Kinder Morgan threatens to pull plug on Trans Mountain Pipeline; Alberta goes wild

Remember "peak oil"? Don't worry about it. Nobody else does either. But last night on social media, Alberta appeared to be approaching "peak oil hysteria." Peak oil pipeline hysteria, anyway. I expect we'll get there today.

The proximate cause of this unusual Sunday uproar was Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.'s skillfully timed news release saying that if Canada can't quickly come up with a way to silence political opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project in British Columbia, it'll pull the plug on the plan by the end of next month.

Keystone Pipeline Leaks 5,000 Barrels Of Oil In South Dakota, TransCanada Says

A section of the Keystone oil pipeline has leaked 5,000 barrels of oil, or about 210,000 gallons, in a remote area of South Dakota, TransCanada announced Thursday.

The company said the conduit was “safely shut down” about 6 a.m. local time, in line with safety procedures, but environmental groups have pointed to the leak as evidence a sister pipeline, the Keystone XL, should be rejected in neighboring Nebraska.

TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline Spills 795,000 Litres Of Crude In South Dakota

CALGARY — TransCanada Corp. says its Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 795,000 litres of oil in Marshall County, S.D.

The company says its crews shut down the pipeline early this morning after detecting a drop in pressure and are assessing the situation.

Enbridge’s plans to build tar sands pipeline through Minnesota just hit a snag

Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 project — an effort to replace and expand an oil sands pipeline through Minnesota — hit a roadblock Monday when the state’s Department of Commerce said that the project is environmentally and economically risky and that the company has failed to show that the pipeline is even needed at all.

“Enbridge has not established a need for the proposed project; the pipeline would primarily benefit areas outside Minnesota; and serious environmental and socioeconomic risks and effects outweigh limited benefits,” the Department of Commerce said in a statement announcing its filings to the Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC is evaluating the project in advance of issuing — or denying — a Certificate of Need and a Route Permit. Public hearings will be held between September 26 and October 26, followed by additional filings and hearings. The PUC is expected to make its final determination at the end of April 2018.

TransCanada Admits Keystone XL Pipeline May Never Happen

After nine years of political rhetoric, protests and lobbying, TransCanada's fight to build the Keystone XL pipeline seemed to end in victory for the company in January, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving the project.

But fast forward half a year, and the controversial project to bring Canadian oilsands product to the U.S. Gulf Coast is no closer to reality. In an earnings call last week, the company's brass — while remaining optimistic — pretty much admitted the project may never happen.

Calgary think tank says environmentalists need to "end the charade" against oil sands

At an energy conference deep in American oil country earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received an award for his global energy and environmental leadership.

“No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there,” he told oil and gas execs. “Our job is to ensure that this is done responsibly, safely and sustainably.”

Researcher says Alberta regulator underestimating impact of thousands of oil spills

A researcher says the agency that monitors Alberta’s energy industry has underestimated the impact of tens of thousands of spills going back decades.

Kevin Timoney, an Edmonton−area consulting biologist, used sophisticated statistical analysis, an extensive research review and comparisons with other jurisdictions to conclude the Alberta Energy Regulator doesn’t have a good handle on how much oil and saline water has been released into the environment or remains there.

Expanding Tar Sands Will Kill Paris Targets and Climate Stability, Report Finds

Canada can’t increase tar sands production or build more pipelines if the world is to achieve the targets on global carbon emissions set by the Paris Agreement on climate.

That’s the central conclusion of a new report by Oil Change International (OCI), a U.S. research and advocacy group dedicated to exposing the full costs of fossil fuel extraction.

“There is no scenario in which tar sands production increases and the world achieves the Paris goals,” says the report.

How Trudeau Is Screwing Over the Generation That Got Him Elected

Let’s get something straight. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, as well as his recent support for Keystone XL, isn’t just a rebuke to Canada’s environmental movement, dozens of First Nations and the Metro Vancouver voters who elected 15 Liberal MPs.

Trudeau has effectively said “screw you” to the generation of millennials who brought him to office. “I feel betrayed,” one young activist explained. For the rest of his time in office we won’t let him forget it.

Follow the money: The oilpatch and First Nations

We got a taste this week of what financial transparency looks in the resource business — and it’s a taste that some people find mildly bitter.

The Globe and Mail got hold of a document from multinational oil company Royal Dutch Shell entitled “Report on Payments to Governments for the Year 2015”; it’s readily available now on the web.

Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Needs More Time, Proponents Say

CALGARY — Enbridge and its partners behind the Northern Gateway pipeline are asking for three more years to build support for the controversial project, but some First Nations say their opposition will never waver.

The company's Northern Gateway subsidiary and 31 aboriginal equity partners said Friday they've asked the National Energy Board for an extension to the 2016 construction deadline to secure legal and regulatory certainty as well as continue consultations.

Suncor on Expansion Spree in Down Oilpatch

Canada's largest oil sands producer, Suncor, appeared to take a sharp turn on climate change when it announced to an annual meeting of its investors in Calgary on Thursday that it will dramatically boost oil production, despite facing the lowest oil prices in a generation.

Those historic lows have hollowed out Canada's oil-sands industry with layoffs and losses -- but sent Suncor on a buying spree.

Chippewas of the Thames to seek legal injunction to stop Enbridge's Line 9

The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (COTTFN) is seriously considering filing for an immediate injunction against Enbridge's Line 9.

The injunction would force Enbridge to cease the flow of Line 9 -- currently pumping up to 300,000 barrels a day of diluted tar sands bitumen through the First Nation's territory -- at least until COTTFN's appeal to the initial ruling is heard by Supreme Court.

Global Oil Demand Forecasts Show Why Oilsands Might Never Recover

What's good for the planet won't be great for the oilsands, if two recent studies are any indication.

The price of oil could level out at anywhere between $83 and $87 per barrel from 2030 to 2050 if countries manage to pass lower-carbon policies, says a report from U.K.-based consultancy Cambridge Econometrics.

Interview: Gordon Laxer on Big Oil, Rachel Notley and a greener future

When Rachel Notley's NDP came to power last spring in Alberta, Gordon Laxer's book, After the Sands: Energy and Ecological Security for Canadians, on ecological renewal and Canadian petro-politics was already at the publisher. And so, he was given a week to do some major rewriting because he had not foreseen this political earthquake in the making.

A year later on a book touring engagement here in Hamilton, the author figures he got it right in the last minute haste to be current.

Why The Oil To Tidewater Argument For Tarsands Pipelines Is Bunk

If you follow mainstream media and you haven’t heard "we need to get our oil to tidewater" ad nauseum, something weird is up.

Be it Natural Resource Minister Carr, Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Notley or pipeline and tarsands industries, it’s a drum beat that’s building in intensity.

Here’s the thing... it’s totally wrong.

Métis Accuse Oilsands Giant CNRL Of Economic Retaliation Over Environmental Concerns

In her 68 years, Margie Wood has seen the landscape around her transformed from isolated wilderness to an intensive industrial zone. She has lived her life in the heart of what is now the Alberta oilsands.

Today her community is surrounded by open pit mines and massive upgrading plants. Pipelines and service roads snake through the trapline she once shared with her father.

Hydraulic Fracking to Blame for Big Alberta Bitumen Spill, Regulator Confirms

Three years after an eruption of 10,000 barrels of melted bitumen contaminated the boreal forest and groundwater near Cold Lake, Alberta, the provincial energy regulator has now officially blamed hydraulic fracturing, or the pressurized injection of steam into the ground for fracturing nearby rock.

The bitumen blowout occurred sometime between May and June 2013 at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s Cold Lake project, an operation that uses steam injection to melt bitumen and bring it to the surface.

Fish deformities spiked after Lac-Mégantic oil spill, report says

MONTREAL—Scientists have recorded an “unprecedented” spike in the fish deformities in the wake of the deadly 2013 train derailment and oil spill in Lac-Mégantic, Que., according to a provincial government report.

The report into the effects of the disaster on the 185-km-long Chaudière River, which begins in Lac Mégantic, found that in some parts of the river as many as 47 per cent of the fish they collected had an external deformation.

NDP Premier Rachel Notley lives the bitumen bust

The NDP promised to review royalties paid by Alberta natural gas and oil producers. Last Friday Premier Rachel Notley released the report and reacted to its findings.

It is well known that Alberta revenues from natural gas and oil have been a bargain for producers, and the four-member review panel pointed this out in its report.

It is also clear that company profits from today's prices of less than $30-a-barrel oil hardly represent pre-slump gains from more than $100 oil. Premier Notley acknowledged as much. Nothing in her announcement suggested the NDP was looking for increased government revenues from lower oil and gas prices.