Sunday, March 31, 2013

Oil Pipeline Ruptures, Again and Again(Breaking News)

Breaking news, Exxon Mobile`s Alberta Bitumen Pipeline ruptures in Arkansas, homes evacuated...

I am getting sick of these environmental crimes, and a little testy..




See the shocking video here.....

http://www.treehugger.com/energy-disasters/oil-spill-arkansas-exxon-pipeline-breaks-spilling-84000-gallons-dangerously-close-lake-conway.html


Easter long weekend in Arkansas means pipeline oil spill special..

This spill in a populated city setting has made a huge mess, and guess this...

Homeowners reported the spill, homeowners reported the gushing oil, not sensors, not technology, thankfully there were roads, access to city services, the damage is limited, ...But tell me Enbridge, how do you get equipment, machinery and crews to BC`s remote interior, there will be no homeowners to report of a pipeline rupture where Enbridge`s proposed pipeline traverses, a path that includes crossing over 800 rivers and streams, all fish bearing rivers and streams..

____________

Exxon Mobil pipeline rupture spills heavy Canadian crude oil in Arkansas

 

MAYFLOWER, Ark. - Exxon Mobil Corp. says crews are working to contain and clean up an oil spill near Mayflower, Arkansas after its Pegasus pipeline ruptured Friday afternoon.

The pipeline carries Canadian heavy crude oil from Patoka, Illinois to refineries on the Texas Gulf coast.

Exxon Mobil issued a release that said the company was responding to a spill of more than 10,000 barrels, and that some 4,500 barrels of oil and water had been recovered.

The company said the 20 inch pipeline had been shut down as crews tried to prevent the spilled oil from reaching a nearby lake.
It said cleanup operations were being co-ordinated with the Department of Emergency Management and other local authorities, and that the cause of the spill was being investigated.

On Monday federal regulators proposed that Exxon Mobil pay $1.7 million in civil penalties for safety violations linked to a pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 238,000 litres of crude oil into Montana's scenic Yellowstone River in July 2011.


The spill fouled approximately 110 kilometres of the Yellowstone River's banks, killing fish and wildlife and prompting a massive, months-long cleanup.
The latest spill comes at time when proponents of the proposed Keystone X-L pipeline have been trying to convince Washington to give the seven billion dollar project the green light.
Opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s plan to pipe Alberta oilsands bitumen to the U.S. Gulf Coast denounce it as an environmental catastrophe in the making.

 http://ca.news.yahoo.com/exxon-mobil-pipeline-rupture-spills-heavy-canadian-crude-120854149.html

__________


On Thursday, I wrote about the 30,000 gallons of Canadian oil that spilled in Minnesota following a train derailment and noted the differences in oil spills caused by train accidents versus oil pipelines. Unfortunately, we now have another example of the large scale disasters oil pipelines create. On Friday, the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline, which brings Canadian crude oil from Illinois to Texas, ruptured, leaking at least 80,000 gallons of oil into the Central Arkansas town of Mayflower.
Arkansas' THV11 reports:
It was a rough start to the Easter holiday weekend after an oil spill struck in Mayflower. Authorities said as many as 40 homes had to be evacuated Friday afternoon.
Lisa Song at Inside Climate News reports on the size of the spill:
The size of the spill remains unclear. Dodson said the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated the spill at 84,000 gallons. The EPA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management did not return calls for comment.
According to a Saturday afternoon press release from Exxon, 189,000 gallons of oil and water have been recovered from the site so far, and it is prepared to clean up more than twice that amount.
 http://www.treehugger.com/energy-disasters/oil-spill-arkansas-exxon-pipeline-breaks-spilling-84000-gallons-dangerously-close-lake-conway.html


________________

These oil spills, pipeline ruptures will never stop, pipelines ruptures, it`s the nature of the beast, this is why Enbridge will never get social license to destroy our BC Watersheds..

So remote where Enbridge`s proposed pipeline travels, there are no people there, no infrastructure, no persons to call oil spill hotlines, nonothing, just bears, salmon and clean drinking water..

Enbrridge can`t shut down a pipeline in time to prevent a environmental catastrophe even if they learned of a rupture,...

What you have in pipelines is known as the hammer effect, you have 100,000`s of barrels of oil flowing through a pipeline, even when you stop pumping oil, the oil keeps flowing, a huge hammer of oil continues forward..like putting your car in neutral on a flat highway, your cars keeps moving, or a supertanker at cruising speed takes 5 miles to stop..

Items in motion stay in motion...Isaak Newton wrote laws to this affect.

___________


Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries,[1] and can be summarized as follows:
  1. First law: If there is no net force on an object, then its velocity is constant. The object is either at rest (if its velocity is equal to zero), or it moves with constant speed in a single direction.[2][3]
  2. Second law: The acceleration a of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force F acting on the body, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass m of the body, i.e., F = ma.
  3. Third law: When a first body exerts a force F1 on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force F2 = −F1 on the first body. This means that F1 and F2 are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction............
  4.  
  5.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion
_______________
600,000 barrels of oil moving through a pipeline can`t be stopped fast, the technology doesn`t exist, if one tried to instantly stop a flow of fluid on that scale in a pipeline even without a rupture, this act would in itself cause a rupture..Physics, science...We as man can`t invent news laws, we have not acquired control or even the understanding of Quantum physics...Until then..

