The 3-member NEB Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline (Damien Gillis)
Do you enjoy being a raw hypocrite?
Well, if you’re a taxpayer in Canada that’s what you are because you support raw hypocrisy every day in the various hearings on environmental matters that take place.
Why don’t we just abolish the National Energy Board and all other boards like it and allow environmental projects to be judged strictly by the industry itself, with the customary pat on the corporate head from the prime minister?
At least this would make honest men and women of us.
[quote]It’s a rigged game … We’re getting the scope that supports Kinder Morgan. It’s a private sector, ‘How do we get to yes?’masquerading as a public interest review. [Emphasis added]
… decisions made by the Board at this hearing are dismissive of Intervenors. They reflect a lack of respect for hearing participants, a deep erosion of the standards and practices of natural justice … and an undemocratic restriction of participation by citizens, communities, professionals and First Nations either by rejecting them outright or failing to provide adequate funding to facilitate meaningful participation.[/quote]
Unnatural justice
Marc Eliesen, one of the most distinguished power experts in Canada, having served as head of BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro and Ontario Hydro, was an intervenor at NEB hearings into the Kinder Morgan pipeline. He resigned last November in a scathing letter, a small part of which follows:
[quote]The evidence on the record shows that decisions made by the Board at this hearing are dismissive of Intervenors. They reflect a lack of respect for hearing participants, a deep erosion of the standards and practices of natural justice…and an undemocratic restriction of participation by citizens, communities, professionals and First Nations either by rejecting them outright or failing to provide adequate funding to facilitate meaningful participation.
… The National Energy Board is not fulfilling its obligation to review the Trans Mountain Expansion Project objectively. Accordingly it is not only British Columbians, but all Canadians that cannot look to the Board’s conclusions as relevant as to whether or not this project deserves a social license. Continued involvement in the process endorses this sham and is not in the public interest. [Emphasis added] [/quote]
A waste of taxpayers’ money
These hearings, whether on the grand scale of the National Energy Board, or merely a smaller environmental assessment of an IPP, are hugely expensive. Many involve travel across the country, staying in the best hotels, sipping the best, and by the end of the day stacking up a substantial tab for you and me to pay every April 30.
No one, least of all I, would object if this process were actually evaluating these projects and making recommendations based upon full and proper hearings with natural justice for all – the “judges” being totally independent of any of the parties involved and noted for giving unbiased advice to the government.
The reality is the opposite. Almost unknown for turning down anything from industry or ruling in favour of intervenors even on minor matters, the results of their deliberations are easily foretold and, in fact, relied upon by both government and industry.
A foregone conclusion
It was instructive to note that when Premier Clark recently made another of her absurd press announcements on LNG, the federal minister for energy, James Moore, had to correct himself after he had – with fulsome support resembling that of a suitor of the seductively smiling premier – suddenly had a flash of awkward memory as he mumbled, “Oh yes, there is an environmental process to go through yet”.
This should not be overlooked. The applicant companies don’t stop their planning or construction pending the outcome of these hearings – why would they when they’re foregone conclusions? The only thing to worry about are the likes of the courageous citizens of Burnaby and their gutsy mayor, Derek Corrigan.
Our leaders can no longer be trusted
All of the foregoing is tied into the phenomenon of this century, namely that those, in the words of the Anglican church, “set in authority over us”, can no longer be trusted for even so much as a word of truth if the contrary suits them better. I can tell you that, at the risk of appearing a cynic, when I hear a politician or an industrialist make pronouncements on anything whatsoever, I don’t believe a single word and I believe that experience proves my skepticism fully justified.
Why not?
Let’s get back to the beginning.
Why not abolish the whole bloody business? Let’s rid ourselves this wasted outlay of money. It’s rather like the poor citizens of the late Soviet Union having to pay for their court system and it’s a plethora of “show trials”.
Won’t this leave us without any environmental protection?
If so, what’s changed?
Is it a better to have a fake process and an environmental travesty or to have the same result without having to go through the humiliation?
The reality is that we ought to have a proper system. In this country, however, where the far right rules, you would have to be smoking something questionable to think that that would ever happen.
At the end of the day (my favourite cliché I might say), it will be up to the public and environmentalists – which these days are almost one and the same thing – to expose the dangers posed by the undertakings proposed by those who couldn’t care less about the environmental consequences and, in order to put money in their own pockets in great gobs, pretend that they’re only doing it for the greater good of the public and that we should all be eternally grateful.
Premier Christy Clark announcing…the same thing she’s announced many times before (BC Government)
For all the fanfare of yesterday’s press conference, you’d think Premier Christy Clark would have some big, new development to announce for her much-vaunted but yet-to-be-built LNG industry. Sorry folks, nothing to see here.
All Clark had to offer was warmed up leftovers from the umpteen previous press conferences, media advisories and political speeches she’s been making for the past several years. Still no final investment decision from Malaysian energy giant Petronas – only “the beginning of the company’s final decision path toward an investment decision”, whatever the heck that means. The “path” to any real bucks being forked out by a single one of the 18 companies and global consortia proposing LNG plants is proving to be a long and winding road.
Are we there yet?
For years now, we’ve watched the likes of Chevron and Petronas punt their promised final investment decisions to next quarter, next year, some vaguely defined point in the future – while many others have outright fallen by the wayside (BG Group, Apache, Encana, EOG to name a few). But we never seem to get there.
Petronas CEO Shamsul Abbas lecturing BC at last year’s LNG conference (Damien Gillis)
In her press conference yesterday, Clark boasted that the “memorandum of understanding” with Petronas locks in low royalty and tax rates for years to come. This is supposed to be good news for the people of BC?
As I noted back when Petronas CEO Shamsul Abbas took the stage at a glitzy, taxpayer-funded BC LNG conference last year – to lecture us about not “killing the goose that lays the golden egg” – if these are the only terms under which the likes of Petronas will come set up shop here, then we don’t need them. It’s as if they’re saying, “Cut your public benefits and environmental standards to zero, or we’ll take our ball and go home.” Well, take your bloody ball and go home then.
