Already battered by plunging oil prices, Western Canada has another big problem: the collapse of coal. Alberta and British Columbia are suffering from the fallout of a severe downturn in the global coal market, brought on by China’s rapidly cooling industrial demand and the growing shift away from coal-fired electricity generation. It’s troubled times for an industry that’s long been a quietly powerful force in the Canadian economy.
While world leaders were meeting in Paris to tackle climate change, Port Metro Vancouver approved Fraser Surrey Docks’ application for a thermal coal facility on the shores of the Fraser River.
Fraser Surrey Docks applied to Port Metro Vancouver to amend its existing permit to build and operate a direct transfer coal facility, where coal would be loaded onto ocean-going vessels and shipped to Asia. The site is located across the river from Westminster Quay and Queensborough.
How times have changed in 2015. Just days away from the Paris climate conference, Prime Minister Trudeau met with the Premiers to talk about working together to make Canada a leader on climate. Compare this to PM Harper, who never met with the Premiers, championed the oil and gas industry, and if anything was a disruptive force in global climate negotiations. And leading the march to Paris?
An American coal company will no longer ship coal through Delta’s Westshore Terminals starting in 2016.
In an October 28 press release, Cloud Peak Energy announced it had entered into an amended agreement with Westshore to cease shipping coal starting in 2016 and through to 2018. Cloud Peak will make a series of payments to Westshore in lieu of its take-or-pay commitments — worth $454 million for 2016 to 2018 — to ship coal through the terminal.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Longshore workers and marine clerks who have moved cargo at the Ports of Oakland and San Francisco since 1934 have rejected a developer’s plan to export coal through former Oakland Army Base. International Longshore and Warehouse Union elected officials say coal is an undesirable, low-value cargo and a broken promise on the part of the developer, and longshore workers are standing by community members who do not want the worry and risks of nine million tons of coal passing through their neighborhoods on trains each year.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama launched America’s most ambitious attempt yet to tackle greenhouse gas emissions Monday, pushing ahead with tough restrictions on power stations in the teeth of fierce opposition from industry and the Republicans.
With one eye clearly on his political legacy, Obama said he was committing the United States, which relies on coal for much of its power needs, to leading the world on climate change “because I believe there is such a thing as being too late.”
The following is a presentation by Sean Sweeney to the 'Democracy Rising' conference in Athens, Greece on July 18, 2015. Sean Sweeney, PhD, is Coordinator of Trade Unions for Energy Democracy. He recently joined the Murphy Institute at City University of New York to direct its International Program for Labor, Climate and the Environment.
Third memorandum or Grexit: What are the implications for the future of Greece’s energy system?