Enbridge pipeline proposal is dead, Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver will never get permission, if the Stephen Harper regime tries to push this proposal forward there WILL be war in the woods, parliamentary expulsion or as a last resort, pitchforks and torches..

And why didn`t the Vancouver Sun report this story..Why didn`t the Province Newspaper report this story..

We know the reason, they want you uninformed of these human environmental tragedies,..They want you to elect Christy Clark, they want oil pipelines because ownership of newspaper is corporate, corporate whores want, more money, more money, more money...

David Black and his Black Press media empire has financial interest and money invested in Alberta`s oil patch..

Every oil pipeline rupture should be front page news in British Columbia`s major daily papers..



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open





Friday, March 29, 2013

Enbridge Pipeline Proposal Must End Today

The Shell Corporation was given a green-light by the US Federal Government to drill in the Arctic for oil, they have now abandoned those plans, albeit temporarily...

______

"A year ago Lawrence had said that Shell’s planned Arctic drilling “is relatively easy.” So it’s fitting that he was made to answer for the disastrous Alaskan campaign which was marred by a host of delays, accidents and mishaps. The misadventure resulted in a couple of wells being started, then abandoned, and one of Shell’s rigs, the Kulluk, being damaged in a grounding near Kodiak Island. “ Shell screwed up in 2012,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar earlier this month."

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/03/26/shell-oil-axes-exec-for-alaska-drilling-fiasco-will-more-heads-roll/

_________

 If this wasn`t such a serious issue I would be laughing my head off, above pasted is a mere sample of Shell`s problems, two oil rig platforms, both near lost in mishaps, a myriad of bloops, blunders and miscalculations..

This relates directly to Enbridge`s northern Gateway pipeline proposal, which in turn would result in oil laden supertankers on our coast, there is no one or the other, a pipeline means tankers, at this time David Black`s sham oil refinery won`t be discussed, it`s clearly a political gimmick employed by a media mogul, Black Press and letters to the editor, need we say more..

Enbridge with their animated ads talking about double-hulled tankers, tugboats tethered to them, world class clean-up response regime(although Enbridge won`t tell what that regime is until after thet gey approval)

Therein lies the problem, diluted bitumen sinks, it sticks, it destroys water tables and kill wildlife, it can`t be cleaned up so any discussion about world-class oil response regime is moot, like a nuclear plant in Russia melting down, once started it can`t be stopped, any oil response team would merely be spectators watching a train wreck..

______


Shell's decision to call time on Arctic drilling for 2013 pre-empts the anticipated release next week of a high-level government review of Shell's first year in the Arctic – which was plagued by harsh weather and the breakdown of two key pieces of equipment. The review focused specifically on Shell's mechanical breakdowns in the Arctic, and possible safety and environmental lapses. The interior secretary, Ken Salazar, said soon after ordering the review that he had doubts about whether drilling could be safely conducted in the Arctic at all.

In July 2012, the Shell drill ship Noble Discoverer briefly drifted out of control near Dutch Harbor. Two months later, Shell's purpose-belt oil spill containment system was crushed – as easily a a beer can – during a test in relatively calm waters off Seattle. In November, crew reported a small fire and propulsion problems on the Noble Discoverer. Then, on New Year's Eve, came the mishap that appears to have finally sunk Shell's drilling plans for the Arctic this year, when a conical drilling rig, the Kulluk, ran aground after being separated from its tow vessels in 70mph winds and high waves off the Gulf of Alaska.

The oil company was forced to send both ships – the Noble Discoverer and the Kulluk – to Asia for repair, effectively ruling out a return to drilling this calendar year. Meanwhile, a Coast Guard investigation found 16 safety and environmental shortcomings on the drill ships, including air-pollution concerns.

In follow-up emails to reporters, Shell's spokesman in Alaska, Curtis Smith, said the company's future plans for the Arctic would depend on getting the two ships back in working order. "Our future exploration plans offshore Alaska will depend on a number of factors," he wrote, "including the readiness of our rigs."
The federal government had barred Shell from drilling into oil-bearing zones last summer, because of the failure of its oil spill containment system. 

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/27/shell-oil-suspend-arctic-drilling

__________________
 Damien Gillis has also written a very good piece on this, link below


http://thecanadian.org/item/1995-mother-nature-us-govt-chase-shell-out-of-arctic-oil-drilling-offshore




Brand new oil drilling platforms, some of the world`s most powerful tugboats, the newest and best equipment, radar, sonar, GPS and still these disasters happen, it`s fortunate for mankind that Shell was never able to start drilling, all their problems happened even before they started drilling, we aren`t talking about one mishap after years of Arctic drilling operations we are talking about a keystone cops comedy routine, only this isn`t funny like tee hee, more like a Shakespearean Tragedy..

Besides mechanical and equipment failures the number 1 reason for shipwrecks is human error, this remains true to taday, human error can never be taken out of the equation and despite the claims of the Harper regime and Enbridge this factor can never be eliminated and accidents do happen, a major spill in our pristine, sea-life filled northern coast will be forever destroyed, it won`t recover, ocean species and fish declines are already happening in many places in the world, with continued hydro-carbon extraction there would be no ability for our northern coast to ever recover..