That’s what yesterday’s announcement was really about: quelling investor fears over the very public face plant that was the failed Lax Kw’alaams deal. Except that Clark has nothing meaningful or new to offer. And she’s panicking now. After all the big promises of a $100 Billion “Prosperity Fund” in the last election – the thing that vaulted her past the NDP, long favoured in the polls – even she now must realize that it’s time to put up or shut up (well, we can dream on the latter)
In fact, about only way the Petronases of the world can hope to see a profit from BC LNG is by picking your and my pockets. The only way this industry makes sense is with huge, unbilled environmental externalities and massive taxpayer subsidies.
Tahltan First Nations and supporters peacefully occupying a Fortune Minerals drill (Beyond Boarding)
Recent events in Canada have shown not only that change is possible, but that people won’t stand for having corporate interests put before their own.
When plummeting oil prices late last year threw Alberta into financial crisis, people rightly asked, “Where’s the money?” They could see that an oil producer like Norway was able to weather the price drop thanks to forward planning, higher costs to industry to exploit resources and an oil fund worth close to $1 trillion! Leading up to the election, the government that ran Alberta for 44 years refused to consider raising industry taxes or reviewing royalty rates, instead offering a budget with new taxes, fees and levies for citizens, along with service cuts.
Alberta does the unthinkable
The people of Alberta then did what was once thought impossible: they gave the NDP a strong majority. Almost half the NDP members elected were women, giving Alberta the highest percentage of women ever in a Canadian provincial or federal government.
PEI follows suit
On the other side of the country, voters in Prince Edward Island followed B.C. provincially and Canada federally and elected their first Green Party member, as well as Canada’s second openly gay premier. Remember, homosexuality was illegal in Canada until 1969!
Tahltan beat back coal mines
In my home province, after a long struggle by elders and families of the Tahltan Klabona Keepers, the B.C. government bought 61 coal licences from Fortune Minerals and Posco Canada in the Klappan and Sacred Headwaters, putting a halt to controversial development in an ecologically and culturally significant area that is home to the Tahltan people and forms the headwaters of the Skeena, Stikine and Nass rivers. The Tahltan and the province have agreed to work on a long-term management plan for the area.
Lax Kw’alaams turn down a billion dollars for LNG
On the same night as Alberta’s election, people of the Lax Kw’alaams band of the Tsimshian First Nation met to consider an offer by Malaysian state-owned energy company Petronas of $1 billion over 40 years to build a liquefied natural gas export terminal on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert, at the other end of the Skeena River, an estuary that provides crucial habitat for salmon and other life. The 181 people attending unanimously opposed the offer. Two nights later in Prince Rupert, band members also stood unanimously against the proposal.
The message is clear: integrity, the environment and human health are more important than money. Gerald Amos, a Haisla First Nation member and community relations director for the Headwaters Initiative, said the federal Prince Rupert Port Authority’s decision to locate the facility on Lelu Island also demonstrated a failure to properly consult with First Nations. “By the time they get around to consulting with us, the boat’s already built and they just want to know what colour to paint it,” he said.
Koch acknowledges climate change
On a broader scale, change is occurring around the serious threat of climate change. Even well-known deniers, including U.S. oil billionaire Charles Koch, now admit climate change is real and caused in part by CO2 emissions. But they argue it isn’t and won’t be dangerous, so we shouldn’t worry. Most people are smart enough to see through their constantly changing, anti-science, pro-fossil-fuel propaganda, though, and are demanding government and industry action.
The BC Liberal government and LNG industry suffered a blow this week with a final losing vote amongst Lax Kw’alaams Band members over a billion-dollar package offered to support Petronas’ Pacific NorthWest LNG plant near Prince Rupert.
At the same time, a much smaller, quieter deal was being signed by the elected leadership of the Lake Babine Nation, pertaining to the pipeline that would feed the coastal plant – the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line. On the table in this “Project Agreement” between the 2,440-member band and pipeline contractor TransCanada was a comparatively paltry $3.56 million, plus a piece of a $10 million a year revenue sharing deal to be split amongst a number of First Nations along the pipeline route if it becomes operational.
According to the Prince George Citizen, the upfront sum of $3.56 million will be issued in the following phases:
[quote]When the agreement takes effect Lake Babine Nation will get $324,000, when construction begins they get $1.62 million, and then the same amount when the pipeline is in operation.[/quote]
A pretty big deal
Lake Babine members must be scratching their heads wondering how their leaders settled for so little, while the Lax Kw’alaams Band at the end of the pipeline turned down what has been touted as $1.15 Billion in benefits over 40 years, following a series of votes amongst its members over the past week. All three votes, including one held for off-reserve members in Vancouver last night, went down to defeat. Even the BC government, desperate to see at least one of its many embattled LNG projects go forth, threw in 2,200 hectares of Crown land in the region, pegged at a value of $108-million.
Yet all the money and land couldn’t outweigh members’ concerns over the impacts of the massive plant proposed for Lelu Island on Skeena River salmon. A causeway for ships to dock at the plant would disturb vital eelgrass habitat in the estuary at Flora Bank (pictured above), warn scientists and conservation groups. For this very reason, a smaller coal plant operation was rejected by the federal government decades ago, when stocks were admittedly far healthier than today.
The band’s high-profile rejection of the project is no doubt rippling through the Liberal Cabinet room today – yet another blow to the government’s one and only economic development policy. Yet many were quick to point out that the door is still open to PacificNorthwest LNG, despite this week’s setback.
Keeping the dream alive
There was lawyer David Austin – a longtime promoter of controversial energy projects in BC, including the government’s once-vaunted private river power scheme – ready to toss aside First Nations’ rights before the final votes had even been cast. The Canadian Press paraphrased his comments as follows:
[quote]Lelu Island is Crown land managed by the Prince Rupert Port Authority, which means the province technically has the authority to push ahead without support from the Lax Kw’alaams.
Even if the band proves it has aboriginal title — which would require proving it has had exclusive occupancy of the territory — Supreme Court precedent gives the province the right to override that claim.[/quote]
Premier Clark also vowed that an agreement would yet be reached with the band and even Lax Kw’alaams’ councillors suggested they were still open to a deal on the project, so long as it avoided the contentious salmon habitat in Flora Bank. “Lax Kw’alaams is open to business, to development and to LNG,” including this particular project, a statement noted.
Meanwhile, agreements like the one signed by Lake Babine show that there are many more moves to be played out in this chess game. TransCanada boasts similarly vague agreements over the pipeline with the Nisga’a Lisims Government, Gitanyow First Nation and Kitselas First Nation.
