I sent the following letter to BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) in response to Progress Energy’s extraordinary request to retroactively exempt the Lily and Town dams from environmental reviews. Such reviews should have been conducted before the dams were built. Not only did those reviews not happen, but the company also failed to obtain other …

September 30, 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first large oil sands mine and processing plant in Fort McMurray. The facility was developed by Great Canadian Oil Sands, the precursor to Suncor Energy, which is one of Canada’s largest producers of fossil fuels. Over the past five decades, the northern Alberta …

Newly uncovered documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveal the cozy relationship between the fossil fuel industry and the last BC government went even further than suspected — all the way to inviting industry to directly craft the province’s climate “leadership” plan. Let’s rewind for a second: back in the spring of 2015, then-premier …

British Columbians should not be lamenting Petronas’ decision to pull its Pacific Northwest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) proposal. Instead, they should be celebrating the demise of a project built on bad economics, climate change denial and wishful thinking. A few pundits have told the Petronas story as a tragedy. Some are blaming the brand new …

The province of Alberta, specifically its northern oil sands region, is often described as a frontier—a harsh landscape, rich with potential for those “tough” enough, “strong”enough, and “man” enough to make it. Unfortunately, like the frontiers of old, the mythologized frontier of present-day Alberta is rife with inequality, marginalization, and oppression for those who do …

In February, the government of Alberta signed a ten-year framework agreement with the Métis Nation of Alberta, emphasizing a relationship based on recognition, respect, and cooperation. In March, Alberta and the Blackfoot Confederacy signed a protocol agreement on how they will work together on economic development and other areas of concern to both parties. These …

This report examines the history of Alberta energy policies as they apply to development of the oil sands, focusing on the contrasting oil sands policies of premiers Lougheed and Klein, two of Alberta’s most popular premiers and key to oil sands development in the province. The petroleum industry has long had a strong influence on …

This report examines the argument that building pipelines to ‘tidewater’ will unlock new markets where Canadian oil can command a better price than in the US, where the majority of Canadian oil is currently exported, using Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain Extension Project as an example. The research found that problematic assumptions led to the pipeline’s approval by the …

I submitted the following to the National Energy Board, which is seeking comments on what should be included as part of the upcoming hearings on the proposed Energy East Pipeline. In particular, they are interested in arguments about the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions. The deadline for submissions is May 31 if you are inclined …

With the provincial election behind us, there’s at least one thing that the overwhelming majority of British Columbians seem to clearly agree on: we need big money out of our politics. The corrupting influence of vast sums of cash from (primarily) corporations and the wealthy in BC’s political system has received a great deal of …

In 2006 Statistics Canada drew attention to a troubling relationship between women’s equality in Alberta and the growth of extractive industries in the province. The report noted that while women in Eastern Canada were reaping the rewards of increasing education levels, greater access to affordable childcare, lower birth rates, and greater income equality, all these …

A subsidiary of Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned petro giant courted by the BC government, has built at least 16 unauthorized dams in northern BC to trap hundreds of millions of gallons of water used in its controversial fracking operations. The 16 dams are among “dozens” that have been built by Petronas and other companies without …