The consequences of a supertanker disaster on our coast would be permanent, forever lost, Enbridge doesn`t care if we lose our coast, in fact they relish it, that would open the door for more oil movement, as for Stephen Harper, his personal actions of targeting DFO, targeting scientists, withholding critical data, closing down both coast guard stations and communications on our coast is proof positive that Stephen Harper doesn`t care, even his own caucus are openly talking about removing the Harper, there is trouble in Harperland,  most real Conservatives realize Stephen Harper has gone off the rails and any reelection chances are gone, this gives us westcoasters much hope, for now all we need do is run the clock out on the Federal Con party..

Human error, mechanical and equipment breakdown are not the only risks, there are alcoholic captains, drug addicted and even prescription drug problems and we all remember homegrown terrorism in British Columbia, the Air India bombing, a bomb was placed on that jet right here in Richmond, hundreds of innocent people were blasted out of the sky, this is not an isolated event, we have also had pipeline bombings, Wiebo Ludwig`s name comes to mind, and there are many who believe those pipeline bombing and or alleged bombings were justified, still births, gas flaring, polluted water tables, individual motives are varied, some have even suggested there could be economic reasons for terrorism, there are those who would profit immensely from a massive oil spill, as the Kalamazoo spill showed us, a pipeline spill in a easy to access area with roads, infrastructure and city resources, that spill remediation cost has neared $1 billion dollars and it still remains soiled, Enbridge has been called back to  Michigan and ordered to dredge 40 miles of the Kalamazoo river, any company planning on entering the oil spill remediation game has a motive and needs an spill for economic success...Our rivers are salmon bearing, trout and steelhead bearing watersheds, dredging those rivers would kill the fish, our forever sustainable fishery is a $ billion dollar industry, $billions more is spent by sports fishers and $billions more in tourism dollars, our world renowned brand is ...Super Natural British Columbia...A huge big bitumen spill will forever change our world branding and destroy all our forever sustainable activity..

Human error, equipment failure, harsh wind storms, geo hazards like earthquakes, landslides, floods and tsunamis, none of those issues can be mitigated, we had a submarine run aground in Nootka inlet 2 years ago, we had the Queen of the north hit an island and sink, a route that this crew and ferry made thousands of times, we had the Concordia get ripped open on a rock outcropping, images shown around the world of this behemoth laying on its side,..Our northern coast is known for 40 foot waves, hurricane force winds, straightline winds that come out of nowhere, none of these issues can be mitigated or controlled, there another major risk that can`t be accounted for, or prevented, that being both mental issues and deliberate actions of those at the controls, including suicide..

___________


A pilot of EgyptAir Flight 990 was told by his seniors "this is your final flight and you will be removed from the job".

He committed suicide by crashing his final flight into the sea/ocean, killing all the 217 passengers on board. The pilot was got caught in hotel rooms sexually harrassing staff. The pilot would appear naked in front on young girls in the hotel. Many people have sex in planes and porn stars and prostitutes travel by plane.

This is worse than 9/11 attacks because a suicidal pilot can crash a big plane in a large building. Now there are pilots who have financial troubles and porn and illegal sex is rampant and widespread.

Know the history of companies you feed by buying their products and service.

Watch "Air Crash Investigations" on National Geographic Channel to know all about plane crashes worldwide.

Read More...

Flight recorder dataThe cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the Captain excusing himself to go to the lavatory, followed thirty seconds later by the First Officer saying in Egyptian Arabic "Tawkalt ala Allah", which translates to "I rely on God." A minute later, the autopilot was disengaged, immediately followed by the First Officer again saying, "I rely on God."

Three seconds later, the throttles for both engines were reduced to idle, and both elevators were moved three degrees nose down. The First Officer repeated "I rely on God" seven more times before the Captain is suddenly heard to ask repeatedly, "What's happening, what's happening?"

The flight data recorder reflected that the elevators then moved into a split condition, with the left elevator up and the right elevator down. At this point, both engines were shut down by moving the start levers from run to cutoff. The Captain asked, "What is this? What is this? Did you shut the engines?"


EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990


___________

Suicidal captians, suicidal pilots, financial distress, family battles, divorce, depression,  scandal and blackmail, these are all issues that can`t be mitigated or ignored, none of those problems have been entered at or discussed at the NEB review hearings, we can`t as a country or province close our eyes to these issues, they are indeed possibilities and unpreventable, if a captian or pilot wants to wreak havoc there is nothing we can do to stop it..And as stated by many, a supertanker rupture of Alberta bitumen on our northern coast will destroy our west coast fishery, destroy the fishery and the birds die, bears starve, eagles disappear, it`s all connected, forget odds and likelihood statistics, there is only one thing to remember, a major spill would forever alter British Columbia for the worse, future generations will be deprived the privilege of living in Super Natural British Columbia..And that is indeed a crime against humanity..

Enbridge ads sickens me, "a path to our future"  they claim, what is a future without wild salmon, without eagles and bears, without kelp forests, without clean drinking water, Stephen Harper, Joe Oliver and Enbridge care only of personal wealth for the few, in their eyes our treasures can be sacrificed, and it`s that reason why Canada has rejected Harperism and crony capitalism...