And according to CP:
[quote]The B.C. government said it has reached 54 pipeline-benefits agreements with 28 First Nations across the province. Of the 59 First Nations along the natural-gas pipeline ending at Lelu Island only five have publicly announced signing agreements with the government.[/quote]
So the battle over Petronas’ LNG plant is far from over, yet with all the rhetoric and lack of real progress on the project, it’s starting to seem like it’s less about natural gas than hot air.
Except briefly, let’s avoid environmental questions about Woodfibre LNG for today and concentrate on fiscal matters.
Even if Woodfibre LNG was an environmental bonus to Howe Sound and the surrounding communities; even if it was clean as a whistle, its plant and accoutrements safe as a church, and the tanker traffic absolutely guaranteed by God to cause no accidents, the case against having this plant would be open and shut.
Up against this shady, at best, Indonesian billionaire, we have Premier “Photo-Op” and her poodle, Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman, prancing around the world, hyping LNG, dealing way over their heads in what is, more and more each day, a losing proposition. They’re doing this because they’re politically committed and rather than simply say, “we were premature and excessive in our enthusiasm,” and lose face, they’re bluffing it through, at our expense (1st Class all the way), hoping like Mr. Macawber that “something will turn up.”
BC leaders in way over their heads
BC Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman
Here are the business qualifications of this pair.
Christy Clark, though she attended three universities, has no degree and no professional background, let alone so much as 24 hours experience in any business.
Before his election to the Legislature, Rich Coleman ran a real estate management and consulting company and is a retired policeman.
His Official Legislature biography utters not a peep about his work background, but says:
[quote]Before entering public life, Rich was governor of the BC Kinsmen, president of the Aldergrove Chamber of Commerce, Langley’s 1988 Volunteer of the Year, and a director on several volunteer boards. As a member of the Aldergrove Kinsmen Club in the 1980s, Rich oversaw the volunteer fundraising and construction efforts that built the Aldergrove Kinsmen Community Centre, a vital community facility which houses a preschool, library, workout area, and meeting space. The Club was also involved in building a successful housing project in Aldergrove. Rich is a life member of the Kinsmen.[/quote]
The premier and Mr. Coleman especially seem to have been fine citizens yet just how that qualifies them to deal with international corporate slime bags is quite another matter.
About said Slime Bags
Before getting into this, let’s have a quick look at Tanoto’s environmental record. Greenpeace calls him “Indonesia’s lead driver of rainforest destruction”. Tanoto doesn’t deny his gross, unwarranted destruction of rain forests but claims he has reformed.
Woodfibre LNG Vice-president Byng Giraud was, from 2010 until 2013, vice-president corporate affairs for Imperial Metals, owner of the Mount Polley mine which, in 2014, caused massive destruction in Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Cariboo Creek, the entire Quesnel and Cariboo river systems right up to the Fraser River.
When asked about Tanoto’s appalling environmental record, Mr. Giraud scarcely puts up a vigorous defence for his boss, stating:
[quote]When you come (to B.C.) you have to follow the rules, regulations and conditions imposed by our regulatory regime.[/quote]
Just as Tanoto’s companies do in Indonesia, presumably.
Tax evader extraordinaire
But what about his corporate reliability? Can we trust Tanoto to be responsible and meet his financial responsibilities?
Surely even to Clark and Coleman this is of huge importance and requires the highest degree of “due diligence”.
Let The Guardian, one of the most respected papers in the world, speak the evidence:
[quote]Giant Asian logging companies that make billions from destroying rainforests use a labyrinth of secret shell companies based in a UK overseas territory, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which operate as a tax haven, according to documents seen by the Observer. The 13 companies own millions of acres in Indonesia, provide much of the world’s palm oil, timber and paper, and use complex legal and financial structures to keep their tax liabilities low.
An unpublished two-year investigation by anti-corruption experts, and seen by the Observer, says Britain should launch a major investigation into the use of the BVI and other tax havens by “high-risk” sectors such as Indonesian forestry. This follows a court case in Jakarta in which one of the world’s largest palm oil companies, owned by billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, was fined US$205m after being shown to have evaded taxes by using shell companies in the BVI and elsewhere. The company has agreed to pay the fines.
Documents arising from the case show that Tanoto’s company, Asian Agri, systematically produced fake invoices and fake hedging contracts to evade more than $100m of taxes. [emphasis added][/quote]
When you see and read ads by their PR prevaricators about the huge advantages Woodfibre LNG will confer on British Columbia, you might just recall those words: “Documents arising from the case show that Tanoto’s company…systematically produced fake invoices and fake hedging contracts to evade more than $100m of taxes.”
Thus we might well wonder, “Will Tanoto leave behind, for our generosity, a penny of taxes or royalties or, more likely, will the money all somehow wind up in Singapore?”
Even a casual investigation of Tanoto’s modus vivendi discloses a pattern of moving money around his companies so as to avoid, if not evade tax – why wouldn’t he do the same with Woodfibre LNG?
Thinking like Tanoto
Indonesia’s Sukanto Tanoto – one slippery customer
This scenario is corporate child’s play.
Suppose Pacific Energy Corp., a Tanoto company, buys gas on the Alberta exchange (Woodfibre LNG has opened a Calgary office to do just that), then transfers it to Woodfibre LNG Export Pte. for just enough to cover Pacific’s Energy’s costs to Woodfibre – resulting in zero profits there. No problem – all the same owners.
Now, Woodfibre LNG Export Pte. has a deal with Woodfibre LNG Ltd. (WLNG) – the guys at Squamish – for the latter to liquefy the gas and store the LNG. That contract also sets a price that just covers WLNG’s costs. Result: No profits at WLNG, either.
With me so far?
Here’s where it’s “now you see it, now you don’t” – so do pay close attention!
Woodfibre LNG Export Pte. – a company which may be as insubstantial as a single trader at a desk anywhere – sells the LNG to an overseas firm for an annual profit of over $275 million (our Dr. Eoin Finn confirms this as a reasonable prognostication) in the hands of the Singaporean-registered (and domiciled) Woodfibre LNG Export Pte.
LNG sleight of hand
Now, watch the corporate fingers carefully!
Because of the Canada-Singapore tax treaty, which states that Singapore – not Canada – gets to tax this entity, no income taxes for any of this will be levied in Canada. Nor royalty taxes, which are levied at 3.5% on domestic profits, only after capital costs have been fully depreciated (by Woodfibre LNG Ltd., which will own the facility).
