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Environment / Re: Proposed pipelines and opposition
« on: March 06, 2013, 11:57:49 PM »Quote
Appears to have been written by a contractor for TransCanada!! for an undisclosed amount of money
Amazingly enough, Toe, that's how it's normally done.
INTERIM GUIDANCE FOR THE USE OF THIRD-PARTY CONTRACTORS IN
PREPARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Quote
A “third party contractor” is a contractor that is selected by, chosen by and working under the direction of a federal agency, but that is being paid by the applicant.
If you want your megaproject to go through, you pay for the required environmental impact study done by a third party contractor - hence the ERM-TransCanada 2012 contract.
If the State Dept did the work themselves, conflict-of-interest rules would kick in; not so with industry contractors who all have ties to each other.
The problem with the last two Keystone EIS's was that they were done by Cardno Entrix, a company with an existing relationship with TransCanada and on the recommendation of TransCanada to the State Dept! They also handled the State Dept pipeline webpage and all the public hearings on the pipeline.
I wrote about this here and here in July/Sept 2011. Think Progress picked it up with more info - same writer you link to above - and 3 months later the NYT did an expose, causing a new EIS to be done.
The problem with the new contractor, ERM, is that while they don't have a prior direct relationship to TransCanada, the point firmly made by the State Dept, they farmed the work out to other companies who do - like EnSysEnergy who work for Koch Industries. Koch's of course is where the pipeline starts.
Edit : added link to State Dept.
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Canada / Re: Crown / First Nations Summit
« on: February 25, 2013, 12:32:34 PM »
ITCCS, International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State, is Kevin Annett.
I dunno what to say, Toe. Look up Kevin Annett.
I dunno what to say, Toe. Look up Kevin Annett.
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Politics / Re: Stephen Harper's Maj Gov 2011
« on: February 25, 2013, 02:19:33 AM »
Jason Kenney's voter outreach agenda runs into an entirely predictable spot of bother
Jason Kenney visited Toronto-area Islamic centre tied to organization that disseminated anti-Semitic literature
Jason Kenney visited Toronto-area Islamic centre tied to organization that disseminated anti-Semitic literature
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Environment / Re: tar sands
« on: February 17, 2013, 09:07:39 PM »
Oilsands tailings leaking into groundwater, Joe Oliver told in memo last June
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Tailings ponds from oilsands production are leaking and contaminating Alberta’s groundwater, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in an internal memo obtained by Postmedia News.[/size][/font]Mike De Souza :
The memo, released through access to information legislation, said that federal government scientists, including Quebec City-based research geoscientist Martine Savard, had discovered evidence of the contamination in new research that rejected longstanding claims that toxins in the region of the Athabasca River were coming from natural sources.
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#NRCan[/url] said scientists not available 4 interviews about research confirming groundwater contamination in #oilsands[/url][/font]
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Weather / Re: February pewter mornings
« on: February 17, 2013, 08:51:11 PM »
BoomBoom, Lagatta : Surrey borders on the ocean and Fraser River
Average summer temperature 22C (+72F),
[/size]Average winter temperature 5C (+42F),
[/size]Average Annual Rainfall 1050mm (41in.)
Average summer temperature 22C (+72F),
[/size]Average winter temperature 5C (+42F),
[/size]Average Annual Rainfall 1050mm (41in.)
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Write On! / Re: Recent blogposts
« on: February 14, 2013, 02:36:34 PM »
RoboCon : RMG and the US Right to Life Committee
Steve's CIMS data robocorp does some cross-border rightwing lobbying
Steve's CIMS data robocorp does some cross-border rightwing lobbying
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Weather / Re: February pewter mornings
« on: February 14, 2013, 02:29:13 PM »
An older friend once told me that sometime going into the middle of your life, you start getting rid of the bits that don' t work properly. Good riddance to it!
