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In Canada, Surprise Win for Justin Trudeau
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on October 20th, 2015
New York Times: The nine-year reign of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party came to a sudden and stunning end on Monday night at the hands of Justin Trudeau, the young leader of the Liberal Party, according to projections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other networks. Starting with a sweep of the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals went on to capture 191 of the 338 seats in the next House of Commons. The upset victory occurred 47 years after Mr. Trudeau’s father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau,...
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Alberta’s Oil Boom Goes Bust
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on October 14th, 2015
New York Times: At a camp for oil workers here, a collection of 16 three-story buildings that once housed 2,000 workers sits empty. A parking lot at a neighboring camp is now dotted with abandoned cars. With oil prices falling precipitously, capital-intensive projects rooted in the heavy crude mined from Alberta’s oil sands are losing money, contributing to the loss of about 35,000 energy industry jobs across the province. Yet Alberta Highway 63, the major artery connecting Northern Alberta’s oil sands with the...
Canadian Aboriginal Group Rejects $1B Fee for Natural Gas Project
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on May 14th, 2015
New York Times: A small aboriginal community in British Columbia has rejected a $1 billion payment for a natural gas project, the latest setback for the Canadian energy industry’s effort to bolster exports. A group led by the Malaysian energy company Petronas had offered the money to the Lax Kw’alaams Band, to help push through a plan to build a liquefied natural gas ship terminal near their remote community. It is part of an overall pipeline and gas drilling project that the group, Pacific NorthWest LNG, values...
Canadian Review Panel Approves Plans Oil Pipeline
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on December 20th, 2013
New York Times: An environmental and economic review panel approved plans for a pipeline and port project that, if built, will move oil from Alberta’s oil sands to tankers on Canada’s Pacific Coast. After approval stalled in Washington for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would link the oil sands to the United States Gulf Coast, the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which would cost about 7.9 billion Canadian dollars, or about $7.4 billion, became Canada’s backup plan for increasing oil sands production. The...
Canadian Documents Suggest Shift on Keystone XL
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on August 26th, 2013
New York Times: Ever since President Obama said in June that a litmus test for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada was whether it would “significantly” worsen global warming, Canadian government officials have insisted it would not. They reasoned that because the pipeline would not have any major effect on rate of development of Canada’s oil sands, as a State Department environmental review concluded in March, it would not significantly raise the amount of carbon emitted. But documents obtained by...
In Canada, Pipeline Remarks Stir Analysis
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on June 27th, 2013
New York Times: Perhaps it was his choice of words, but a small portion of President Obama’s speech about climate change on Tuesday has attracted a disproportionate amount of attention in Canada. At issue are his remarks about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would send bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The pipeline requires presidential approval and, for Canadians at least, has become a dominant political issue. “Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires...
Canadian Utility Finds a Use for Detroit’s Pile of Oil Sands Byproduct
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on June 7th, 2013
New York Times: In something resembling a bottle return program, Detroit’s enormous petroleum coke pile, a byproduct of Canadian oil sands, is making its way back to Canada. A Canadian electrical power plant, owned by Nova Scotia Power, is chipping away at the three-story-high, blocklong pile of petroleum coke on Detroit’s waterfront. The company is burning the high-carbon, high-sulfur waste product because it is cheaper than natural gas. The uncovered black pile, which has angered and upset some residents of...
British Columbia Opposes Planned Oil Sands Pipeline
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on June 1st, 2013
New York Times: A pipeline for exporting oil sands bitumen to Asia-bound tankers was dealt a severe blow on Friday when the province of British Columbia urged a federal review panel to reject the $6 billion plan.
The proposal to build the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and its port is effectively Alberta's backup plan in case the Obama administration turns down the Keystone XL, a pipeline that would link the oil sands with American refineries on the Gulf Coast. Several of the concerns raised by British Columbia...
Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on January 7th, 2013
New York Times: The development of Alberta’s oil sands has increased levels of cancer-causing compounds in surrounding lakes well beyond natural levels, Canadian researchers reported in a study released on Monday. And they said the contamination covered a wider area than had previously been believed. For the study, financed by the Canadian government, the researchers set out to develop a historical record of the contamination, analyzing sediment dating back about 50 years from six small and shallow lakes north...