Now, folks, here’s where you act really surprised.
Singapore has a 10-year tax holiday for LNG firms!
If you listen carefully, wafting through the tropical palms, you can hear the soft refrain, “let me call you sweetheart…”
What’s in it for us?
So, back to the main question: will Tanoto and his corporate plaything, Woodfibre LNG Export Pte., leave anything behind in taxes or royalties for the considerable privilege of doing business here?
The answer is surely “not a chance”. Why the hell would he? What is there in his track record to make us believe that this time will be different and out of a spirit of corporate generosity he’s going to leave his money in Canada and pay every cent of the taxes and royalties owed?
Clockwise from top left: Teck’s Doug Horswill, Stewart Muir, former A-G Geoff Plant, and Lyn Anglin of Geoscience BC
Apart from welcoming an environmental pariah, we’re walking, eyes wide open, into a deal with a man who’s a convicted big-time tax evader, coming into a jurisdiction where tax evasion isn’t even difficult!
Joining this welcome are a former BC premier, two former attorneys-general, the elite of the business community and The BC Business Council, calling themselves “Resource Works”, spending money like drunks in a Cat House, dishing out half-truths at best to convince us plebes that they know what’s best for us.
And aren’t we so lucky also to have a business-oriented government, guided by Christy Clark and Rich Coleman, looking after our affairs?
Chinese solar company Suntech at the Bird’s Nest stadium
Despite Canada’s total lack of leadership in the green economy, a number of key global developments are grounds for optimism heading into the Paris UN conference on climate change.
Global emissions plateau in 2014
In a pleasant surprise for the planet at large, according to the International Energy Agency, global emissions reached a plateau in 2014.
Most importantly, this is not a onetime aberration, but rather an indication that the cumulative impacts of the growing numbers of measures to address climate change in China, Europe and the US are collectively bringing about transformative change. Other key nations such as Japan, India and Brazil have also begun a process that will engender a transformative migration to a green economy.
A case in point: in just 2014 China’s new installations of wind and solar capacity amounted to 34 gigawatts (GW – a billion watts) of new electrical generating capacity, bringing the total installed capacity of wind and solar energy in that country to 114.8 GW and 28 GW respectively. In other words, China’s new clean energy installations added in 2014 represent nearly 3 times BC Hydro’s entire installed capacity of 12 GW and more than 70% of the total electricity capacity of Hydro-Quebec, 46.3 GW – but China installed all of this new capacity in one year!
As to what all this means in terms of jobs, China has staggering employment numbers for 2014 in its solar PV and wind energy sectors, 1.58 million and 356,000 jobs respectively!
Wind and solar projections boosted
And China promises to do even better in 2015. So optimistic is China on accelerating the pace of new installations of renewables that its National Energy Administration has raised its target for new solar installations in 2015 to 17.8 GW, up from the original target of 15 GW.
Projections for China’s new wind installations in 2015 are such that as much as 20 GW of capacity may be added.
That said, there may be caveat to China’s impressive clean energy projections in that it is not sure if past trends will continue with respect to increases in transmission capacity, lagging behind new wind and solar farm developments.
It is conceivable that India will exceed its targets as clean energy companies have spoken of total commitments of 266 GW of new renewable installations by 2022.
Equally impressive is that the aforementioned goals of India will bring jobs and electricity to regions that either have no electricity or unreliable/unsteady electricity supplies. It is estimated that the solar and wind targets will generate one million and 183,000 jobs respectively, thereby providing boosts to impoverished communities by addressing energy and job deficits concurrently. To-date, approximately 70,000 jobs are attributable to the country’s solar and wind sectors.
Japan: Post-Fukushima
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s post-Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear crisis, which led to the shutting down of 54 nuclear plants and the scrapping of plans to build 14 new nuclear facilities, initially meant a spike in fossil fuel imports, but this was followed by a boom in the renewables sector – supported by the central government.
US #2 on Green Economy, despite Republicans
President Obama visits Copper Mountain solar plant (Photo: Sempra U.S. Gas & Power)
As for the US, one may be inclined to conclude that the Republicans have put a damper on the progress of non-hydro renewables – yet 47% of new electrical power capacity added in 2014 came from non-hydro renewables. Republicans haven’t succeeded in stopping the Obama administration from doing what it can within existing constraints.
Firstly, there is the question of what contributed to the US having become the world’s number two investor in the green economy after China. The answer begins with the 2009 to 2011 period, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – when the US government laid the foundations for a green economy with a $70 Billion investment.
By contrast, Canadian green tech innovators and manufacturers face an unfavourably uneven playing field for participation in the high-growth, high-job creation, competitive global green economy – by virtue of the near total absence of Government of Canada support.
Now, what is new is that private banks are getting into the act, supporting the green economy with dedicated funds. Barclay’s, Bank of America Merril Lynch and Citi Bank are among the new private sector players.
Consequently, with this increasing convergence of public and private banks on green investments, it is estimated that together they willissue $100 billion in green bonds in 2015.
Clean Transportation: California and China lead the way
A solar ev charging station in San Francisco
According to a UBS study, by 2020, customer-side renewable energy production (e.g. solar roof panels), energy storage and electric vehicle charging station technologies – combined with an electric vehicle in the driveway – would offer consumers a 7% return every year with a 6 to 8 year capital payback. The payback would be greater in jurisdictions such as California, which now offers incentives for energy consumers to install combinations of these technologies on their respective properties.
For California and China, the future for zero and low emission vehicles has already arrived. Each has a long list of policies, including aggressive eco-vehicle government procurement targets, subsidies for consumers, support for manufacturing/innovation, generous funding for electric vehicle charging stations all across these jurisdictions and requirements for new/recent buildings to be designed to accommodate ev charging stations.
Meanwhile, in 2016, the new US corporate average fuel economy standards will kick in, requiring that each manufacturer present in the US market achieve an average of 6.2L/100km based on cars sold in that year and 8.2L/100km for trucks. These standards, which are identical in Canada, get incrementally more stringent, reaching a mandatory average of 4.3L/100km for cars by 2025.
