Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Show Us "The Science" Justin, or, A Feeble Prime Minister Gets His Marching Orders.
A Texas pipeline company and a provincial premier whose days are numbered have given Canada's dodgy prime minister his marching orders. Justin Trudeau knows he's been bitchslapped good. He's even summoned his cabinet back from holiday for emergency meetings in Ottawa. Run Justin, run.
Kinder Morgan has given Trudeau and ultimatum - get unruly British Columbia under control or the company may kill off the Trans Mountain pipeline and sue Ottawa for billions of dollars in damages under - c'mon, you know - NAFTA. Meanwhile, Rachel in her fishnets with her stiletto thigh highs and cat o' nine tails is giving the man-boy with the legendary name he never grew into just a touch of the lash, a little encouragement.
They've given Trudeau a deadline - the end of next month to crush the rebellious Left Coasters. Don't shed a tear for Justin. He's in a mess very much of his own making. He brought this on himself.
Trudeau says the pipeline is safe. His government has "done the science." Only he's never produced this mythical science. Maybe that's because, as The Royal Society of Canada confirms, the science hasn't been done. Even Environment Canada says the science hasn't been done. World renowned Alberta ecologist, the University of Alberta's Dr. David Shindler confirms the science hasn't been done. Trudeau insists his government has done the science but he won't say what they've done with it.
Trudeau made this whole rotten business a nest of lies and now his lies are being used against him to great effect by an outfit from Texas and Rachel Notley. Rachel has Justin by the balls and he's not getting them back until she gets her pipeline.
Notley is demanding Trudeau bring the full weight of federal power to whip British Columbians into submission. She's once again talking about cutting back oil supplies to the west coast. Trudeau's resource minister, Jimbo Carr, the guy who mused about unleashing Canada's military on BC protesters, now says they're looking at every legal, regulatory and financial option to coerce obedience.
This constant barrage of abusive threats and lies is corrosive of national unity. Maybe it's time to consider whether remaining in this country is worth the price. Maybe it's time for British Columbia to level an ultimatum or two of our own.
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7 comments:
This is a corporate shakedown. Kinder Morgan can read oil prices as well as anyone and knows the pipeline will never be profitable as more US fracked oil comes on line. Tar sands bitumen is expensive to refine and expensive to ship to places like China since the largest class of tankers can't navigate the BC waters. Trans Mountain is a white elephant.
So KM's looking for provincial and federal "investment" to cut their losses. Notley, with the support of Kenney, is ready to open the provincial wallet and is now joining KM in putting the screws to the feds to do the same. The short timeline on KM's demand shows that they need the money more than they need the feds to bully BC into line. Trudeau should tell KM where they can stick their pipeline, but I suspect the urgent cabinet meeting is to decide how much Ottawa will pony up.
Although I would prefer that BC remain part of Canada, it's far more important to take action on climate change and protect BC's coast. Vive la Colombie-Britannique libre!
Cap
There is only one way B.C. can win this fight and that is to put the discussion purely on what can and can't be shipped safely. Qebec banned fracking and faces a number of lawsuits. On the other hand a group of Yukon First Nations stopped seismic mapping and fracking by shutting it down until it is proved to not affect wildlife and is safe. After threats of lawsuits were thrown around the company realized that it would be impossible to win at this time.
All oil has heavier than water elements and lighter than water elements. The heavier part is the problem as there is no known way to clean it up. Turning those parts into tar, grease, lubricating oils and plastic beads make them transportable by train. any spill can be be easily cleaned up with little effect to the environment. the lighter elements can be transported by pipeline either as finished products like diesel propane, etc. or as a mixed byproduct of refining that needs to be refined into those products. We have developed methods of cleaning up spills for lighter than water chemicals that work reasonably well making it safer to ship those products by pipeline.
This of course means that all oil will require some refining where it is extracted to get it to market but even after 150 years of using oil as far as I know there is no proven way to clean up spills of either crude or dilbit. that is what B.C. must make the mountain it is willing to die on. If the discussion is changed to those parameters our asshole PM.,Alberta and the oil industry will be the ones having to prove in court that they can somehow do the impossible and safely clean up spills.
B.C. also needs to get any Provence that could potentially have a pipeline rammed through them to back this and push to have it made into federal law some day in the future. All the Provence has to do now is stand firm on its position but add a bit of sugar by emphasizing what it will allow to be shipped with no opposition.
"This is a corporate shakedown."
Yes, here is what I think is happening....
KM recently raised a record amount of money (a lot of it from CDNs) in an IPO for KM. The investment bankers who backed this should be sued (by the their customers.)
But KM saw it as win-win.
1) They raised lots of cash
2) They might get their new pipeline built.
3) If they can't get their pipeline built they can
a) Keep the cash and use it elsewhere
b) Set up a scenario where they can use ISDS in NAFTA to sue us when they
run away
Anyong...Anyone know that the BP platform is moving slowly Northward from the Gulf of Mexico to the Nova Scotia coast (probably the Bay of Fundy) to look for oil?
I agree with Cap. KM is shaking down Alberta and the feds for cash they can divert to executive compensation and failing project funding. Pay it back: are you serious this is free enterprise at work.
Will the pipeline get built; really doubtful. Will Kinder Morgan ever meet environmental standards ? is your grandmother your grandfather. Will the Federal Government negotiate in good faith with First Nations? does the Pope shit in the woos- is the bear a Catholic ? Will investors waste their money on a loser like Kinder Morgan? not likely?
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4610325
Yes, the good ship BP is poised to begin preparatory preparations to drill 330 km east of Halifax. No actual drilling yet, that needs further OKs. Which they will get. The plan calls for a Norwegian well-capping ship to plod over from Norway in the highly unlikely event that something goes wrong, never ever goes wrong, cannot go wrong, will only go wrong if socialistic commie leftists continue to protest capital's hegemony.
Luckily, the Bay of Fundy is out of bounds unless you were Irving Oil building an export terminal for Energy East Dilbit. That's dead and Irving is expressing its displeasure by refusing to pay Saint John property taxes on the installation. Irving is a well-known dispenser of corporate largesse, which is why Saint John, its hometown, looks like a bomb hit it and cannot afford existing police and fire services. Ah, such grand oligarchs.
The oil companies like to rattle their tin cups of poverty while Canada remains an easy mark for a dime or two of public assistance, has useless consumer and drug approval laws, while allowing banks and communication companies to rip off consumers by flogging them things they don't need. Canada is a paradise for the corporate sector - just visit the US and see the cheap pricing by comparison.
As for BC, I hope you win against Notley and brainless Alberta. But it's by no means guaranteed. Climenhaga has a less emotional take on this mess here on progressive bloggers. If Kenney wins next year, you can be sure that Notley will have seemed like a pussy cat compared to that rotund spawn of conservative nitwitticism and privilege.
BM
Cap's excellent synopsis of K-M pipeline ultimatum needs a wide dissemination to ensure that public is aware of the situation and exert pressure on politicians. People might be ambivalent about environmental issues but everybody hates to be subjected to the shakedown.
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