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Posts in Canada

Koch-ing the Climate: Exploiting the Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
May14
Last week, the god-father of climate science, James Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, re-iterated his warning about exploiting the tar sands in an op-ed in the New York Times. His warning was dire: “Canada’s tar sands contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our…
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Big Oil Approved Canada’s FQD Strategy
Andy Rowell
Apr30
We have known for a long time that the Canadian government was colluding with the oil and gas industry over tar sands and its campaign against Europe’s Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). But new documents have come to light that reveal the extent of that collusion, especially between Big Oil and Natural Resources Canada, the Department…
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“Bully-Boy Canada” Delays EU Action (Again)
Andy Rowell
Apr24
One of the dirtiest and diplomatically-brutal PR campaigns ever witnessed in Brussels has once again paid off. At the end of last week, the EU finally buckled to Canadian arm-twisting and delayed the introduction of the long awaited Fuel Quality Directive, which is designed to reduce carbon emissions from transport fuels. The European Council –…
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Canada’s Top Level Collusion Over the Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
Mar12
Anyone who has been following the extensive international lobbying activities of the Canadians trying to bully tar sands onto the market, will know there has been routine high level cooperation between the Federal and Albertan governments and the oil industry. But now new documents, released under Freedom of Information, reveal that the Federal and Alberta…
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New KXL Route “Within Weeks”
Andy Rowell
Mar07
And so the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline goes on. TransCanada plans to refile its application with the U.S. government in the next few weeks, according to Alex Pourbaix, the company’s president of oil and pipelines. The new alternative pipeline route will avoid the ecologically sensitive Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, a crucial water…
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Climate Denial in Canada’s Classrooms
Andy Rowell
Feb29
More bad news for the climate deniers at the Heartland Institute, which is still badly reeling from the controversial leak of information of its budget and strategy documents. It has now been revealed that an associate of the Institute taught a course at a top Canadian university that contained over 140 false, biased and misleading…
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Tar Sands: “No get-out-of-jail-free card”
Andy Rowell
Feb22
If you read some of the Canadian press coverage, a recent scientific study has offered the pro-tar sands movement a real fillip in its attempts to spin its dirty fuel as “ethical oil” that is no dirtier than conventional crude. The Canadians are now essentially arguing it gives them the scientific back-up to carry on…
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Bully-Boy Canada Threatens EU (Again)
Andy Rowell
Feb21
For over a year now I have been working on and off with Friends of the Earth Europe examining the dirty lobbying by the Canadians on the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive. Last summer we produced a report entitled “Canada’s dirty lobby diary”. The report revealed the extent of Canada’s lobbying – one of the most…
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Over 600,000 Say No to KXL
Andy Rowell
Feb14
Once again it is the many versus the money. Starting at noon yesterday, a coalition of thirty or so environmental organisations, including Oil Change International (OCI) and 350.org set out to gather at least 500,000 signatures with 24 hours to stop the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The initiative came as a response to moves within…
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Tar Sands Monitoring is “To Boost Reputation”
Andy Rowell
Feb07
Late last week the Albertan and Canadian federal governments announced a new monitoring programme for the controversial tar sands. The Canadian press are reporting this as the two governments listening to their critics and restoring badly needed credibility. The Ottawa Citizen reports this morning that it “is a positive step toward restoring Canadian credibility on…
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