However, while these US vehicle standards constitute progress, appearances are somewhat deceiving for two reasons. First, the new standards will allow for the skewing of corporate average fuel economy results by leaving wiggle room in the form of fuel economy by category/size of vehicles sold (based on wheelbase length and track width). Second, the standards include higher consumption allowances for SUVs, considered to be trucks. Together, these factors could translate into higher average consumption/vehicles sold by a given manufacturer than the above-mentioned targets suggest.
The collapse of the Big Oil business model
A Pennsylvania fracking operation
While the cumulative impacts of the climate action measures are the backdrop for the International Energy Agency numbers on the plateau in GHG emission levels in 2014, another game-changing phenomenon is also occurring: the collapse of the business model of the oil industry.
This model is based on: 1) demand for fossil fuels continuing to climb; 2) oil prices remaining high enough to justify continued investments in expensive-to-extract unconventional sources such as the tar sands, offshore and shale sources; 3) high oil prices justifying the pumping out of greater volumes of conventional oil to further increase profits; and 4) the growing concern about climate change failing to affect the bottom line.
Until recently, this business model worked like a charm, with Exxon earning $32.6B in 2013, more than any company other than Apple. Well as it turns out, all of the above elements of the business model have hit a wall.
Demand not Rising at the Expected Pace
Not only do China, the US, the EU and India have policies which are lessening the current dependence on fossil fuels, but they all also have policies that will increasingly reduce this dependence. As indicated above, even India, once thought to be a major vector for increased demand in fossil fuels, has targets to change the economic/energy/job paradigm in favour of locally-produced renewable energy.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, 2015 global oil demand had originally been projected to be 103.2 million barrels/day, but this number has been adjusted to 93.1 million barrels/day, thereby undermining the viability of unconventional investments. True, economic slowdowns are also affecting demand, but the shift to clean energy and eventually clean transportation can only increase with time.
Evidently, global actions on climate change are starting to have an impact on Big Oil’s bottom line.
Low oil prices lead to stranded assets, dangerous debt
It now appears that the price of oil might not rise for a long time to come. Low prices cannot sustain the development of tar sands, shale and offshore oil.
This is translating into dangerously high debt loads, with assets being written off in the billions, thus generating a cascade of announcements of abandoned projects around the globe, putting tar sands projects on hold and pushing shale gas companies into bankruptcy.The US shale gas and oil sector now has accumulated a debt of $200B!
By Lorne Craig
How long can this last?
As for the Big Oil premise that concern about climate change would not translate into social change, it requires an extraordinary amount of denial to ignore the emerging paradigm change entailing: 1) the decline in growth of fossil fuels; and 2) political trends favouring more stringent policies in support of the green economy.
Collectively, these factors offer grounds for optimism and hope. And the evidence presented here is only the the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, there are now more than 100 countries that have adopted a target for 2050 to achieve zero net GHG emissions.
Meanwhile, back home, Trudeau and Harper remain wedded to the resource-based export economy, with trade deals to support this dated economic development paradigm. This while our potential customers for increased resource exports are working hard on reducing their fossil fuel dependencies.
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice meets with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard to salvage the proposed EnergyEast pipeline.
On the provincial front, Ontario and Quebec’s participation in the cap and trade (C&T) Western Climate Initiative (WCI), along with California, is helpful, but is also purposely a smoke screen. This is to say that these standalone measures are equivalent to suggesting that one can end poverty with a single policy item. The same can be said of BC’s carbon tax.
In effect, what both BC and Quebec have in common is that their current governments are committed to a resource economy, and are totally indifferent to and/or ignorant of the green economy model. Yet, on a global scale, the green economy is currently, and will be, offering the best economic development strategies of our time, as measured in both jobs and economic growth.
To this effect, Quebec is cutting all the environmental impact corners and investing large sums of public funds to sort out the potential of – and requirements for – the development and commercialization of shale gas and oil, plus offshore oil. This despite the aforementioned $200 billion in debt of the US shale sector and, more generally, the demise of the Big Oil business model.
Quite the contrast with the third C&T participant, California, with its hefty sets of policy packages to migrate California to a green economy. Even a partial list of the state’s policies on zero-emission vehicles is incredibly long!
On the side of the LNG plant is all the money, the company itself and its crooked multi-billionaire owner, the federal government, the provincial government, the LNG lobby, the fossil fuel industry, the tanker industry, the corporate media, and the right wing in general. Shilling for Woodfibre LNG, as readers will know, is an outfit called Resource Works, funded in part by the BC Business Council and, one suspects, Woodfibre LNG itself – although that’s not been admitted or proved.
Incidentally, Woodfibre LNG and Woodfibre Natural Gas are the same company.
David a good match for Goliath
Citizens line the Sea to Sky Highway to protest Woodfibre LNG (My Sea to Sky)
One would think that the forces against us who are fighting this battle to save Howe Sound are such that we should throw up our hands in surrender and be good little boys and girls and obey our “betters”.
Au contraire – the odds are perfect because we have two allies who are invincible, the Citizens and the Truth.
Because we have the facts, telling the truth comes easy to us.
For the same reason, it is impossible for Woodfibre LNG, its acolytes and apologists to do the same. Their streams of half-truths and untruths come naturally, such that they no longer recognize truth from fiction. They also carry with them the conviction of missionaries that what they are doing is God’s work thus is good for the people.
Do I exaggerate?
Woodfibre’s spin machine
Let’s take a look at the credibility issue from several points of view.
Woodfibre LNG, has two PR agencies, one of which is Hill and Knowlton, one of the worlds largest. Here are a couple of their business adventures over the last few years.
A number of the firm’s clients over its history have been involved in most unsavoury practices. These include:
The tobacco industry in the 1950s and 1960s
The Bank of Credit and Commerce International from 1988–90 (about which Time Magazine said, “Nothing in the history of modern financial scandals rivals the unfolding saga of the Bank of Credit & Commerce International (B.C.C.I.), the $20 billion rogue empire that regulators in 62 countries shut down early this month (July 1991) in a stunning global sweep. Never has a single scandal involved so much money, so many nations or so many prominent people”)
The Government of Kuwait in the lead up to the Gulf War
The Church of Scientology from 1987–1991.
The company has also been famous for polishing the image of governments seeking to hide their human rights violations such as Indonesia, Turkey, Maldives, and Uganda.
Hill an Knowlton is one of a number of firms engaged by fracking interests in recent years.
