Now Is The Time To Get Behind Pipeline Construction

[J0E]

Consistent you are.



You never miss an opportunity to twist ANYTHING into an opportunity to empty your  obsessed US hate spleen.

No, it isn't US hate.



Actually, I like the US. I like Americans.



But like any good neighbor, then should return the favor when another has been so good to them.



There is nowhere on this planet, where an American citizen/tourist gets treated better than in Canada.

Are they as safe in other parts of the world?



Somehow I don't think so, cc.

[cc]

No, it isn't US hate.

Yes it is.  Your usual bullshit spin (see above) can't save you. The US hate oozes out of you 24/7



You can't address anything without your obsession slithering into it

[RW]

Environment isn't national interest?



It's not BC's fault Kinder Morgan can't meet obtainable criteria.

What have they been doing for the past 63 years ffs?? This isn't a new project, this is expanding an existing one. I'm really sorry for all of us that Clark is putting an election ahead of the country's interests at a time we REALLY need this infrastructure project. What a selfish twat. If this was the US, it would have been a fast tracked slam dunk. Score yet another one for our competitors.



Talk about circumventing democracy, the premier of BC is circumventing the independent regulatory process.

I want the pipeline Shen.  The job creation would be great for BC but Kinder Morgan needs to meet the goddamn criteria already.  Trans Mountain claims it can do it then they should get on it.



They need to give the Fiberals no more wiggle room and excuses to delay this project.

[J0E]

No, it isn't US hate.

Yes it is.  Your usual bullshit spin (see above) can't save you. The US hate oozes out of you 24/7



You can't address anything without your obsession slithering into it

Well, I don't agree with you, cc.



For example, Shen, the OP, also pointed out in another thread how the Obama administration set up deals to buy more oil from places like Venezuela, while nixing the Keystone pipeline. Another, seoulbro, also agreed somewhat that the Americans take us for granted. These posters, are further to the right on the political spectrum than I am, yet are also supportive of the Keystone pipeline. Are they American haters? No. But did their posts suggest that they are miffed that the Keystone was not approved? yes.



what I find, is that you make accusations about me and others, call us names, and then you don't substantiate them with any solid proof. You are driven by your preconceived notions about others. Just people don't agree with something or their POV doesn't mean they hate them.



I often disagree, argue with my friends. But do I hate them? No.



Ifyer gonna open fire upon others, then at least know what you're shooting at and aim properly.

[Twenty Dollars]

Regarding the drop in oil prices. How important is the construction of more pipelines? I ask because I don't know. Gives me great pleasure to see that gas is under $2. per gallon on the west coast. One other quick thing. Why is diesel more expensive than gas? Doesn't it take less to refine?

[Anonymous]

I want the pipeline Shen.  The job creation would be great for BC but Kinder Morgan needs to meet the goddamn criteria already.  Trans Mountain claims it can do it then they should get on it.



They need to give the Fiberals no more wiggle room and excuses to delay this project.

Well that is what the hearing with the NEB will be about. I don't like when people like Clark come up with conclusions before the hearings are finished. She can make her concerns known at the hearings just like everyone else. This is reminiscent of what Adrian Dix did in your last provincial election.

[RW]

Either they met the criteria or they didn't...

[Anonymous]

Either they met the criteria or they didn't...

We won't know that until the hearings are concluded. Even Notley is getting frustrated with BC politicians playing politics with needed infrastructure.

[RW]

I guess job creation isn't as important to our Liberals as it is to the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

I guess job creation isn't as important to our Liberals as it is to the rest of us.

A former premier of Alberta indirectly described Ms. Clark as a chameleon who changes her colours to match the background of the time.

[RW]

I've known her since I was in my teens.  She's never impressed me - not as a person or a politician.

[Anonymous]

I've known her since I was in my teens.  She's never impressed me - not as a person or a politician.

I get a snaky vibe from her too. But, she is sexy for her age.

[Anonymous]

Climate change was a convenient excuse for the Americans to say no. It coincided with Obama lifting a four decade old ban on oil exports. The US wants the money that comes with petro exports and they do not want competition from Canada. They also don't want to narrow to narrow the price differential that would come with new pipeline access. This is not likely to change even with a Republican administration. We need Energy East now.





http://boereport.com/2016/02/25/us-energy-independence/">http://boereport.com/2016/02/25/us-energy-independence/

By now, it should be clear that for the US government, the climate change argument serves as a thin veil to hide behind in order to prevent Canadian pipelines from being built.



