Dirtier Than We Had Ever Imagined.

Oil and gas fracking doesn't draw the same attention in Canada as it has attracted in the United States. It's probably fair to say that most of us hardly think of it at all. That could be about to change.

Two new studies into fracking operations in western Canada show that fracking generally and the LNG industry in particular are far dirtier, leaking massively more methane, than we had been led to believe.

A peer-reviewed study appearing in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions used measurements in the field to estimate that methane emissions from B.C.’s shale gas basins are now at least 2.5 times higher than provincial government estimates.

That makes the oil and gas sector the largest source of climate pollution in B.C., a greater source of pollution than commercial transportation.

Based on measurements from mobile methane detectors driven around in a Dodge truck, the study found that just the drilling part of the industry in the B.C. portion of the Montney Formation, a 29,850 square-kilometre siltstone area in Western Canada, is releasing 111,800 tonnes of methane a year into the atmosphere.

That is equivalent to burning more than 4.5 million tonnes of coal or putting more than two million cars on the road. Half of B.C.’s fracked gas currently comes from the Montney. The study did not look at methane leaks from pipelines or gas processing plants.

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More than 130 scientists recently criticized the federal government for assessing the climate change impact of a proposed Petronas LNG terminal in B.C. by using unverified and unrealistically small estimates of methane leakage.

All LNG environmental assessments in the province to date have used a questionable methane leakage rate of 0.28 per cent estimated by the B.C. government — one of the lowest rates on the continent.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculates that most natural gas operations lose about 1.33 per cent of their product, while some sites have recorded leakage rates as high as nine per cent. Leakage rates above three per cent make methane as dirty as coal in terms of direct impact on climate change. 

But Wait, There's More

Meanwhile, another study found that methane leaks pose an even graver problem in Alberta, home to more than 300,000 oil and gas wells. (B.C. currently has 25,000 wells, but LNG developments could add 150,000 wells in the Montney Formation alone.)

To back up its case, the environmental group reviewed the findings of a 2017 study by the Alberta Energy Regulator and GreenPath Energy, which found that “the actual emissions at oil and gas facilities from pneumatic devices are 60 per cent higher than estimates used to compile Canada’s GHG inventory.”

Pneumatic devices, mostly powered by methane, help to pump and control the flow of gas from well sites and other facilities. Most vent methane directly to the atmosphere too.

The GreenPath Energy study measured leaks from pneumatic devices at 395 sites and almost 700 wells at six locations in Alberta and identified 77 major leaks via infrared cameras and direct methane vents from 236 pieces of equipment. GreenPath Energy is a Calgary-based company that specializes in managing greenhouse gas emissions.

The researchers found that 95 per cent of the pneumatic devices at conventional oil and gas facilities vented methane and other gases such as benzene. Oil well sites leaked the most methane.

If you're not conversant with the fracking process and perils, this video may help.

Just Because They're Hopelessly Corrupt That Doesn't Make Them Real Liberals

We've got an election campaign underway out here on the Left Coast and John Horgan's New Democrats are in hot pursuit of Christy Clark's B.C. Liberal government.

Something about Horgan seems to have crawled up the ass of the guy I think of as the Liberal Loudmouth. He does not like the cut of Horgan's jib and he's racing to the defence of Christy Clark. Perhaps he imagines Crusty as a Liberal. It says as much right on the party's letterhead yet there are damned few B.C. Liberals who harbour any instincts remotely liberal. No, in every way and every day, they show that their roots are deeply conservative.

Now you would have thought that LL, being steeped in all things Liberal, would have realized there is no liberal party in British Columbia. And, besides, just because you're utterly corrupt, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're Liberal although I can understand the confusion.

I'll not defend Horgan for some unfortunate remark that somehow sent LL spinning. In this race I'm not backing either Clark or Horgan. I'm a Green living in the bastion of the Green Party, Vancouver Island. The Greens are polling quite well on the island something that inevitably pisses off the B.C. Libs and the NDP with their grinding crap about vote splitting.

