GreenWatch

B. McPherson Foreign companies and countries(China) control much of Canada's oil industry Today the northern BC town of Prince Rupert hosted the panel hearing concerns and information about the effect of increased oil tanker traffic on the BC coast if the Enbridge Gateway pipelines are allowed to be built. It is estimated that over 200 supertankers will ply the treacherous coastline to carry oil sands product to Asia. The hearings are expected to continue in Rupert until December 17. To help underline the hazards of big ships and the ocean, a tanker limped into the Rupert harbour on the 6 th with a crack in the hull. It is expected to be repaired and out on the water within a week. Further south, at Westshore Terminals, the big coal terminal, a freighter slammed into the trestle and coal loading facility destroying about 100 meters. The ship is reported to have had a pilot on board when the accident happened. Fortunately only coal tumbled into the ocean with this i...

B. McPherson Ethiopia has a rich resource in the Omo River and Lake Turkana. Fertile lands fed by annual floods provide a renewal of the agricultural land each rainy season. The Omo River falls from the highlands to Lake Turkana providing opportunities for hydro-electric production. The only obstacle to rapid development of hydro-electricity and massive plantations is that the land is occupied and has been occupied for thousands of years. The people there who have lived peacefully and self sufficiently are being forcibly removed from their traditional areas and herded into small reservations. They will lose their cattle and lose their agricultural lands. The government of Ethiopia has partly finished the Gibe III Dam which, when finished will be the largest in Africa. The impoundment of water will end the seasonal renewal of the land. On the other hand, electricity generated by the dam will be able to power electric lights in Adis Ababa with enough power left over to ...

B. McPherson Economist Robyn Allan has strong words about the economic feasibility of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project. Allan is quoted in the Calgary Herald this morning: "The emperor has no clothes," Allan said in an interview. "We're told it is a gross producing economic opportunity, but in fact it's an oil price shock to the economy." Allan, a respected economist, once named in the top 200 CEOs in Canada, presented her report to the commission charged with hearings about the project which would ship bitumen (oil sands product) overseas. Her report that the proposed pipeline would have a depressing effect on the Canadian economy is in sharp contrast to the sunny predictions put about by the Canadian PM Steven Harper and his Minister of Natural Resources of many good jobs and wealth to the government coffers. The cards seemed stacked from the start of the hearings into the pipeline project when the Minister of Natural R...