While the Obama administration railed against Canadian pipelines crossing into the States,the US backed multiple pipeline infrastructure projects within their own borders and abroad. Furthermore, the construction of these pipelines was done concurrent with administrative process of lifting of the nation's 40 year ban on crude oil exports. Each of these activities comes with a hefty carbon footprint, yet Canada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline was denied for the apparent crime of carbon emissions – at least that's what the common narrative appears to be (and the answer that our new Liberal government accepts).



Canadian oil sits on the sidelines, in part, because the US holds the keys to our largest client base and market access. Another piece of that puzzle lies with Canada's own government – while the Liberals sign green deals with the US and Mexico, they also increased regulations on pipeline infrastructure (Energy East) and continue to preach the global warming narrative above all else. The US will keep the relationship with Canada this way while they begin to export their own oil to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Russia – markets in which Canada could easily fulfill a portion of the demand if it only had access. While Canadian oil stands by, the United States has now started "test cargoes" and we can expect their export window to open in the coming years.



Since the 1970's, the US imported the majority of its oil and most recently, Canada has been the country of origin for approximately one third of that supply. At 3.9 million barrels per day (bbl/d), Canada is the 5th largest oil producing country on the planet with only one major client – the United States. What's more, Canada imports 50% of American oil exports, meaning we essentially buy back a product similar to what we are already selling – again, as a result of not having adequate pipeline infrastructure within our own nation.



American energy independence seemed like an Hollywood fairy tale just five years ago, but is becoming a reality thanks to the proliferation of unlocking previously uneconomic shale oil deposits. In 2013, the country produced more oil than it imported for the first time in two decades. As a result, the US demand for Canadian oil is hitting a plateau and annual forecasts for imports are declining.



Ultimately, it appears The US doesn't want Canadian pipelines crossing their borders because 1) it would prevent total energy independence, and 2) increased Canadian pipeline infrastructure into the US pipelines decrease the price differential between WTI and WCS, and render the currently large discount a thing of the past.

[Anonymous]

The rejection of Keystone XL had nothing to do with the environment. While we cannot get our oil to tide water the US has been speeding up pipeline approval and ending a 40 year ban on oil and gas exports.



http://thestarphoenix.com/storyline/this-calgary-columnist-thinks-canada-is-an-embarrassing-failure-on-the-world-stage-due-to-environmental-oversight-of-oil-industry">http://thestarphoenix.com/storyline/thi ... l-industry">http://thestarphoenix.com/storyline/this-calgary-columnist-thinks-canada-is-an-embarrassing-failure-on-the-world-stage-due-to-environmental-oversight-of-oil-industry

Why is Canada being such a schmuck? In worldwide oil play, where every other country does whatever it can to develop its oil and gas assets, how is it that Canada is the only player actively taking itself out of the game?



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's latest announcement that there will be additional delays in pipeline approvals must have prompted a chuckle that began in the U.S. and turned into an all out belly-splitter by the time it spread to Venezuela, the Middle East and North Africa. These countries get the main rule that we don't: he who can deliver first, wins.



Anyone who still believes the environmental narrative that restricting oil production is about saving the Earth is naive; it's all about money.



Let's take the example of the United States. While Canada writhes to accommodate American concerns about our oil, the U.S. has taken complete advantage of the delay by exploiting its resources, and why wouldn't it? It's what smart countries do. In the time it's taken to quash the proposed 1,400 kilometres of Keystone XL pipeline, 19,200 kilometres of American pipeline has been built, some of it serving Canada.



The U.S. has quickly gone from being an importer of oil, to becoming the largest oil producer in the world, now exporting overseas for the first time in 40 years. The large American-owned oil companies operating in Canada are actually doing quite well; in fact, the more paralysis on Canadian fronts, the bigger their value stateside. We've just paid for that by sacrificing the smaller Canadian companies with no net decrease in overall oil production. Oops.  



In fact, while our governments are being do-goody apologists-in-chief, Washington has furthermore committed to helping Kenya raise $18 billion for a 900-kilometre pipeline that will roll through endangered species habitats in the Great Rift Valley to the Indian Ocean. It's only an environmental issue it seems, when it's a Canadian pipeline.



We even marginalize ourselves in our own country. How amusing it must seem to our competitors, that in turning on ourselves, we implode our industry, unable to get pipelines built to supply even our own family.



The irony that Eastern Canada will buy even more oil from the U.S. rather than from a domestic industry that employs so many of them and pays so many of their bills, is beyond a joke. That Canada sits on the third largest oil reserves in the world, and we can't even create domestic independence, much less an export industry, is not only an embarrassing failure, but one can hardly imagine that it's prudent national policy. Yet here we are.



