The world's best thinkers on energy and climate
The race is on for electric vehicle supremacy. Last week, China — the world’s second largest economy and consumer of about one-third of new cars — announced it will set a deadline for automakers to end sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, in a move that is expected to accelerate the global push into the electric car market. … [Read more...]
This week marks the three-year anniversary of the Mount Polley mine disaster, which sent 24 million cubic metres of mining waste into Quesnel Lake, making it one of the worst environmental disasters in Canadian history. It’ll be a stinging reminder of the tailings pond collapse for local residents, especially considering no charges have been laid against Imperial Metals, owner and operator of Mount Polley. … [Read more...]
Canada’s move to reduce methane emissions from its oil and gas sector passed another milestone this week, as the deadline passed for stakeholders to submit comments about the proposed regulations to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). EDF issued extensive comments commending ECCC for moving forward, but urging decision makers to address some critical weaknesses of the draft rules. … [Read more...]
Spring flooding in Canada this year upended lives, inundated city streets and swamped houses, prompting calls for sandbags, seawalls and dikes to save communities. Ontario and Quebec's April rainfall was double the 30-year average. Thousands of homes in 130 Quebec municipalities stretching from the Ontario border to the Gaspé Peninsula flooded in May. … [Read more...]
In a sign of growing recognition of the global methane opportunity, the Government of Canada today proposed new regulations that aim to curb methane emissions across the Canadian oil and gas industry. This marks the first regulatory package to be introduced by the Trudeau administration for Canada to meet its overall climate goals. … [Read more...]
Owners of the Alliance pipeline, one of the longest natural gas pipelines in North America, are in the early stages of assessing interest in expanding its capacity to transport natural gas from western Canada to Chicago, Illinois. The Alliance pipeline is unique because, unlike other natural gas pipelines that only transport natural gas after it has been processed, Alliance carries unprocessed natural gas. … [Read more...]
Two studies released this week make it clear that Canada’s push toward methane regulations for the oil and gas industry is a smart move. And, while data of Canada’s oil and gas methane problem is still limited, these studies reinforce what research of the U.S. oil and gas industry found: oil and gas facilities are leaking far more than the industry reports — and more than it would like us to believe. … [Read more...]
The last few months have been marked by some massive shifts in the oil sands. In December, there was the $830 million Statoil sale to Athabasca Oil, followed in January and February by the writing down of billions of barrels of reserves by Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. On March 9, Shell sold a majority of its oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) in a huge $7.25 billion sale, while Marathon Oil split its … [Read more...]
U.S. states are accelerating steps to reduce oil and gas air pollution. Just last week Ohio – which has a Republican Governor, and Republican-controlled Senate and House – joined the list of states targeting oil and gas emissions with a new methane policy that requires operators to check for leaks at compressor stations four times a year. Showing that it’s not a matter of politics, but smart policy to require oil and gas companies to regularly … [Read more...]
Darlington power plant helps fuel NASA’s space exploration. A Canadian nuclear plant is stepping up to ensure NASA’s ongoing exploration of deep space continues for years to come. The Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ontario will produce and harvest Plutonium-238, a spacecraft fueling agent, for NASA. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and its venture arm, Canadian Nuclear Partners, have teamed up to fill the gap left … [Read more...]
Canada is the largest energy trading partner of the United States. Based on the latest annual data from the U.S. Census Bureau, energy accounted for about 5% of the value of all U.S. exports to Canada and more than 19% of the value of all U.S. imports from Canada in 2016. While the value of bilateral energy trade with Canada has varied over past decade, driven primarily by changes in prices of oil and natural gas, the overall structure of … [Read more...]
In the coming months, TransCanada will likely receive a green light to build the final leg of its Keystone pipeline network, which would carry Canadian tar sands to Gulf of Mexico refineries. President-elect Trump has said that, during his first 100 days in office, he will reverse President Obama’s decision to block the Keystone XL Pipeline. If built, TransCanada maintains that the Keystone pipeline will be the safest pipeline ever built. But … [Read more...]
Brian Stevens first learned about the Lac-Megantic disaster — in which an unattended oil train caught fire and exploded, killing 47 people in the Quebec town — when he saw the news reports on TV. Stevens is currently National Rail Director for Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, but he previously spent 16 years as an air-brake mechanic working on trains. At a recent conference in Ottawa examining lessons from the 2013 Lac-Megantic … [Read more...]
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