Our British Columbia will not be sacrificed for CEO bonus packages or shareholder profits, Enbridge will never get social license to pipe bitumen across our province, whether war in woods or court battles running decades, this battle has been won, BC Liberals are a spent force and the NDP won`t allow Enbridge to proceed, any NDP leader who even entertains the thought of pushing or allowing Enbridge through will quickly be removed and replaced, even BC Liberal voters, BC Conservative voters, if there is one issue in BC that crosses party lines is opposition to Enbridge, poll after poll shows near 80% of BC opposed, those remaining 20% are uninformed and or don`t represent our province..

There are no safety measures that can prevent accidents, stop terrorism, or guarantee anything, even the mighty US navy, imagine the technology and electronics that are fitted on a mine-sweeper, GPS, satellite uplinks, side-sonar, depth sounders, radar, computers and sophistication of man`s newest technology...

Well, what would you say if I told you a US mine sweeper become grounded on a world heritage site, a coral reef, a site with unique species, a protected zone, once grounded they thought they could be towed off the reef at high tide, not, this attempt only further exasperated the problem, it only destroyed more of the coral, now firmly stuck on a world heritage site coral reef a decision was made to abandon the ship, it couldn`t be saved, a decision was made to bring in a super barge and cut the ship into thirds, load the pieces on this massive barge...The first super-barge with a massive crane brought in couldn`t stay anchored in place, their 4 anchors were shredding huge swaths of the coral reef, a new plan was required, an even bigger super barge with crane was brought in, this modern-craned-equiped barge has GPS and many thrusters, these keep the barge in place, work was started, giant on deck pieces of the mine sweeper removed, then the welding ship-cutters started, the first third of the minesweeper was loaded onto the barge, only now the weather whipped up and it had to leave, this minesweeper, 2/3 rds of the minesweeper still remain embedded on the coral reef, damage is extensive, divers representing the country whose have jurisdiction over this world heritage site are measuring the damage done, there will be $millions in fines levied against the US Government..

A modern minesweeper, the best equipment, gps, sonar, radar, satellite positioning, a full crew, a trained crew and still accidents happen..
_______
 The US navy said on Wednesday that it would dismantle a minesweeper that ran aground on a coral reef in the Philippines after carefully studying all options on how to remove the damaged ship.

The navy spokesman James Stockman said dismantling the USS Guardian was determined to be the solution that would involve the least damage to the Tubbataha Reef, a protected marine sanctuary where the ship got stuck 17 January.

He said the Philippine coastguard was reviewing the plan, but gave no other details.
The navy had said previously that the ship would be lifted by crane on to a barge and taken to a shipyard, but apparently the damage was too extensive and it will have to be cut up and removed in pieces. Stockman gave no time frame for the operation.
The grounding caused no casualties to the ship's 79 crew and officers, who were taken off the vessel after it crashed into the reef in shallow waters. The ship began listing and taking on water through holes in the wooden hull. The navy's support vessels siphoned off remaining fuel and salvage teams removed heavy equipment and hazardous material.
The navy is investigating the incident, which caused Philippine government agencies and environmentalists to express concern about the extent of damage to the coral reef.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said last week that the US navy must explain how the ship got off course. He said the navy would face fines for damaging the environment.

Thomas Carney, commander of the navy's Logistics Group in the Western Pacific, told reporters last week that the investigation would look into all the factors that may have led to the grounding, including a reported faulty digital chart, sea conditions, weather and the state of the ship's navigational equipment.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/us-navy-dismantle-minesweeper-coral




________________

It`s those reasons why Stephen Harper and Enbridge will never be granted social license to destroy our pristine northern coast..

Any Governments that attempts to bully our province and people will be promptly removed, any Government, Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Federal or provincial.

And you can take that to the bank


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2010/04/577the-unluckiest-numberten-years-out.html


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Desperate Christy Clark Liberals Play The Moe Sihota Card



 Wow, breaking news, controversy, shocking explosive news revealed, travesty of justice, Democracy crushed, the scandal of the year..

Breaking news on cknw, number 3 story on their 12:00 noon newscast..

Deathblow to the NDP, game-over for Adrian Dix...

Alright, have I got your attention yet, yesterday the Straight Goods exposed cknw for engaging in blatant yellow journalism, today cknw is at it again, here`s the startling statement from cknw`s newsroom......"CKNW has learned that ex NDP president Moe Sihota is embroiled in controversy down in Palm Springs....

Then cknw goes into more detail, they state that Moe Sihota is demanding monies from homeowners..


Well well well, in search of the story I went, and after reading the REAL story from the original source,(My Desert.com) I almost fell out of my chair laughing, for once you read the story, the controversy CKNW is reporting,  that Moe Sihota is demanding monies from people isn`t true, in fact the money is going to.. 

" The money would go to the city of Palm Desert and the city would police these funds."

Below is the actual story, can anyone tell me why this is news worthy of being almost the lead story on CKNW`s 12:00 pm  main news?..

I have it from a source that this story was sent to cknw from the BC Liberal Government public affairs department, they asked cknw to give it a thorough airing, cknw has willingly obliged..