So, just a heads up to all you out-of-province Liberals who may imagine that Christy Clark is one of you. Don't be fooled. Just because her government is mired in corruption, that doesn't make them real Liberals.

Dear Crusty. LNG is Volatile. It Could Even Blow Up in Your Face.

BC premier Christy Clark is in love - with British Columbia's natural gas reserves.  She sees it as a magical solution to pay off all of the province's debts and fund wonderful new projects and services.  She even imagines herself riding across northern BC on a unicorn sprinkling fairy dust wherever natural gas is to be found.

Uhh-uhh.  Crash. Thud.  Sorry, madam premier, to be the carrier of more bad LNG news (there's been a lot lately) but a new report says our own natural gas reserves may be a stranded asset if international action reaches an accord to limit global warming to 2C.

LNG projects allow gas to be compressed into tankers and sold around the world, making it key to hopes in the US, Canada and Australia of fully exploiting their gas reserves.

But the new analysis shows that if emissions are cut to keep global temperature rise below the internationally agreed target many LNG projects being considered will not be needed.

The report concludes that over the next 10 years $82bn of LNG plants in Canada would be surplus to requirements, $71bn in the US and $68bn in Australia, with the rest of the world, led by Russia and Indonesia, accounting for the remaining $59bn.

...The report is the latest to raise concerns that increasing action to cut carbon emissions, combined with falling renewable energy prices, will put some fossil fuel investments at risk. Carbon Tracker has pioneered this analysis, which has been backed by the Bank of England and the World Bank.

Rachel, Beware of West Coast Wolves Wearing Sheep's Clothing.

British Columbia's political leadership, Liberal premier Christy Clark, and NDP opposition leader - some guy named Hogan, no, umm Horgan - have their sights on the new meat next door, Alberta premier Rachel Notley.  They each want something from premier Notley and it looks like they're not going to be too discrete in going after it.

Christy does not want to be left in Notley's shadow, a challenge that won't be made easier by her whole hearted support of defeated Tory premier Jim Prentice throughout the Alberta election.

Clark thinks it would be "fantastic" if Alberta "joined" BC's carbon tax initiative, maybe like a junior partner or a complete toady.  She thinks that she and Notley can also get pipeline pariah, Kinder Morgan, to straighten up and fly right.

NDP leader Horgan, it seems, just wants to rub Notley all over himself and bask in her glory.  In case you haven't heard, BC's NDP threw themselves under the dock in our last election and they're still waiting for the tide to come back in and float them off the rocks.

“Now I’ll be able to call the premier of Alberta and say: ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ I wasn’t able to do that yesterday.”

Uh, yeah Jim - what, it's John? - yeah John, I'm sure Rachel will be racing to pick up the phone whenever you call.  Maybe she'll even give you a phone number that works.

Even Christy Clark Gets It.

British Columbia premier, Christy Clark, thinks Harper's new security legislation, Bill C-51, is dangerous.  Clark warns Canadians could come to regret the freedoms taken away by Harper's proposed legislation.

"We should be very careful in Canada, in a country where so many people have sacrificed their lives to preserve our freedoms, to make sure that we aren't -- in the effort to protect ourselves against unknown threats – really diminishing our personal freedoms," she said.

"We will regret that forever. When you give up personal freedoms, it's very hard to get them back."

Canada's privacy commissioner, Daniel Therrien, agrees with Bill C-51's intended goal to increase information-sharing between authorities, but stressed that the rights of innocent Canadians may be sacrificed in the name of intelligence-gathering.

"The bill would share with national security agencies potentially all of the information of all Canadians, including law-abiding citizens. And I think that goes too far," Therrien told Question Period.

The privacy commissioner was careful not to characterize Canada as a potential surveillance state, but wondered if this is "the kind of society we want to live in?"