When our governments are called upon to approve applications of Woodfibre LNG and the public to support them, we’re asked to rely upon carefully prepared words. I know from personal experience that the likes of Hill and Knowlton ensure that every public word their client speaks has been carefully laundered and approved. Any resemblance to the truth is strictly coincidental.
How confident are you, under these circumstances, that you’re getting any truth, let alone the whole truth, when you hear from Woodfibre LNG’s president Anthony Gelotti, who has worked in the development of LNG projects all over the world for Chevron, Shell North America, Enron and Mobil?
How about your confidence in the veracity of Woodfibre LNG’s vice president and constant spokesman – about whom more in a moment – Byng Giraud?
Woodfibre VP oversaw regulatory affairs for Mount Polley
Giraud joined Woodfibre Natural Gas Limited in April 2013 and this may interest you – immediately before was vice-president corporate affairs for Imperial Metals, owner of the Mount Polley mine which, in 2014, caused massive destruction in Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Cariboo Creek, and the entire Quesnel and Cariboo river systems right up to the Fraser River. As vice-president, Giraud was responsible for regulatory affairs and communication with regulators.
Woodfibre flacks lie to lobbying commissioner
Woodfibre LNG also uses a Canadian PR firm, Global Affairs Inc.
Now hear this!
In order to lobby the federal government, each of them was required to register with The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, pledging that their clients are essentially independent of any control from outsiders. Needless to say, they are expected to be truthful.
Here’s what they did:
First, Hill and Knowlton Strategies’ lobbyists Mark Cameron and Ryan Kelahear – in both their client information segments – state that their client “is not a subsidiary of any other parent companies” and that “The activities of Woodfibre Natural Gas Limited are not controlled or directed by another person or organization with a direct interest in the outcome of this undertaking”.
Meanwhile, Global Public Affairs Inc. lobbyists Katherine Preiss and Dan Seekings gave precisely the same undertakings to the Commission.
These are, to put it bluntly, barefaced lies.
Here is the truth – Woodfibre LNG, the proponent of the Squamish project, is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Pacific Oil & Gas Limited, part of the Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle group.
Royal Golden Eagle was founded, is owned and controlled by Sukanto Tanoto, a business tycoon with a personal wealth estimated at $2.3 billion US; he is considered one of the richest men in Indonesia.
Indonesian billionaire’s long record of fraud, eco-crimes
But does this really matter? Aren’t these just pieces of paper that the bureaucracy loves to have and tuck away in some obscure spot?
The answer to that is an unequivocal YES it matters a great deal! This information is of vital importance and here is a good example of why – here’s the actual track record of Sukanto Tanoto the PR companies are obviously trying to bury.
As owner of Indonesia’s Unibank, he borrowed heavily and then managed to avoid repayment of $442 million US to customers.
Animal lovers accuse Tanoto’s palm oil enterprise of causing orangutan deaths on a large scale and destruction of the habitat of the Sumatran tiger.
His critics, including Greenpeace, call Tanoto “Indonesia’s lead driver of rainforest destruction.” His companies and contractors routinely violate local laws and illegally expand palm and pulp and paper production into rainforests, national parks and community lands.
In 1988, a rupture occurred in an aeration lagoon at Indorayon, a pulp and paper mill owned by a subsidiary of Tanoto’s RGE, sending raw chemical waste into a river from which several villages drew their water.
Five years later, a boiler exploded, showering the countryside with chlorine and other chemicals. Thousands of people fled. Clearly there were alternatives to chlorine, but they would have made the production process more expensive.
Mr. Tanoto’s companies have a poor record of complying with government regulations.
These allegations, unchallenged by Mr. Tanoto, have been made in first class newspapers, including the Guardian and a summary of them appeared on these pages in an article I wrote some months ago.
Is this kind of neighbour Squamish wants?
This is the man upon whose reputation and credibility Woodfibre LNG depends when they come to our governments, and to us as citizens, and promise that they will obey our laws, not cheat on taxes, and be good corporate citizens – especially when it comes to our environment?
How do you feel about believing Mr. Tanoto, his employees and their public relations companies?
Squamish resident and My Sea to Sky co-founder Tracey Saxby put it this way:
[quote]We need to ask whether Tanoto is who we want to welcome to Squamish as our new neighbour. You have to question as well, when you have somebody who doesn’t necessarily have the same ethics or morals you’d like to see in a good neighbour, how does that filter down in the company that he owns? It really comes down to a question of trust and do we trust that Woodfibre LNG is going to do the right thing. And I think the answer to that is that most people don’t.[/quote]
Industry lobby uses deception, fakes interview
Let me now to take you back to recent articles I wrote here about Resource Works and their averment that that tanker traffic in Howe Sound was confirmed safe by Dr. Michael Hightower of Albuquerque New Mexico. In fact, this was a distorted statement from a phoney interview that was conducted by Resource Works. A sham!
When, after the so-called interview, Dr. Eoin Finn talked to Dr. Hightower it became quite clear that he was not referring to Howe Sound. Moreover, and this would be funny if it weren’t so serious, when you actually use Dr. Hightower’s calculations, there is absolutely no way tanker traffic in Howe Sound could be considered safe. This is more than confirmed by the fact that less conservative scientists than Dr. Hightower have set standards by which the safety boundaries actually go up on top of the Sea-To-Sky Highway!
[quote]I believe it is also important to clarify that LNG shipping is important to clarify that LNG shipping is extremely safe. LNG has been shipped around the world for 50 years, and there has never been any recorded loss of containment from an LNG carrier at sea. (Emphasis mine – RM)[/quote]
Here are the facts with respect to tankers in Howe Sound, where you may recall, Woodfibre LNG proposes to send its tankers – not LNG tankers at sea.
Minimum Safe Separation
Sandia International laboratories has defined for the US Department of Energy three hazard zones of 500m, 1600m, and 3500m surrounding LNG tankers. The largest, a circle of 3500m radius centred on the moving ship, represents the minimum safe separation between tankers and people. Other LNG hazard experts say at least 4800m is a more realistic minimum safe separation distance.