You are one sick bunch cknw, your newsroom are gutless wimps, no morals, no ethics, a story told, and told out of context, I`ll nominate you for a Jack Webster award for hard-hitting investigative journalism!..(snark implied)

Below is the story, link provided..
_______________________

"PALM DESERT — Hundreds of residents of the Palm Desert Country Club might soon have to pay a monthly $25 fee to help maintain the club’s golf course.
News of the possible fee has residents at a divide.
About 150 club residents filled the clubhouse on Sunday evening for an informational meeting on an impending assessment that would affect only those whose property abuts the golf course.
Though the golf course is privately owned by PD Golf Operations LLC, the corporation is requesting residents to help maintain the course by paying a monthly fee of $23 to $27, depending on frontage.
The fee would help pay for maintenance of the course, particularly water and electricity bills. The money would go to the city of Palm Desert and the city would police these funds.
Moe Sihota, one of the five or six Canadians who own the golf course, said they want to see a healthier course.
“We really want to get back to basics with this golf course,” he said. “As of right now we have a lot of work to do.”


But the assessment has to be approved by at least 50 percent of property owners. The vote can only be done by mail and will most likely take place in mid or late July, according to Sihota. The city would set up the mail ballot.
The larger a homeowner’s frontage, the heavier their vote will weigh. A resident with 20 feet of frontage, for example, would get 0.75 percent of a vote.

Need funds

“It would be very difficult for us to maintain it in the way that we do, without any additional assistance,” Sihota said of the golf course, which has had ups and downs in past years.
“We want to keep things the way they are and maintain them at very high standards.”
About two months ago the Palm Desert County Club surveyed the 850 residents that would be affected by the assessment. The club received a little over 400 responses.
About 72 percent of those surveyed said they would support the assessment and 62 percent said the monthly fee was reasonable, according to Sihota. Twenty-eight percent said they were against the fee."

 http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130324/NEWS01/303240017/Palm-Desert-Country-Club-residents-called-on-to-pay?nclick_check=1
_______________

Here is the cknw audio vault link.

 http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx

check out the 12:00 pm news for March 27th, or the earlier news flashes on cknw today, it`s getting lots of play...Slow news day boys and girls or what?...

or perhaps you sold out ethics and journalistic integrity for a fistful of BC government advertising dollars!


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

CKNW Goes Full Yellow Journalism

At approximately 1:45 PM on the Simi Sara show, in between her segment with Bob Mackin, cknw did a short news blurb..

And it was bullshit yellow journalism of the worst kind...


Here was the news blurb uttered, and I quote..

"Dominion Bond rating service is reporting BC`s credit rating could suffer if the NDP are elected in May`s election and make a lot of changes" snip.

After I called cknw`s newsroom and ripped them a new one, when they reported that same story on latter news spots, they dropped the word "suffer" from their claim...How come it took a complaint from a blogger/writer for cknw to Clean up their wording?....It was done deliberately, subtle messaging, later in the day both the Vancouver Sun and The Province posted the report from Dominion Bond Rating Service, nowhere in the written report was the word "suffer" ...So how did that word enter cknw`s newsroom?.

This is yellow journalism of the worst kind, Bond rating agencies DO not call up radio stations and ask news departments to report opinions as news..It`s not their job, rating agencies are paid to assess finances, not weigh in on elections, I suspect that this crap was sent to cknw newsroom from the BC Public affairs department..

This is shocking propaganda..

I implore all readers to call up cknw and air a grievance, ..

This is as bad as it gets..

Here is a link to the audio vault..


http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx

Cue up March 26th/ 1:00 pm...Fast forward to about 1:45 pm..

I phoned the newsroom already, I told them if that crap is uttered again I`m reporting them to the CBSC(Canadian Broadcast Standards Council)..

And I will, they are back east, phone call will have to wait until tomorrow..

Look people, rating agencies don`t do that, they don`t try to influence an election, this tactic wasn`t even attempted in the Romney/Obama battle for presidency..

That is how outrageous this was..

CKNW should bow their head in shame, their newsroom should be fired on
the spot..

Here is the little bit from the code of conduct rules for rating agencies..

______


6
1.15 The CRA should institute policies and
procedures that clearly specify a
person responsible for the CRA’s and the CRA’s employees’ compliance
with the provisions of the CRA’s co
de of conduct and with applicable laws
and regulations. This person’s reporting lines and compensation should be
independent of the CRA’s rating operations.
1.16 Upon becoming aware that another employee or entity under common
control with the CRA is or has engaged in
conduct that is illegal, unethical
or contrary to the CRA’s code of conduct, a CRA employee should report
such information immediately to the i
ndividual in charge of compliance or
an officer of the CRA, as appropriate, so proper action may be taken. A
CRA’s employees are not necessarily exp
ected to be experts in the law.
Nonetheless, its employees are expected to report the activities that a
reasonable person would question. An
y CRA officer who receives such a
report from a CRA employee is obligated to take appropriate action, as
determined by the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction and the rules and
guidelines set forth by the CRA. CRA management should prohibit
retaliation by other CRA staff or by the CRA itself against any employees
who, in good faith, make such reports.
2. CRA
I
NDEPENDENCE AND
A
VOIDANCE OF
C
ONFLICTS OF
I
NTEREST
A. General
2.1 The CRA should not forbear or refrain from taking a rating action based on
the potential effect (economic, political, or otherwise) of the action on the
CRA, an issuer, an investor, or other market participant.
2.2 The CRA and its analysts should use care and professional judgment to
maintain both the substance an
d appearance of independence and
objectivity.
2.3 The determination of a credit rating should be influenced only by factors
relevant to the credit assessment.
2.4 The credit rating a CRA assigns to an issuer or security should not be
affected by the existence of or poten
tial for a business relationship between
the CRA (or its affiliates) and the issuer (or its affiliates) or any other party,
or the non-existence of such a relationship.
2.5
The CRA should separate, operationally and legally, its credit rating
business and CRA analysts from any other businesses of the CRA, including
consulting businesses, that may present a conflict of interest. The CRA
should ensure that ancillary business operations which do not necessarily
present conflicts of interest with the CRA’s rating business have in place
procedures and mechanisms designed to
minimize the likelihood that
conflicts of interest will arise. 
_________________

Code of conduct rules prohibit the actions and statements attributed to Dominion Rating Services by cknw, in other words, they broke the code, cknw needs to retract that blurb, it needs to be put on the record by cknw`s newsroom that Dominion Bond Rating Service did not use the word "suffer"..

