By Gene Johnson • The Associated Press • Nov. 22, 2019 at 10:28 am | Updated Nov. 24, 2019 at 2:20 pm SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state dealt a setback Friday to efforts to build one of the world’s biggest methanol plants on the Columbia River, saying that five years in, its backers had failed to
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Liberals won’t scrap environmental assessment bill, but seek ‘constructive suggestions’ on implementation, CBC
Frustrated opponents of C-69 want federal government to amend law overhauling approvals process. Kathleen Harris • CBC News • Posted: Nov 21, 2019 11:15 AM ET | Last Updated: November 21, 2019 The Liberal government is open to “constructive suggestions” on implementing a contentious new law overhauling the environmental assessment process for major resource projects — but it has
MORE »Newsom Freezes New Fracking Permits in California, Courthouse News Service
Citing the need for enhanced studies on the environmental impacts caused by two popular oil and gas drilling techniques, California officials announced Tuesday the state is suspending new permits for fracking and high-pressure steam operations. Nick Cahill • November 19, 2019 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) – Citing the need for enhanced studies on the environmental impacts
MORE »California Governor Cracks Down On Fracking, Requires Audits And Scientific Review, NPR
November 19, 20199:08 PM ET RICHARD GONZALES California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed new regulations Tuesday on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and curbed steam-injected oil drilling in his state, extractive methods long opposed by environmentalists. Under the new initiatives: New permits for fracking will be subject to independent scientific review by experts at the Lawrence
MORE »Millions of Gallons Of Oily Water Have Surfaced In A Kern County Oil Field, And More Keeps Coming, Valley Public Radio, NPR for Central California
By Kerry Klein • Nov 15, 2019 Juan Flores remembers sitting in a meeting in July when his phone started blowing up. He’s a community organizer with the non-profit advocacy group Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. “A fellow colleague in environmental justice work, he literally called me three times,” he says. Not wanting
MORE »Trudeau offers to consult with detractors on implementation of new environmental-assessment law, Globe and Mail ($)
Marieke Walsh • Ottawa The federal government says it won’t make changes to its environmental-assessment legislation for major infrastructure projects, but it is open to suggestions on how to implement the new review process. Some of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s most vocal critics have repeated calls for the government to repeal Bill C-69, which the
MORE »Conservationists Sue to Block Federal Oil and Gas Leases in California, Courthouse News Service
Nick Cahill • October 30, 2019 (CN) – California environmental groups sued the Trump administration Wednesday to thwart plans to auction over 700,000 acres to the fossil fuel industry, calling the potential of new fracking operations a threat to the San Francisco Bay Area’s wildlife and aquifers. Filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and
MORE »California fines Chevron over Kern County oil leaks, LA Times ($)
By Associated PressBAKERSFIELD California regulators have fined Chevron $2.7 million for violations at a facility in Kern County where there have been multiple oil leaks. The Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources said Wednesday that Chevron illegally allowed uncontrolled oil releases at Cymric oil field. The seep out of the ground
MORE »Federal appeals court strikes blow to PennEast pipeline project, StateImpact Pennsylvania (NPR)
The Third Circuit decision blocks PennEast from condemning state-owned land in New Jersey Susan Phillips • September 10, 2019 | 5:41 PM A federal appeals court has blocked PennEast pipeline company from condemning state-owned land for its proposed 116-mile long line that would ship Marcellus Shale gas from northeast Pennsylvania to New Jersey. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel
MORE »Federal government announces new Canada Energy Regulator appointments, JWN Energy
By JWN staff Cassie Doyle, a former deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada and a former Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) board member, will chair the board of directors of the new Canada Energy Regulator (CER). The vice-chair is George Vegh, head of McCarthy Tétrault’s national energy regulatory practice and leader of its Toronto energy regulation practice.
MORE »Canadian Energy Regulator officially replaces NEB, iPolitics
By Marco Vigliotti • Published on Aug 28, 2019 6:00am After some 60 years, the National Energy Board is officially no more. At 12:01 a.m. (Eastern time) today, the regulatory body that oversaw interprovincial and international energy infrastructure like oil and gas pipelines and power lines was officially replaced by the new Canadian Energy Regulator (CER),
MORE »Liberals get passing grade on restoring environment protections, National Observer ($)
By Fatima Syed • August 7th 2019 Environmental groups have given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government a passing grade on its efforts to restore protections to Canada’s natural habitats, which the Liberals say are in jeopardy if the Conservatives return to power following this fall’s federal election. Nature Canada has created a report card — in
MORE »As megaproject nears completion, methylmercury concerns at Muskrat Falls linger, Global News
By Holly McKenzie-Sutter · The Canadian Press · Posted July 30, 2019 12:57 pm The $12.7-billion Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam in Labrador is finally nearing completion, billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. But as the public is offered a final say at inquiry hearings Tuesday night in St. John’s and Aug. 8 in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, the
MORE »Weighing the methylmercury risk: What researchers say about country food, CBC
Bailey White · CBC News · Posted: Jul 26, 2019 7:00 AM NT | Last Updated: July 26, 2019 When the Muskrat Falls reservoir is flooded next month, people who harvest food from Lake Melville will have to make a decision. Should they keep the same eating habits they’ve always had, and risk consuming higher levels of methylmercury? Or,
MORE »Nalcor’s $10M deal with NunatuKavut hammered out in a page and a half, CBC
