disengagement.

The book cites as one example Canada closing its Iran embassy. Clark contrasts that with the Mulroney government’s refusal to close its South African embassy in the 1980s, which he says helped it successfully fight apartheid.

“Canada now talks more than we act and our tone is almost adolescent — forceful, certain, enthusiastic, combative, full of sound and fury,” says the book.

[quote]That pattern of emphatic rhetoric at the podium, and steady withdrawal from the field, raises a basic question: What does the Harper government consider the purpose of foreign policy?[/quote]

Time for open debate on big ideas

Clark also bemoans a broader reluctance in Canada to debate big ideas.

He told his audience Thursday that, by the early 1990s, Canadians were tired of activist government following a Mulroney era marked by battles over free trade and the country’s constitutional makeup.

He drew laughs by noting that Jean Chretien promised not to do anything with the constitution — and voters rewarded him with a majority.

“The problem is that, since then, Canada has not talked about much.”

Clark was also asked about a provincial issue — the Parti Quebecois values charter.

He called the plan alarming. He said it’s even more alarming that the PQ might be winning support because of it. A Quebec election is expected this spring, and the PQ has jumped to a strong lead in the latest polls.