If indeed Dominion Bond Rating Service did use that word, if, than they broke the code of conduct,(Trying to influence an election)

Have a perusal of the PDF on code of conduct for rating agencies

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open






Monday, March 25, 2013

Sheila Orr, Christy Clark Apologist(practice what you preach Sheila)

Katie Hyslop had an article posted at the Tyee online news magazine, the gist of her column was that Christy Clark was being treated unfairly by media and in a sexual way, and today ex federal Liberal Sheila Orr on with Bill Good echoed those sentiments in a very partisan selective way...

 http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/03/22/Christy-Clark-Coverage-Sexist/

Where to start, let`s start with Katie Kyslop`s article in the Tyee, as a longtime reader and commenter most of the names who commented on the story are familiar to me, and yes maybe those people dwell more on the left of center universe but for the most part they are fair with writers, stories are judged more on content, on factuality, on truth..

The comments were 100% against Katie Hyslop`s premise,  there wasn`t one comment that I read that believed Christy Clark was being treated unfairly, comments were like an echo chamber, commenter after commenter stated that Christy Clark isn`t being respected as premier designate because she`s a walking, talking national embarrassment, shows no leadership, Christy Clark`s huffs, puffs and blusters inane statements, Christy has been caught lying, cheating, she`s time and time again lacking in data, detail, her grasp of the English language, her phrasing and constant use of..

"Ya know, I think, I,...I...I...Ya know, I think"

I`ve heard better speakers aged in their teens than that of Christy Clark..

Katie Hyslop`s most overt error in her selective column was....

She failed to mention Christy Clark`s admitted love of the offensive show Manswers, a grotesque tee-hee show about farting in bottles and saving for a later date, a show about female breasts crushing beer cans..Katie didn`t mention other radio interviews on FM radio where Christy Clark talked about Mr. Skin(a nude celebrity picture web site), talked about strip poker in the legislature, topics of conversation that Christy Clark brought up herself.

Katie Hyslop mentioned Diamond Isinger, a 19 year young girl who was featured on Liberal friendly media a couple of months ago, Diamond was playing the same sexist victim card in defending Christy Clark, Laila Yuile put Diamond Isinger to shame.

 http://lailayuile.com/2013/03/10/and-where-is-ms-isingers-indignation-now/

 Laila Yuile called the young Ms Diamond out for failing to respond to Christy Clark telling a big audience that Mark Marissen had a weak limp penis, the crowd roared in laughter as Christy Clark suggested Mark Marissen was a bad lover, a limp penis and that was grounds for divorce, Mark Marissen is now known throughout the media and bloggosphere as a man(?) who not only couldn`t shoot straight his pea shooter is a Nerf toy, a disgusting thing for a premier designate to state in public, could you imagine Gordon Campbell or Adrian Dix stating their ex-wife was pathetic in bed, They would be lambasted in the media.

Katie Hyslop also failed to mention that Diamond Isinger has joined the BC Liberal election team..

_____________


20 Mar
Simply delighted to welcome to our campaign team! Thanks!!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Stephen Harper Bursts Christy Clark`s LNG Prosperity Bubble

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Finance+Minister+Flaherty+nixes+request+break+help+liquefied+natural/8133958/story.html


The Federal Government told the BC Government and LNG Industry to get stuffed, no more tax breaks, no more subsidies(details in the above Vancouver Sun link)..

As you know Geoff Morrison(spokesman for CAPP) told Christy Clark and the media in British Columbia that without a change to manufacturer status, which would bring a massive capital building write-off, without this help from the Federal Government they couldn`t go forward with their proposed British Columbia projects, Geoff Morrison said they couldn`t compete with Australia and other countries without this help..

Well, there it is, BC`s fledging LNG export industry is now dead, caput, finished, unless Geoff Morrison was lying?...

Anyone confused about what we`re talking about, below post explains in detail....


British Columbia`s LNG Corporate Welfare Scheme Exposed



What is going on with LNG for export development in British Columbia, it really is an important question?

For several years at least we have been hearing about our financial saviour in waiting, the LNG industry, in the last year this fledging industry`s rosy forecast have been front in center in expensive ad campaigns, the promise of a need for millions of workers, the promises of $trillions of dollars in revenue, numbers so large, numbers so lucrative that soon our roads will not only get the potholes fixed but be repaved with gold, wealth beyond our dreams, who needs "chump-change" tar sand coinage when British Columbia can start our own mint fueled by natural gas..

Why the delay, why the holdup, for years LNG producers have been talking a good game and they really have spread LNG promotional sauce liberally over the last 18 months, so why is nothing happening, why indeed..

