RSS Feed
Author Archive
Canada was irrelevant in Obama’s decision to reject Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on November 7th, 2015
Globe and Mail: Rejecting Keystone XL was not about Canada. It was about U.S. President Barack Obama’s legacy and his credibility. The President has decided that global warming poses an existential threat. And so, for Mr. Obama to head to Paris next month seeking to save the planet after giving the go-ahead to an $8-billion pipeline that has come to symbolize Big Oil digging up some of the world’s most carbon-laden fossil fuel would have looked like hypocrisy. The President’s ability to “make the case to other...
Posted in 
U.S. Senate Proposal May Leave Canada with a Pyrrhic Victory on Keystone XL
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on January 15th, 2015
Globe and Mail: Canada’s Natural Resources Minster Greg Rickford was on Capitol Hill again Tuesday pitching Keystone XL, as Senate supporters of the controversial pipeline tried to round up sufficient votes to override U.S. President Barack Obama’s threatened veto of any Congressional attempt to force approval of the project to ship Alberta oil sands crude to the Texas Gulf coast. After meeting Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and Keystone XL backer, Mr. Rickford said: “I thanked Senator Manchin for...
Keystone XL passes key Senate test, setting up showdown with Obama
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on January 13th, 2015
Globe and Mail: The showdown between U.S. President Barack Obama and the Republican-dominated Congress over the controversial Keystone XL edged closer Monday in a test vote as the Senate cleared the 60-vote threshold needed to proceed with legislation approving the pipeline that would send Canadian oil sands crude across the United States. The 63-32 cloture vote set the stage for passage of Keystone XL legislation later this week. Mr. Obama has vowed to veto efforts by Republicans to wrest control away from him...
White House climate report sidesteps Keystone question
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on June 25th, 2014
Globe and Mail: No mention of Keystone XL. Not a word about oil sands from Canada.
Exactly a year after President Barack Obama’s dire warning that global warming would “condemn ... future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing” unless greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels were cut drastically, the White House issued a progress report. It didn’t even mention the controversial plan to funnel carbon-heavy Alberta oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries – a plan which has dominated the climate-change...
Canada Softens Tone in Fevered Keystone XL Pipeline Debate
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on March 26th, 2014
Globe and Mail: After years of visiting Canadian ministers talking of little else - at least inside the Beltway - Transport Minister Lisa Raitt barely mentioned the controversial and long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday.
Rail or pipeline, it doesn't really matter, Ms. Raitt told a "conversation" hosted by the Canadian American Business Council, which promotes trade and business links between the two countries. What matters most is safety, she said when asked about Keystone.
"The reality is this,"...
Keystone opponents reject rumoured Canadian offer to cut emissions
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on September 24th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Canada's purported offer to cut emissions as part of a deal to get President Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline has been denounced by a coalition of groups seeking to thwart the project. "We oppose any deal-making in return for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline," the groups said in a letter to President Obama - who is expected to decide the project's fate early next year. "Our rationale is simple. Building Keystone XL will expand production in the tar sands, and that...
Obama climate-change speech to be combed for Keystone clues
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on June 25th, 2013
Globe and Mail: With an eye on his legacy, President Barack Obama will unveil Tuesday sweeping plans to help save the planet from runaway global warming by curbing greenhouse-gas emissions.
But the toughest climate-change decision soon to cross the President's Oval Office desk - the fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline designed to ship Alberta oil-sands crude across America - likely won't even rate a mention. Anti-Keystone XL activists said they will demonstrate at Georgetown University where Mr. Obama is...
Exxon oil spill in Arkansas seeps into Keystone debate
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on April 1st, 2013
Globe and Mail: Thousands of barrels of Alberta oil-sands crude - the same stuff destined for the controversial Keystone XL project - spilled into a suburban Arkansas neighbourhood over the weekend after a much smaller, older pipeline ruptured, forcing the evacuation of dozens of homes.
Cleanup efforts were under way in Mayflower, Ark., a town of fewer than 2,000 just north of Little Rock, but the spill seems certain to seep into the deeply divisive debate over whether President Barack Obama should approve Keystone...
Ottawa pitches the oil sands as ‘green’
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on March 6th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Relying on Canadian crude imports is the best choice for the United States - not just because it's reliable and secure but because of Canada's unmatched environmental record, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Tuesday.
Adding green to the attributes of Alberta's oil sands is the latest twist in Ottawa's concerted effort to push for U.S. approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline designed to funnel more than 800,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude to Texas Gulf oil refineries next...
Kerry dodges Keystone pipeline question
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on January 25th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Senator John Kerry ducked when he was asked directly at his confirmation hearing whether he would block or back the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, but President Barack Obama's pick for secretary of state delivered a passionate pitch on the virtues of clean energy.
When Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso, who supports TransCanada Corp.'s multibillion-dollar pipeline to carry Canadian oil sands crude to U.S. refineries, asked whether he agrees with the 53 senators who favour the project,...