Looking forward to a guarantee of massive government grants, alternative energy sources are the new frontier of capitalism, good at sponsoring the rhetoric that fits the stick-it-to-the-man perspective we seem to absorb with such fervour and lack of critical thinking. As for the other objectors, does anyone really think obstruction of pipelines can't be salved with more money?



For its part, Alberta's carbon tax will reduce energy use not a whit, but will cycle more money to government.



Ottawa's new rules for project approval will be arbitrary, based on cabinet political opinion rather than the evidence-based science of National Energy Board professionals who achieve the most stringent standards on the planet.



This is nothing less than a way for the feds to take control of provincial assets — an egregious interference and outrageous demonstration of political swagger.



More dithering on pipelines is likely to make this all a moot point: Demand for oil doesn't remain unsatisfied, and someone else will fill the order.



Delaying pipelines just changes who profits — and apparently, it won't be Canada, even in Canada.



What rubes we must seem, behaving as though we believe other countries are joining us in a kind of lower-emissions Peace Corps initiative. Outmanoeuvred we are in this game, to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Fiscal reality MAY have finally hit the Grits right in the face. It seems they may now start doing their job as the federal government and facilitate critical energy infrastructure. We cannot grow the way we need to to afford all Trudeau's cash giveaways if Alberta and Saskatchewan are denied international access to world prices for their product.

Good news? For the oil industry? From the federal Liberals!?



On Monday it was reported that senior federal cabinet ministers have succeeded in convincing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that if his government is to reach the revenue targets required to fund all its spending dreams, he will have to convince the premiers that the country needs not just one, but two pipelines.



The national economy simply cannot grow enough without Alberta and Saskatchewan being able to get their bitumen and heavy oil to refineries and ports.



Apparently finance minister Bill Morneau and some of the other grownups at the cabinet table have managed to persuade Prime Minister Selfie that to govern it is not enough just to Tweet fashionable platitudes, skip around the country emoting with gushy fans and jet off to D.C. for a bromance festival with Barack Obama.



Reportedly, Trudeau is now aware the whole country needs Energy East to New Brunswick and the twinning of Kinder Morgan's existing Trans Mountain pipeline to Vancouver.



Just that admission of reality is an achievement.



The federal NDP couldn't do it.



At their national convention in Edmonton over the weekend, the New Dems voted overwhelmingly to spend the next two years debating whether to adopt the ultra-leftist Leap Manifesto; the most left-wing document to be introduced into a major party since the NDP's Waffle movement created the Manifesto for an Independent Socialist Canada in 1969.



The two documents – Leap and Independent Socialist – are very similar in tone and objective.



Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley has spent much of her time since Sunday's Leap vote running away from the anti-oil, anti-pipeline, pro-socialism document. Leap's call for an immediate halt to further pipeline construction and an end to all use of fossil fuels within a generation would rob her new provincial government of any hope of re-election – and it has little enough hope already.



On Monday, while the federal Liberals were quietly letting it be known that they had been mugged by fiscal reality – and were now behind two pipeline projects – Premier Notley was feverishly trying to convince Albertans that a) the Leap Manifesto vote was non-binding ("It's just for discussion," she told a news conference.) and b) if the manifesto ever became federal NDP policy, she and her party will... well, she's not clear on what she would do if that happens.



Would her wing of the party breakaway from main body? She won't go that far.



So while the NDP were busy committing doctrine-assisted suicide, the federal Liberals were at least giving the appearance of "getting it."



Big plans require big money, and big money requires a strong economy, and like it or not, a strong economy requires the West being able to sell its oil and gas at world prices – lots of oil and gas.



And all of that requires pipelines. But saying yes to pipelines is the easy part (except, of course, if you're a faculty-club New Democrat).



Lots of real-life barriers remain in the Liberals' way. And it is not entirely clear they have the stomach to overcome them.



Trudeau has promised to wait for National Energy Board approval before going ahead with pipelines, and he has made NEB approval harder to get.



He also has a desire to win more seats in Quebec next election – the province where pipelines are the least popular. And his provincial cousin – Liberal Premier Christy Clark – is facing re-election in 2017 in B.C., where pipelines are the second-most unpopular.



Then there are the potential objections of First Nations, who Trudeau has promised may have a veto over such developments.



Monday's news was good. But a long road still lies ahead.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2016/04/12/trudeau-now-gets-it-on-pipelines">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2016/04/12/t ... -pipelines">http://www.edmontonsun.com/2016/04/12/trudeau-now-gets-it-on-pipelines