Companies pitting countries against each other, the race to the bottom, who will giveth the most, who will look the other way while corporate corruption skews the books, plays the field and creates another corporate welfare industry..

Alberta, a $6 billion dollar deficit this year, their 5th deficit in a row, all the development, foreign investment, big corporate takeovers with massive premiums paid on share prices, the most oil and gas production in their history and the deficits to Government are growing exponentially each year...Why, how can this be, by accident, by market forces, or by sinister corporate design, the race to the bottom, subsidies, kickbacks, financial fraud and offshore tax havens, you can`t name just one of those items because those corporate activities are all in play, all of the time, including deliberate corporate fraud...

Let`s look at Australia, $100s of billions of dollars have been and are being invested in LNG export terminals and related facilities, every LNG project from every company doing business in Australia, every single project is and has gone over-budget by 30%..40%..50% even by 100% in some cases...A Chevron LNG plant build, Chevron`s Gorgon LNG plant has ballooned from a $30 billion dollar build cost to now an estimated $60 billion dollars plus..And Chevron isn`t alone, every company building similar facilities have seen similar cost over-runs..Coincidence, bad luck, how about deliberate guile and deception, how about corruption, ingrained systemic corporate corruption..

What if I told you the Australian Government pays 30% of all LNG capital costs, meaning company X building an LNG export terminal in Australia, they budget $30 billion dollars for the build, $10 billion dollars of that money comes back to the company as tax breaks and or subsidies, and just imagine if the corporate petroleum industry and their many partners colluded to bring build costs up, and up, and up, projects all running 40%..50%..60%..100% over budget, with winks and nods and corporate guile company X doesn`t receive $10 billion dollars back from the $30 billion dollar build but receives back from Government(public tax dollars) a sum of $34 billion dollars on an inflated $100 billion dollar build..In a sense, systemic corporate corruption has found a legal loophole to have the general public in Australia pay for the entirety of the LNG plant builds...!

With a wink, with a nod, supplier A doubles his prices, producer Q triples his cost, all bills flow to the general corporate contractor where this excess gravy is skimmed right back to the general corporate builder.... It`s a ponzi scheme, exactly what is going on in the Alberta tar sands, the more oil production being done the financially poorer the province gets, British Columbia LNG exporters want in on the action,....
___________
 Perry Williams and Jennifer Hewett....

"Australia’s biggest ever resources development, Chevron’s Gorgon liquefied natural gas project, faces a $20 billion cost blowout to more than $60 billion because of the high dollar, union demands, high-cost local manufacturing and productivity issues......


The Gorgon cost blowout means the budgets of new LNG projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea have increased by more than $35 billion since May last year.
On Monday, ExxonMobil, Oil Search and Santos raised their estimated cost of PNG LNG by $US3.3 billion to $US19 billion and cited the higher than expected Australian dollar, delays in accessing land, bad weather and logistical difficulties.
PNG LNG is just the latest in a string of cost rises among Australasia’s unprecedented line-up of LNG construction ventures.
Woodside Petroleum’s $15 billion Pluto venture ended more than a quarter over budget, while BG Group and Santos have both had to lift the cost estimates for their coal seam gas-based LNG projects in Queensland."

http://www.afr.com/p/national/huge_lng_cost_blowout_kaLHigEKnRVunB0go7TRkJ


 http://www.arcticgas.gov/2012/cost-overruns-could-hurt-competitiveness-australia-lng

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/bgdot/9244190/BG-Group-shares-hit-by-5.4bn-cost-overruns-on-Australian-LNG-project.html

 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/62e4f5e8-3f84-11e2-b0ce-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2KdUKKDdT



 http://www.smh.com.au/business/too-much-too-soon-has-left-lng-industry-overstretched-20120803-23kit.html


 http://www.downstreamtoday.com/news/article.aspx?a_id=36651&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

 http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2012/11/19/shell-having-second-thoughts-on-australian-lng-investments/

 http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/11/drunken-insights-lead-the-lng-debacle/

If you peruse those above links the picture becomes very clear, LNG is a welfare industry on steroids, the Australian Government will probably never get back their investment of public tax dollars

You see what is going on, imagine $300 billion is being spent on LNG facilities in Australia(It`s true), guess what, the Australian public has to surrender back to the corporation...$100 billion dollars...And if that $300 billion dollar upfront cost was really only $100 billion in value..With winks, nods and monies flowing from Company X`s left hand to the Company X`s right hand...Then in reality the tax payer is paying for everything, in other words, corporate welfare dependent on Government(read subsidies and tax relief)steroids...

The exact same scenario is playing itself out in Alberta, the petroleum producers are crying about paying discounts to the refiners, paying a per-barrel discount of up to..$30 dollars per barrel, yet these oil extractors also own the refineries, in other words, Alberta Tar oil, (which is more expensive to refine because tar oil has to go through what is called an up-grader first, then on to a regular refinery) is being peddled cheap to the refiners, this allows the tar oil extractors to claim big losses in the oil patch, it allows companies to pay almost no royalties, just look at Alberta`s massive yearly deficits that have all accrued under a Stephen Harper oil obsessed Federal Government, coincidence?..Not a chance..

