Northern Gateway
News
Mulroney minister hopes spill turns Tories against pipeline Globe and Mail. When Tom Siddon, a cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government, was a boy, he would go fishing on Alberta’s Red Deer River. Today, he predicts Christy Clark's silence on Enbridge could be election killer for BC Liberals.

Opinion
Editorial: Spills pump urgency into review of old pipelines Edmonton Journal. Given that there have been at least eight other major pipeline spills in Alberta since 2006, it is alarming that the Energy Resources Conservation Board is not tracking the age and replacement of the estimated 400,000 kilometres-plus of oil and gas pipelines. "What the government and the energy companies first need to understand is that opposition to those projects [Northern Gateway, TransMountain and Keystone] is justified".

CBC's The Current: An interview with Premier Christy Clark An audio link with some key quotes: "The pipeline is going to be great for Canada, great for Alberta, it will have some benefit for British Columbia, but not a large one, although British Columbians will be taking 100 per cent of the risk." "I want to know what the balance of the risks and the benefits are going to be. We don't have a good sense of either at the moment." Clark also slams the NDP for taking a position and says it'll put a chill on investment. Asked about a revenue-sharing deal, she says it hasn't been discussed with Alberta yet, but says that may be a discussion we get into. 

Donohue sees U.S. silver lining if Canada ships its black gold to China Postmedia News, also Globe and Mail. Tom Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the expansion of Canadian energy exports to Asia via the Northern Gateway and TransMountain pipelines would be in the American national interest, in a speech in Montreal yesterday.

Spill heats up pipeline politics in B.C. Surrey Now. Keith Baldrey, chief political reporter for Global BC, speculates on the backlash effect of last week's Red Deer River oil spill between Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain pipeline proposals. 

Letters
Spin on leaks a disgrace Edmonton Journal. Dr. John O'Connor of Fort McKay says that Premier Redford's spinning response to the Red Deer River oilspill is "so obvious and disgraceful". He claims that Alberta has boasted for years about its 'world-class monitoring'. . . so "why is it now establishing a 'world-class monitoring' program? Evidence of adverse effects has been there for years."

Pipeline simply not good for the region Terrace Standard. Earle Tupper of Terrace says that lawsuits from the Exxon Valdez oil spill 23 years ago continue to this day. He contends that we should expect nothing different from Enbridge should an oil spill happen on our coast.

General
News
Great Bear Forest to Be Massive Carbon Offset Project The Tyee. Although this news development is not directly related to tankers and pipelines, it is of major importance to the conservation debate. Eight coastal First Nations will harvest money from trees without saws in the pending Great Bear Project, among the biggest forest-carbon projects every conceived. 

Opinion
Dutch disease infects think-tank report on oil boom Vancouver Sun. Robyn Allan, a former ICBC CEO and former senior economist of the B.C. Central Credit Union, effectively debunks a report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute that claims Canada does not suffer from Dutch disease. The Institute's report was used extensively by the Conservatives to discredit Mulcair's widely-reported contention of Dutch disease caused by major development of the oil patch.

Mulcair's Dutch Disease warning supported by OECD report, Canadian Press.

Canada Green Economy: Oilsands Won't Fuel Growth, CCPA Study Says In Arguing For Economic Shift Huffington Post Canada. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-leaning think tank, in a study published yesterday gives evidence that the oil business doesn’t create as many jobs as the same amount of output would create in a green economy.