Will Christie Clark Infect British Columbia with the Alberta Disease?

When a government mired in debt and deficits allows itself to become dependent on royalties from a non-renewable resource to make up 30% of its general revenues it might just as well go for the meth pipe.  It's an addiction that cannot end well.

There are unsettling indications that Christy Clark may be looking to hit that pipe herself only with British Columbia's fracked natural gas filling in for Alberta's bitumen.  While Clark's government claims to have a balanced budget, that's propped up on a lot of tinkering and wishful thinking. 

Clark has said the provincial government's windfall royalties from the LNG business would be used to retire British Columbia's debt.  That's expected to hit about $70-billion, almost half of which has been built up during Clark's premiership. 

Finance minister, Mike de Jong, let slip that the LNG royalties, if and when they appear, may be headed into the government's books as general revenue.

“This is a revenue stream that begins once the facility has been constructed and once the product begins to flow,” he said. “We don’t see that happening within the life span of this three-year fiscal plan.”

We need to face reality.  Governments that use conjuring tricks to create the appearance of balanced budgets can't be trusted not to use non-renewable resource freebies to pad their current budgets in the future.  That's low-hanging fruit to a government like Clark's and it's irresistible.  It would be great to believe that B.C. could not follow Alberta and not get hooked on this to our long-term detriment but that's wishful thinking.

They Have Re-Elected Their "Liberal" Lapdog - Now They're Coming For Our Coast

It will probably be sooner rather than later before we find out whether Christy Clark will become British Columbia's Judas Goat to the Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan pipeline/supertanker fiascos.

Steve Harper, Alison Redford and Enbridge just need to buy or coerce Clark's capitulation, make her sell-out  the province and people of British Columbia, and then ram those goddamned pipelines down our throats.   They've got plenty of markers to call in after her Hail Mary election win.

Clark will have to be ready to deal with unrest of a wide range from First Nations and other groups and individuals determined that our territory and coast be defended against Alberta and Ottawa.  She will have to be prepared to use force and the full power of her law to thwart the clear will of a solid and growing majority of the people of her province.   She will have to be willing to move on lifelong law-abiding grey hairs who stand against her and turn them into criminals.  Christy Clark will have to accept becoming the most reviled woman in the history of British Columbia, knowing that she will never be forgiven.

Those who stand up to Christy Clark, Enbridge, Harper, Redford and all their minions and enforcers and the secret police force Harper created for just this purpose will know that they stand on the wrong side of order and the law because that is the right thing, the thing that must be done.

They will draw the attention of the world and of the major markets down upon the federal and Alberta and British Columbia governments, their high-handed and rotten dealings with a totalitarian Communist government they so recently purported to condemn, and their willingness to sacrifice one of the world's last remaining great treasures, the British Columbia coast, for the benefit of foreign oil companies who can't even  pay proper compensation to the people of Alberta.

What's wrong with filling their damned jails if that is the cost of doing what's right, defending what's ours?   Nothing at all.  In fact, a criminal record for this would be a badge of high honour to be worn proudly.

And, look on the bright side.   Maybe this is where the Carbon Bubble bursts.   Could there be a better or more likely place for that bubble to burst?  It's already the highest-carbon, highest cost, least profitable petroleum on the planet.   A little granny insurrection could be all that's needed to tip the bitumen market straight into a ditch.

Because they may be able to buy Christy Clark but they can't buy us.

Christy Clark's Stealth Government Exposed

And I was hoping she'd survive long enough to run the B.C. Libs on the rocks in the May elections.

Having thrown most of her closest advisers under a good many buses, B.C.'s unelected, unelectable and outgoing premier, Christy Clark, is now pretty much on her own.   Even her caucus and cabinet are beginning to abandon her leaky ship.

But scandal just keeps coming Crispy's way.   Now it's the Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham's turn to savage premier Clark.   Denham has released a scathing report accusing Clark and her minions of governing off the record to escape scrutiny from freedom of information requests.