Channels too narrow
Courtesy of Eoin Finn – Click to enlarge
Almost nowhere in Howe Sound can a ship in mid-channel be more than 1600m from shore. North of Britannia Beach, the Sound is only about 2700m wide. The 3 possible outbound routes from there to the Salish Sea (one east and two west of Bowen) contain another 14 choke points, where the average width is reduced to just 1850m. Thus the Sandia 3500m minimum safety zone extends more than 2 kilometres beyond each side of all those channels. Virtually the entire Sea to Sky Highway from Britannia down to Lighthouse Park, Anvil, Bowyer, Bowen, eastern Gambier, most of Keats, and the Pasley Islands group, – representing many thousands of people – all lie well within the 3500m zone.
Dr. Finn and Commander Sweeny have interpreted these findings with overlays on charts of Howe Sound and the evidence is solid and final. The proposed Woodfibre LNG tanker route falls well inside these conservative limits.
You can see, I trust, why credibility matters so much.
When Mr. Giraud speaks of “LNG tankers at sea” it’s no slip of the tongue but a very deliberate misstatement. He wants you to think that that safety record includes narrow channels like Howe Sound and it clearly does nothing of the sort.
Opponents not going away
I leave you with this thought:
The Howe Sound Action Committee and the various organizations and citizens that are dedicated to fighting the Squamish LNG proposal realize that all of the money and the power is against us.
We also know that we have two things going for us – the citizens and the facts, and this gives us credibility.
On the other hand, Woodfibre LNG’s “case” is built on falsehood, starting with the question as to who they really are, and half-truths which will always come out and cannot stand the most cursory examination.
Howe Sound is not just the fight of those who live along its shores. This is a gem of nature, possessed by all British Columbians; we must, all of us, take up the cudgels and fight those who would destroy this fantastic natural asset that belongs to all 4 million-plus of us.
We who fight have been underestimated. Woodfibre has underestimated us, the governments have underestimated us, the mainstream media has underestimated us.
That will prove to be a very serious mistake. Let it be clearly understood that we intend to fight to the end and we accept that civil disobedience on a large scale will be required.
A cleanup crew works on Third Beach following the recent English Bay oil spill
I say three cheers for Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver.
The verbal assault by the Premier on the federal government was more than justified by recent events and just happens to be a move that is always popular amongst many British Columbians, frankly including me, whenever Ottawa behaves like Ottawa – which is most of the time.
The recent oil spill in English Bay is, as has been said by so many, a wake up call. In fact, however, there are many people like Dr. Eoin Finn, who didn’t need that wake-up call and have said for a long time that sooner or later an accident like this was going to happen. As sure as the penny will turn up heads sometime, there will be next one and it could be infinitely worse.
Federal cuts mean increased risk to coast
Before we get to the future let’s just take a look at the present. The prime minister of the country immediately defends his cuts in funding and acts as if this spill really is of very little consequence. His gauleiter in BC, James Moore, a lump of arrogance in a three-piece suit, actually opined that the response to this spill was just peachy.
The Member of Parliament most concerned about the future of oil spills is the one for my constituency, John Weston since his constituency includes Howe Sound and Squamish. It is through Howe Sound that the powers that be, including the two senior governments and the entire fossil fuel “establishment”, want to run LNG tankers to English Bay for refuelling!
LNG tankers are risky business
Let me pause here to say that opposition to these tankers is not based on some dreams concocted by airy fairy environmentalists, munching nuts and chewing raisins. Thanks to the work of Dr. Finn and Cmdr. Roger Sweeny (RCN Ret.), we know that even the most conservative expert evidence, that of Dr Michael Hightower of New Mexico, and several other experts, is such that Howe Sound is utterly unsuitable for LNG tanker traffic. In fact, the boast of the tanker industry of a safe record with LNG, while fundamentally true, overlooks the fact that this is because tankers don’t go into dangerous places like Howe Sound.
MP Weston wrong to defend tankers, LNG
Getting back to Mr. Weston, this issue should demonstrate, as if a demonstration were necessary, that the political system in this country simply doesn’t work. Here we have the Member of Parliament for an area which is largely up in arms at the thought of an LNG plant in Squamish, not only supporting that plant at every turn – berating at the West Vancouver Council for being opposed – but now struck dumb by an oil spill which demonstrates the huge dangers posed by this LNG plant he so loyally and stubbornly supports.
Surely to God this question must be raised by all reasonable people, no matter how they feel about LNG plants or tankers:
[quote]Why hasn’t John Weston been asking questions in the House about the cleanup capability in BC long before now?
Why isn’t he raising hell about this oil spill?[/quote]
Everyone knows that clean-up capability been under-funded by his government yet not a peep out of the man sent to Ottawa to represent our concerns.
Now that we have this huge wake up call, Mr. Weston is totally unconcerned for one very plain reason – he must be loyal to the government and its policies, however damaging they may be to his constituency. How else can he get that coveted cabinet post?
Surprisingly, Clark deserves some credit
I am certainly no fan of the premier or her government but am compelled to say that she has shown, in the clutch, the kind of leadership British Columbians expect when, as usual, Ottawa indifference is raising havoc in this faraway nuisance it couldn’t care less about.
Anyone who wishes to criticize the premier for her immediate and strong reaction should ask themselves this: If the premier doesn’t stand up for the people of British Columbia who will?
It sure as hell won’t be the likes of the Honourable James Moore or government backbencher John Weston.
Ocean pollution specialist Dr. Peter Ross displays an oily substance from English Bay (Vancouver Aquarium)
The following is an open letter by Ben West of the group Tanker Free BC to Christy Clark.
Dear Premier Clark,
In a 2013 interview with Peter Mansbridge, you discussed Canada’s inability to handle a major coastal oil spill now, let alone in the future should new pipelines be approved. “We are woefully under-resourced,” you said.
In that same year your government rejected the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and tanker project in part because of concerns around oil spills. “British Columbia thoroughly reviewed all of the evidence and submissions made to the panel and asked substantive questions about the project including its route, spill response capacity and financial structure to handle any incidents,” said then B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake in a May 31 media release. “Our questions were not satisfactorily answered during these hearings.”
On April 9th, 2015 a oil spill took place in the Vancouver Harbour. City of Vancouver staff were not even informed until the next morning and later that day it was revealed that 6 hours went by before booms were put in place. Oil has washed up on the beaches of Stanley Park, Jericho Beach and Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver among other places. No signs were put up on beaches to warn residents and visitors. At this time it is still unknown exactly how much oil was spilled or even by whom. The apparent lack of coordination seems to prove your point from 2013, we clearly are “woefully unprepared”.
