Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Controversial natural gas rule changes came after B.C., oil lobby met

In January of this year, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers made a presentation to high-ranking officials in British Columbia's Environment Ministry, outlining changes they wanted to environmental review rules for natural gas projects.

Those changes became law on April 14, but they didn't stay that way for long.

An outcry from First Nations organizations forced an about-face from Environment Minister Mary Polak, who rescinded the revisions two days after they were passed by order-in-council.

Internal government documents obtained by The Canadian Press show 25 to 45 new natural gas plants will be needed to meet the government's hopes for liquefied natural gas and that the industry wanted regulatory changes expedited so they could make investment decisions.

The Environment Ministry says Polak met with "various industry and environmental organizations" to discuss the regulation change, but the documents don't make a single mention of any meetings other than with the petroleum producers' association.

The regulatory review carried out on the instructions of Premier Christy Clark continues, but the ministry says no further changes will go ahead without public review and input.

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: CP
Topics: , , , ,

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