Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Nikiforuk on Kinder-Morgan's Blackmail


If there's one guy who can cut through even Trudeau-grade crap on Canada's bitumen trafficking and perverse pipeline politics, it's author and journalist Andrew Nikiforuk.  In today's Tyee, Nikiforuk dismembers the Trans-Canada pipeline fiasco, the hyper-sketchy Kinder Morgan and a prime minister too feeble to handle the job.

Here's an excerpt:
The Houston-based firm that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley now salute as a defender of Canada’s national interest is the spawn of Enron, found guilty of accounting fraud and corruption. The energy trader’s collapse cost shareholders $74 billion and killed 20,000 jobs.
Kinder Morgan, a dirty and unsexy mover of gas and oil, began as Enron Liquids Pipeline in 1997. Enron alumni continue to populate the senior ranks of Kinder Morgan. 
They include Richard Kinder, a Texas billionaire and Kinder Morgan’s chair. He worked at Enron for 16 years. Jordan Mintz, the chief tax officer, served as the vice-president of Enron’s tax division from 1996-2000. 
Kean, the man now baiting Canadian governments, worked as Enron’s senior vice-president of government affairs. And so on. 
These Enron alumni probably think Canadian politicians are the ultimate pushovers and dimwits.

18 comments:

Jay Farquharson said...

"These Enron alumni probably think Canadian politicians are the ultimate pushovers and dimwits."

Some are, some arn't.

the salamander said...

the high levels of Kinder Morgan are basically nasty apex predators.. or as I tend to say.. parasites akin to bloodsuckers and lamprey eels. They adapt, know where to find their host.. and go accordingly.. and we subsidize them.. as taxpayers

The Mound of Sound said...


And they dine richly on us, Sal.

JasonS said...

Probably think ? Naw they certainly know they are pushovers and dimwits and imo they also know they are for sale .

Trailblazer said...

The Canadian public has been dumbed down into believing all it can achieve for income is to chop and dig natural resources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaRd4d8hOY

Chopping trees and digging asphalt is a source of national pride.

Solar! what the fucks that?

TB

Hugh said...

The article says we'd be paying higher gas prices to pay for the expanded pipeline. At the same time, the rising BC carbon tax will also mean paying higher gas prices.

Anonymous said...

Trailblazer,
I hear you on the chopping part.

We're currently gearing up to battle Western Forest Products - they're looking to log the old growth in our watershed.

GAB

Lulymay said...

And the accounting firm that enabled Enron to "cook" there books and steal millions from both shareholders and employees is now gainfully contracted by the BC Government (Campbell and his BC Libs) and earning millions of dollars courtesy of a 30 year agreement to run the business end of BC Hydro.

And some wonder why our Hydro bills ramped up so quickly??? You'll never learn that courtesy of news outlets such Glo-Ball, CTV, and Vancouver's Sun and Province.

Trailblazer said...

We're currently gearing up to battle Western Forest Products - they're looking to log the old growth in our watershed.

Where exactly?

TB

Hugh said...

The rising carbon tax is meant to discourage us from driving. The pipeline expansion will allow people in other countries to drive more.

Anonymous said...


This is the facebook group with the details, TB

https://www.facebook.com/groups/210132616234475/

GAB

Trailblazer said...

Thanks; GAB

TB

Trailblazer said...

Anonymous Lulymay said...
And the accounting firm that enabled Enron to "cook" there books and steal millions

please elaborate; I'm in a learning mode this evening!!

TB

Anonymous said...

Accenture, TB. They had a previous name: Arthur Anderson.

mr perfect

Northern PoV said...

KM has set a trap with this ingenious deadline.

They raised 1.7B for this from CDN investors as they couldn't raise it in the US where the investment bankers know better and KM is seen as a house-of-cards. Then they used the $ to pay down debt. LOL
They'd love to dump their boondoggle on the CDN taxpayers via buy-in or even better, a buyout.

Irony #1: the same folks who spent the last 30 years selling off profitable public assets now cry for tax $ to socialize the loss.

Irony #2: And the same crew that hated the NEP is calling for measures to quash provincial and indigenous rights that far exceeds anything in NEP.

Meanwhile, Jr. sends out limp spokespersons while he takes a personal day and then heads for yet another international costume party. Cause there is very little he can actually do.

Northern PoV said...

Oh .... if KM doesn't get our tax $ from Notley or Trudeau as a gift they can use ISDS in NAFTA to sue us.

Anonymous said...

There are so many things wrong with this whole thing about KM that I can't list them all, but here are a few.

1. Essentially, KM (with the help of the Canadian and Alberta governments) are trying to wrest control of what goes on in BC (at least in some ways) away from the BC government.

2. BC is supposed to risk the ecological health of our coast for money. This kind of thinking is what leads to the destruction of our environment.

3. The fearmongering is totally out of control.

4. Threats of economic sanctions is not the way to do business. If we bow to unnecessary economic pressure, we have essentially lost control of our province.

5. It seems like the rest of the Canadian confederation has turned against BC. Why should we support Canada if Canada won't support us?

6. Not that this matters, but every time I seen Rachael Notley on TV, she cannot keep from grinning. She must think this is a game.

Anonymous said...

What makes you think the rest of Canada has turned away from BC? Just because Trudeau says the pipeline's in the national interest doesn't make it so. This Ontarian is firmly against this or any other pipeline.

Cap