Bailey White · CBC News · Posted: Jul 24, 2019 2:56 PM NT | Last Updated: July 24, 2019 It took fewer than 300 words to cement a deal that will see Crown corporation Nalcor transfer $10 million to the NunatuKavut Community Council, an Indigenous group in Labrador. The page-and-a-half long agreement stipulates the council use the money to fund
MORE »A Runaway Train Explosion Killed 47, but Deadly Cargo Still Rides the Rails, New York Times ($)
When things go wrong, those in power often promise to make it right. But do they? In this series, The Times is going back to the scene of major news events to see if those promises were kept. By Ian Austen The runaway train hurtled into the center of town shortly after midnight, with no one aboard
MORE »Chevron spills 800,000 gallons of oil and water in Kern County canyon, LA Times ($)
By Associated Press California authorities said Friday that crews are beginning to clean up a massive oil spill that dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil and water into a Kern County canyon, making it larger — if less devastating — than the state’s last two major oil spills. The seep, which has been flowing off
MORE »Premier Dwight Ball defends decision to carry on with Muskrat Falls megaproject despite ballooning costs, Globe and Mail ($)
Holly Mckenzie-Sutter • The Canadian Press • Published: July 4, 2019ST. JOHN’S, N.L. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Premier says the joy of his 2015 election victory was short-lived as he began to realize the dire financial situation brought on by the Muskrat Falls hydro megaproject’s runaway costs. Liberal Premier Dwight Ball took the stand Thursday at the public inquiry
MORE »Controversial environmental-review bill becomes law, Globe and Mail ($)
Shawn Mccarthy • Global Energy Reporter • Ottawa The Liberal government received royal assent on Friday for its contentious Bill C-69, the culmination of its effort to revamp how Ottawa reviews major resource projects that began soon after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took power in 2015. As part of an environmental platform, Mr. Trudeau campaigned
MORE »E.P.A. Finalizes Its Plan to Replace Obama-Era Climate Rules, New York Times ($)
By Lisa Friedman • June 19, 2019 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday replaced former President Barack Obama’s effort to reduce planet-warming pollution from coal plants with a new rule that would keep plants open longer and undercut progress on reducing carbon emissions. The rule represents the Trump administration’s most direct effort to protect the
MORE »United Nations calls for methyl mercury mitigation at Muskrat Falls, The Telegram
UN special envoy on human rights calls on federal government to review methylmercury mitigation efforts David Maher · Published: Jun 07, 2019 at 9:15 p.m.ST. JOHN’S, N.L. The United Nations has called on the federal government to “prevent the release of methylmercury” at Muskrat Falls. Baskut Tunach, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous
MORE »Inslee pulls support from two Western Washington natural gas projects, Seattle Times ($)
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times staff reporter • May 9, 2019 at 12:00 am Gov. Jay Inslee — citing the “accelerating threat of climate change” — withdrew support Wednesday for two Western Washington natural-gas projects: one in Kalama that would turn this fossil fuel into methanol, and another in Tacoma that would produce a transportation fuel for
MORE »Controversial Kalama Methanol Plant May Be Misleading Public, Regulators, OPB
By Molly Solomon (OPB) • April 19, 2019 9:30 p.m.VANCOUVER, WASH. Nearly four years ago, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee touted a new company that was coming to Kalama to revolutionize the methanol market. On that sunny August day on the banks of the Columbia River, Inslee spoke alongside city and county leaders, business people and executives from NW
MORE »Contested Muskrat Falls methylmercury recommendation could cost $742M, CBC
Environment minister says government reviewing report from committee established after hunger strikes Daniel MacEachern · CBC News · Posted: Apr 11, 2018 1:15 PM NT | Last Updated: April 11, 2018 One of several new Muskrat Falls recommendations has given the Newfoundland and Labrador government a tough choice. The government can remove soil from the project’s reservoir to help keep methylmercury levels
MORE »Trump’s order would make it harder to block pipelines, and projects such as Longview coal-export terminal, Seattle Times ($)
By Hal Bernton • Seattle Times staff reporter • April 10, 2019 at 7:49 pm | Updated April 11, 2019 at 9:32 am President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that could make it harder for state governments to block energy-development projects such as a proposed coal-export terminal in southwest Washington that has failed to get a permit
MORE »Trump signs executive orders to stop states from delaying energy projects, Globe and Mail ($)
Jeff Mason and Timothy Gardner • Reuters • Published April 10, 2019 | Updated April 11, 2019 U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders in the heart of the Texas energy hub on Wednesday seeking to speed natural gas, coal and oil projects delayed by coastal states as he looks to build support ahead
MORE »Advisory committee recommendations about Muskrat Falls deserve action: chair, The Telegram
Important to spread message Lake Melville area fish, seal safe to eat Ashley Fitzpatrick · Published: Apr 08, 2019 at 9:52 p.m.ST. JOHN’S, N.L. Premier Dwight Ball is preparing for a meeting with Indigenous leaders to discuss methylmercury and the recommendations of the Independent Expert Advisory Committee (IEAC) for the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project. The Telegram was
MORE »Trump signs permit for construction of controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Washington Post ($)
By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin March 29, 2019 at 5:55 p.m. EDT President Trump signed a new order Friday granting permission for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, marking the White House’s latest effort to jump-start one of the most controversial infrastructure proposals in recent U.S. history. Trump’s presidential permit gives TransCanada, the Calgary-based firm behind
MORE »How PG&E Ignored Fire Risks in Favor of Profits, New York Times ($)
By Ivan Penn, Peter Eavis and James Glanz | Graphics by Keith Collins and Jugal K. Patel • March 18, 2019 Tower 27/222 looms almost 100 feet tall in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a hunk of steel that has endured through 18 United States presidents. The transmission lines that it supports keep electricity flowing to
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