Denham said that while the Liberals are complying with FOI laws to assist the public, they have also shown "evidence of the practice of 'oral government.'"

"Without a duty to document, government can effectively avoid disclosure and public scrutiny as to the basis and reasons for its actions," Denham said in her report.

"The lack of documentation undermines the ability of citizens, journalists and the public to understand the basis for government’s actions on any particular matter."

The review, prompted by complaints, found that 45 per cent of all requests to Premier Christy Clark's office last year failed to find a paper trail of any kind.

...the government appears likely to let stall [Denham's] key suggestion for the province to change FOI laws and legislate a "duty to document."

Kim Henderson, deputy minister for the Ministry of Open Government, replied to the commissioner in a letter saying that while the government will "examine this recommendation," it will also suggest it go to a special committee for consideration.

"I note that no other access to information legislation in Canada has such a duty prescribed in law," Henderson said in the letter.

Denham said that committee meets only every five years and won't undertake any work again until 2016.

"I think that's a very long time away," she said.

The premier's office did not respond to requests for comment.

This premier and her whole rotten, corrupt government have to go.  It's no exaggeration to say they're thoroughly bent.

The Victoria Times Colonist Calls "Bulls__t" on Christy Clark.

You Go Girl.  No, Seriously, Just Go.

The untested, unproven and unbelievable premier of British Columbia is paying dearly for her cracks about her very own legislature.   The centre-right Times Colonist is having a field day with Clark and her unfortunate remarks.

Pundit Les Leyne volunteered that Clark may have Romneyed next year's election.  "To 'Romney' is to speak from the heart during an unguarded moment and say something so fantastically stupid that it winds up destroying your campaign."

And the main editorial today is even harder on Premier CC:

When she was running for the leadership of her party, she was excited about bringing new respect to the legislature. She said she loved question period and the debates in the house. She wanted to bolster legislature committees and she wanted to find co-operative ways to help ensure that more private members' bills were passed.

What a difference a year makes. Since Clark took her seat on May 30, 2011, private members have brought 24 bills to first reading. How many of them have passed? None.

While the premier is right to push her new ministers to get a grip on their departments and put their budgets in order, voters can be forgiven for thinking that a major reason for avoiding the house is to keep the government away from too much examination in the run-up to next spring's election. The sick culture and beltway debate sound a lot like people asking questions she doesn't appreciate.

 Goodbye, Christy.  We barely knew ye.  I guess we owe you thanks for that.

Crispy Clark's Sarah Palin Moment

British Columbia's unelected, unelectable and outgoing premier, Christy Clark, apparently doesn't like her job any more.  She's beginning to sound like a mid-term Sarah Palin.

...Clark says she tries to avoid working at the legislature because there's "no real people in Victoria" and the "sick culture" is unhealthy.

Clark, whose government cancelled the regularly scheduled fall session of the legislature, blasted working conditions in the provincial capital during an interview with a Vancouver-based columnist for the National Post.

"I try never to go over there. Because it's sick. It's a sick culture. All they can think about is government and there are no real people in Victoria, and you get captured by this inside-the-beltway debate, and it's really unhealthy."

Clark's apparent disdain for the legislature contrasts with comments she made while running for the B.C. Liberal party leadership in 2011.

Then, she told reporters she loved the daily cut-and-thrust of question period. After she won the party leadership, she expressed a desire to run in a byelection as quickly as possible to get her seat in the house. "As you know, I love question period and I hate to miss it," she told reporters.

When Clark was resigning as an MLA in 2005, during her first stint in office, she also professed love for the job in her last speech in the chamber.

"I have a deep, deep love of politics. I love question period. I love debate. I love the people I've met. I even love the protesters. I love politics."

Don't worry, Christy, it'll be all over soon.   In fact the people of British Columbia can't wait to set you free from your burdensome responsibilities in Victoria.   Why, you'll never have to see the place again.   Ever.