Some N.W.T. pipeline recommendations rejected - Vancouver Sun
The Canadian Federal and Northwest Territories governments have not adopted all the environmental recommendations made by the Joint Review Panel.
This really isn't a surprise; at least some of these recommendations are better served by the proponents, for one thing, and some would appear to directly contradict current policy.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
I repeat: I'm not dead yet!
Don't give up on the gas pipeline: AlaskaDispatch Blog
The Alaska Dispatch blog gets a lot more visibility than I do, but I want to pass this piece along. Essentially, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes right now. It's not all terribly visible, but it doesn't mean there isn't work being done.
AGIA is not a failure at this point, in fact it's moved the ball forward considerably. The process of permitting a line is expensive and time-consuming.
We'll have a much better idea of just how feasible the TCAlaska project is when they release the results of their Open Season.
The Alaska Dispatch blog gets a lot more visibility than I do, but I want to pass this piece along. Essentially, there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes right now. It's not all terribly visible, but it doesn't mean there isn't work being done.
AGIA is not a failure at this point, in fact it's moved the ball forward considerably. The process of permitting a line is expensive and time-consuming.
We'll have a much better idea of just how feasible the TCAlaska project is when they release the results of their Open Season.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Prentice Leaves Politics
CBC News - North - Baird takes over Mackenzie pipeline file
This was a surprising development: Canadian Environment minister Jim Prentice suddenly announced his retirement from politics, taking a senior executive position with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. With this departure, the MVP file is being handed to John Baird.
This CBC piece includes some quotes from analyst Ian Doig suggesting that Prentice may have left over frustrations with the MVP, though I have to say that seems unlikely. There has been considerable speculation on exactly why Prentice chose to leave now (not to mention some raised eyebrows over his moving immediately into a powerful position with one of Canada's largest banks), and there could be any number of reasons why he chose to go now.
This was a surprising development: Canadian Environment minister Jim Prentice suddenly announced his retirement from politics, taking a senior executive position with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. With this departure, the MVP file is being handed to John Baird.
This CBC piece includes some quotes from analyst Ian Doig suggesting that Prentice may have left over frustrations with the MVP, though I have to say that seems unlikely. There has been considerable speculation on exactly why Prentice chose to leave now (not to mention some raised eyebrows over his moving immediately into a powerful position with one of Canada's largest banks), and there could be any number of reasons why he chose to go now.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
US Midterms: Fallout?
I didn't comment much during the height of the US midterms, in part because I was far too entertained by the Alaska races to actually spend time writing about them.
In the final analysis, the results of two of the races stood a chance to affect Alaska Highway projects, and in both cases we seem to have the status quo: Sean Parnell is still Governor, and it looks likely that Lisa Murkowski will return to the US Senate (as of this writing, the write-in ballots have not yet been read, so there could be some controversy, but it looks like a strong finish for the incumbent).
In terms of getting a project underway as soon as possible, this was likely the best outcome we could hope for. Parnell was appointed to replace Sarah Palin when she resigned as governor, and has stood in full support of her AGIA process, under which TransCanada Pipelines is the successful licensee. Murkowski, at the federal level, has a strong role to play in making sure that the loan guarantees currently in place don't go anywhere, and in expediting the permitting process where she can. Her experience with this file will be valuable in the next year.
AGIA opponents hounded Parnell during the campaign, insisting he press for the release of results from TCPL's open season earlier this year. Evidently, he didn't see the need to do this, though there is some sense we'll see this by the end of the year.
In the final analysis, the results of two of the races stood a chance to affect Alaska Highway projects, and in both cases we seem to have the status quo: Sean Parnell is still Governor, and it looks likely that Lisa Murkowski will return to the US Senate (as of this writing, the write-in ballots have not yet been read, so there could be some controversy, but it looks like a strong finish for the incumbent).
In terms of getting a project underway as soon as possible, this was likely the best outcome we could hope for. Parnell was appointed to replace Sarah Palin when she resigned as governor, and has stood in full support of her AGIA process, under which TransCanada Pipelines is the successful licensee. Murkowski, at the federal level, has a strong role to play in making sure that the loan guarantees currently in place don't go anywhere, and in expediting the permitting process where she can. Her experience with this file will be valuable in the next year.
AGIA opponents hounded Parnell during the campaign, insisting he press for the release of results from TCPL's open season earlier this year. Evidently, he didn't see the need to do this, though there is some sense we'll see this by the end of the year.
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