In an analysis for The Energy Mix, award-winning investigative journalist Paul McKay traces the parallels between the SNC-Lavalin scandal that has transfixed Canada’s capital and the Trudeau government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline in spite of its avowed commitment to climate action. “As nature abhors a vacuum,” he writes, “democracy abhors a stacked legal deck.”
Rita Wong, Mel Lehan, Barry Morris, Kyle Farquharson, Will Offley
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As you will see from the attached materials, we are a group of defendants charged with blocking the Kinder Morgan expansion project last year. We will be going on trial in April charged with criminal contempt of court, and facing both fines and jail terms if convicted. We are raising a defence of necessity with the goal of changing Canadian legal precedent if we are successful, which would have significant positive consequences for climate defenders facing charges for peaceful civil disobedience in the future.
The main argument against expanding fossil fuel use is catastrophic global warming. If you accept that, then economic and employment counterarguments had better be solid.
As an Alberta-born-and-raised earth scientist who has made a career studying fossil fuels and energy issues, I am dismayed at the bombardment of ads from the Alberta government on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Trans Mountain is on track to deliver Canadian oil producers a $2-billion taxpayer-funded toll subsidy for capacity on its existing pipeline and has asked the federal pipeline regulator, the National Energy Board (NEB) for permission.
If the NEB approves the toll application Trans Mountain has filed with it, it will shift the burden for the roughly $3 billion Ottawa paid to buy the regulated assets onto Canadians, rather than into tolls charged to shippers where the recovery of these costs belongs.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says his state shares concerns with British Columbia about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and will continue to voice its objections any way it can.
Inslee made the comments at a joint news conference in Seattle on Thursday with B.C. Premier John Horgan, who is visiting the state to discuss partnerships on endangered killer whales, clean energy and high-speed rail.
Retired lawyer David Gooderham, 73, may soon cap a distinguished career in law with a 28-day jail sentence for contempt of court for joining protesters who have gathered to block work on the Trans Mountain pipeline.
But he says it’s worth the risk if it gives him a chance to trigger the first-ever court hearing in Canada on the validity of the science of climate change and the implications of federal pipeline policy.
Morneau may not have been fleeced, but certainly paid at the high end of the valuation scale, apparently assuming that everything would proceed smoothly
January 31, 2019
The sticker price Kinder Morgan put on the Trans Mountain pipeline when it entered negotiations with the federal government last year was $6.5 billion. Hence, finance minister Bill Morneau and his team thought they’d scored a bargain when they sealed the deal at $4.4 billion.
But it looks increasingly like he may bought a cat in a sack.
