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EthicalOil.org stands for big oil - nothing else
Submitted by John Bennett on Sun, 2012-01-22 22:54
First, I want to apologize in advance for the length of this blog. So much has happened over the past week I can’t be pithy!
I want to start by thanking everyone who sent kind and encouraging words this week via email, phone, Facebook and Twitter. I also want to congratulate the 1300+ of you who proudly declared themselves “radicals” in their letters to Joe Oliver. The response has really overwhelmed me.
The Insightful Comment of the Week Award came from Day #1 of the Northern Gateway Pipeline hearings and goes to Ellis Ross, Haisla Nation Chief, who said of Enbridge’s proposed pipeline: “No matter how idiot proof you make it, they just keep making better idiots”. I found this to be the ultimate precautionary statement, and a great way to kick-off the hearings!... Read more »
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Who Owns Our Oil Sands? Foreign corporations stake their claims to our resources
Submitted by Webmaster on Sat, 2012-01-21 14:41
Foreign corporations, some controlled by national governments, have been using their economic clout to buy into Alberta's oil sands and take control of our natural resources.
U.S., French, British, Chinese, Thai, Korean and Norwegian interests have all bought stakes in oil-sands projects. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), international companies have invested nearly $20 billion in the last three years through mergers, partnerships and outright purchases of projects.
This increased foreign investment raises questions. Who has the right to develop our natural resources? Who sets the rules for how these resources are developed? Who controls where the resources are processed and sold?... Read more »
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Foes fear losing their charitable status
Environmentalists are fearful that the Conservative government is planning to limit their advocacy role after Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained that groups flush with "foreign money" are undermining a controversial pipeline review.
Mr. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver stoked activists' fears in recent days by lashing out at environmental groups that have taken money from U.S. donors to build opposition to the $6.6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry oil-sands bitumen to the British Columbia coast.... Read more »
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Demonization of environmentalists stifles debate
On Jan. 9, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver penned an open letter to Canadians that lumped environmental organizations and advocates with un-named "other radical groups." The letter came three days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper parroted the aggressive oil lobby, suggesting that public hearings reviewing the Enbridge pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to the British Columbia coast at Kitimat and coastal crude oil tankers were being "hijacked" by "foreign interests."
... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://tinyurl.com/demonizing-enviros - Login to post comments
Attack on 'radicals' sign of tougher federal strategy
CBC Video (January 2012)
Pipeline debate heats up Sierra Club executive director John Bennett and Ethical Oil spokesperson Kathryn Marshall discuss the public hearings for the Northern Gateway pipeline and whether opponents are acting on behalf of foreign interests Watch: 10:51
CBC News (January 2012)
If the federal government's salvo at environmentalists opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline this week came as a surprise to some, it was a welcome defence of an important economic project to others.... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/politics/story/2012/01/11/pol-gateway-pipeline-strateg... - Login to post comments
Canada’s Resources Minister calls enviros ‘radical groups’
Ottawa - Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, has called opponents of the country’s energy markets “radical groups” who threaten its energy market with their “radical ideological agenda.”
In an open letter on Monday, Oliver started a firestorm when he said Canada must diversify its energy markets away from U.S.
Link to source site:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317726 - Login to post comments
Foes of Northern Gateway pipeline fear revocation of charitable status
Environmentalists are fearful that the Conservative government is planning to limit their advocacy role after Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained that groups flush with “foreign money” are undermining a controversial pipeline review.
Mr. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver stoked activists’ fears in recent days by lashing out at environmental groups that have taken money from U.S. donors to build opposition to the $6.6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry oil-sands bitumen to the British Columbia coast.
The Conservative-dominated Commons finance committee is set to begin a review of the charity sector, and several activists say government MPs have told business groups that the committee will look at the environmental sector’s transparency, its advocacy role and the flow of funds from outside the country.... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/foes-of-northern-gateway-pipeline-f... - Login to post comments
Pipeline critics hit back after Oliver warns of 'radicals'
Canada's natural resources minister has entered the fray over the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline with a controversial public letter accusing "radical" environmentalists of trying to delay the project and undermine the country's economic interests.
In an open letter released on the eve of the first public hearing on the proposal, Joe Oliver says environmentalists and other "radical" groups are trying to hijack the regulatory process.
More than 4,300 groups and individuals have signed up to speak at the regulatory panel hearings, which begin Tuesday in Kitimat, B.C.
"Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth," Oliver wrote in the letter. "No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams."... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120109/Pipeline-critics-hit-back-after-Ol... - Login to post comments
Now I'm a radical ...
Submitted by John Bennett on Mon, 2012-01-09 19:59
The Federal Government is engaged in an unprecedented campaign to damage the credibility of the environmental movement. In the latest move, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver (apparently replacing Environment Minister Peter Kent as the chief anti-environmentalist government spokesperson) submitted an “open letter” to the media. In it, he links “radicals and environmental groups” and charges they are against everything. ... Read more »
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Environmentalists sound alarm over Harper gov't stand on pipeline review
Conservation activists are attacking as anti-democratic Ottawa’s concern that the approval process for a controversial pipeline risks being hijacked by foreign interests and “radical groups.”
Hearings have not started on the Northern Gateway, a proposed pipeline that would carry oil from Alberta to the Pacific coast, but a huge number of people have signed up to speak. In recent days the federal government has been making critical noises about how long the process might take and alleging foreign meddling.
“It’s an extraordinary position for a government to stake out in a third-party regulatory review that has not begun yet,” Gerald Butts, president and CEO of WWF Canada said in a phone interview Monday morning. “Just because a lot of people want to talk, it doesn’t mean the process is broken. In fact, a lot of people would say the opposite.”... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/conservation-activists-fire-warning... - Login to post comments
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