To make things worse we now know that the recently closed Kitsilano Coast Guard station could have had booms in the water within six minutes, as opposed to six hours. Next month the Vancouver Coast Guard MCTS centre that regulates shipping movements in Vancouver Harbour is scheduled to close. These are our marine traffic controllers?!?
There are also plans to close the Regional Marine Information Centre (RMIC).The RMIC notifies responders, government agencies such as Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Environmental Response and others so a proper response can be mobilized.
The Harper Conservatives will CLOSE this notification centre on May 6, 2015 as part of the larger cuts to the west coast marine safety network. The Coast Guard will also cease providing anchorage assistance to ships, including tankers when the MCTS centre closes and moved to Victoria next month. This is strongly opposed by BC Coast Pilots and Port Metro Vancouver.
Ottawa hasn’t developed or implemented any replacement system for the dissemination of these pollution reports.
Yet your government continues to allow the Harper Government to call the shots when it comes to decisions about pipelines that would lead to massive increases in tanker and other vessel traffic in BC.
Please make this oil spill incident in our harbour the last straw. Please do as municipal leaders from across the province have requested via a resolution at the Union of BC Municipalities and withdraw BC from the National Energy Boards process regarding the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline project. And please formally withdraw from the “equivalency agreement” with the Federal Government that puts the environmental assessment and public consultation process under their control.
These are clearly not world class safety standards. Please stand up for the BC coast and do not allow the discussion of increased tanker traffic to continue until the current safety issues are addressed.
Christy Clark promotes “Clean LNG” at Vancouver conference last year (David P. Ball/The Tyee)
The Vancouver Sun – rapidly becoming, if it hasn’t already become the “Pravda” of Vancouver – has done it again with another article supporting LNG and the proposed Squamish plant. This one is by a father and daughter combination and they come to what to me, at any rate, is an amazing conclusion.
LNG would help the climate? Puh-leeze!
If you just read the headline you would assume that this story has British Columbia saving the world from atmospheric pollution and global warming if it just starts to produce more natural gas. If you work your way through the article – and it’s pretty crappy – you’ll see that their point is that natural gas is not as bad as coal or oil. They conclude by suggesting that it would be a very good thing if British Columbia would produce more LNG and, of course, built an LNG facility in Squamish.
Here is the reasoning as I understand it:
If BC “fracks” away, pollutes the ground and the water around it, uses water that is needed elsewhere, dumps chemical-laden water into the water table, further pollutes the air by extracting the natural gas and releasing massively climate-damaging fugitive methane emissions, pipes it dangerously to Squamish, uses enormous amounts of energy to convert it to LNG, then puts it on tankers which by the most conservative estimates will cause great risk to Howe Sound; it’s then taken to, say, China, and is burned causing more pollution into the atmosphere – that this is a very good thing that British Columbia is doing to save the atmosphere and lessen global warming. Hooray for us!
If on the other hand, we leave it in the ground, that would be a very bad thing for the environment. Like, Wow!
Does anybody believe this stuff?
I’m quite happy to have the Podtmedia papers falling all over themselves to kiss Harper and Clark’s backsides and support their undying love for fossil fuels in all forms – the reason being that nobody believes these papers anymore, so shrill have they become. They seem not only unwilling but unable to present the other side of the story and so far as I am aware don’t even report the extremely active goings-on of those who oppose LNG and the Squamish facility.
Sometimes it takes a while but eventually people notice this. They know that there are an awful lot of very intelligent people, not all of the left, who are opposed to LNG generally and the Squamish facility specifically and that that number is growing. When they don’t see that mentioned in either of the Vancouver papers, they conclude that the Vancouver papers are stuck in a right-wing time warp.
Harcourt joins Team LNG
I’ve always felt that in political debates it’s more important as to who your enemies are than your friends. To have Postmedia as an enemy is infinitely better than having them as a friend.
The same can be said for Mike Harcourt, who has jumped into the fray on behalf of Woodfibre LNG and their ventriloquist dummy, Resource Works. This latter organization has poured out such atrocious untruths that they have instantly become, at least in the Sea-to-Sky and Squamish communities, utterly unbelievable.
Mr. Harcourt, who was a mediocrity as mayor of Vancouver and an utter failure as Premier – his inability to run a government destroying his political party in the bargain – is talking a lot of nonsense about rigorous environmental proceedings and public process.
It is amazing to me that people like Harcourt still believe that if you tell a big enough fib, people will believe it. That may have been true at one time but it’s not anymore.
There is one area of inquiry that Postmedia, Mr. Harcourt, the governments and fossil fuel proponents have avoided like the plague, and it’s critically important.
LNG tanker risks ignored
As has appeared in these pages several times, LNG tanker traffic in Howe Sound is far too dangerous to even contemplate. The most conservative of the American experts is Dr. Mike Hightower of Albuquerque, New Mexico, whose standards have been accepted by the US government.
Taking his measurements as to how far tankers must be from land and from other vessels, there is no way in God’s green earth that Howe Sound is suitable for LNG tanker traffic. Dr. Hightower is considered very conservative in this area and the middle-of-the-road expertise suggests it’s far more dangerous.
Surely we must all ask ourselves why this issue has not been thoroughly canvassed Postmedia, Resource Works, senior governments, Mike Harcourt, and others. What are they afraid of?
The answer to that question is simple – the truth. The possibility that Environmentalists, of all people, might be right on something is too much for them to stomach.
Concerns justified
Well, I’m here to tell you, on this issue especially we are right. There is no quarrel with that from anyone who knows anything about this issue.
In fact, my story in these pages so shook Woodfibre LNG that the president called an emergency meeting on a Saturday to announce that another route would be pursued. As you read here, Commander Roger Sweeny (RCN Ret), an expert on these matters and a lifelong landowner in Howe Sound, quickly concluded that this alternative was far, far worse than the original!
This obviously accounts for the fact that Woodfibre LNG and Resource Works have been struck dumb ever since.
I consider myself very fortunate to be able to use these pages, from time to time, to bring to you these facts so unpleasant to Woodfibre LNG, their high paid truth-benders, their captive politicians and pliable press that they dare not even mention them.
If I may say so, we are all very fortunate to have these pages to read after gagging on at the rubbish published by Woodfibre LNG and their acolytes.