These so-called steep Alberta oil extract discounts are not being passed on to consumers, prices at the pump are at record highs, what we are witnessing is big corporate oil companies have figured out ways to avoid paying any taxes, one hand of a company that pays royalties to Governments loses money to avoid paying anything, the right hand of the company that refines, gets the discounts, make huge margins of money, money not subject to capital gains or royalties, it`s all a shell game designed by big oil to avoid paying any taxes, hence Alberta running its 5th straight massive multi-$billion dollar deficit, this deficit $6 billion dollars...

(This linked story by Robyn Allen explains the Alberta discount oil shell game in detail

 http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/01/29/Canadian-Oil-Producers/)


 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/02/british-columbias-natural-gas.html

So LNG exporters are proposing spending $150 billion dollars on LNG facilities in BC, and if like Australia the projects all balloon way over budget, let`s say they claim spending $300 billion dollars after all is said and done.....

Well, blow my socks off, I was wondering why there was delay after delay for actually starting the builds of any of the proposed LNG facilities in British Columbia, I`m not wondering anymore, the one issue front and center, securing long-term contracts from Asian buyers at lucrative prices has been a non-starter, no one will sign the papers, that reason is obvious, the price is low, there`s a world glut including China itself which has a 300 year domestic supply of natural gas, LNG exporters are just like our IPP run of river companies who did nothing, built nothing, acted only on their own behalf, laid out no money to build 1 kilowatt of power without 30 and 40 year guaranteed contracts, contracts that Gordon the thief Campbell was more than willing to sign..IPP`s did not take one single risk, we, that taxpayers, the BC Hydro ratepayers were ripped off...

So anyway, here I was musing to myself as to why BC LNG exporters, why the proposed LNG exporters who by the way have already been granted export licenses haven`t pulled the go-ahead and build lever, finding countries to sign long-term energy buying contracts has been problematic at best, in other words, there are no takers...The other issue is a cheap supply of electrical power, no, make that other issue LNG exporters wanting a free supply of electrical energy, LNG exporters require massive amounts of electricity to freeze natural gas, LNG producers do NOT want to use their own product to generate electricity, they want Site-C dam built and they want IPP expensive power, with a caveat, they want you the taxpayer guaranteeing the payment to IPPs for 40 years, they want this expensive niche power for virtually free, only one problem, there is no free power, these IPPs are guaranteed $140 kilowatt or more, guaranteed for 40 years, and as we are dumping excess power now, no buyers, LNG exporters are using that exact argument to justify free power, that and the we must be competitive with other countries argument..

I knew those above two issues were major stumbling blocks for the emerging corporate welfare industry, but today it was confirmed by a representative from CAPP(Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) that these are issues, and more, Geoff Morrison confirmed that LNG producers, proposed builders of LNG export facilities in British Columbia, LNG pipelines, LNG terminals will not build anything unless......

Unless the BC Government and the Federal Government agree to allow 30% capital cost allowances, meaning they want a 30% subsidy on the money spent building facilities, the CAPP representative claims that unless BC and Canada MATCH the capital building allowances of Australia they won`t be able to compete...!!!!

Blow my socks off, read again what is going on with cost over-runs in Australia, picture this, LNG facility builders(on paper) claim to spend $300 billion dollars, you taxpayers are on the hook for $100 billion dollars, meaning we the public, the Government won`t see one single $dollar of real money until we surpass $100 billion in LNG royalties paid, only after that, after the $100 billion mark in royalty revenue would we see any money at all, and I doubt we will ever see that amount of royalties paid..

And if LNG exporters, like the Tar sand diggers, claim discounts to their right arm refining buddies, if world LNG prices are so low that royalties aren`t paid at all, then we will find ourselves like Alberta, more and more environmental damage, more and more resource extraction and more multi-$billion dollar deficits..

Today on cknw with Billy Good, between 10:30 am and 11:00 am was a representative from CAPP, Geoff Morrison speaking on behalf of BC`s LNG industry said just that, LNG facility producers like Apache, Chevron, Shell, EnCana gas, all of them want and need to have the LNG industry re-classified as a manufacturing industry and be able to have the ability to write off all provincial taxes plus a 30%(To match Australia) capital expense subsidy..

And yet Christy Clark`s jobs advertising blitz, her advertising the hell out of a LNG future paved with gold, claiming $trillions of dollars for BC, millions of needed workers, the talk of lucrative Asian pricing, just build it and gold will rain from the sky, and as I and others suspected, behind the scenes, tax breaks, subsidies, capital write-offs, bribery, subtle threats, pitting country against country is going on...If this industry is so lucrative why won`t they build it on their own dime, why do they need re-classification, why the need of huge subsidies..

This is indeed a boondoggle in the works, Cheniere energy in the USA has signed long-term energy buying contracts with Asia, at about 1/3 of the proposed selling price Christy Clark and Pat Bell talk about..At $6 dollars per unit these ultra-expensive proposed British Columbia LNG freezers will never make money or even pay for themselves, let alone supply BC Governments substantial revenues..

Cue up February 11th..10:00 am, fast forward to just past the 10:30 am news..

 http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx

Listen to CAPP representative Geoff Morrison on cknw cry for Government handouts and subsidies, listen to Geoff Morrison using the (we must be competitive with what the Australia Government offers card)..And if the next country or Province offers even more corporate tax incentives(Right movie industry?)

LNG producers can`t get long-term energy buying contracts, 2 export licenses have been already been granted, 1 of them for almost 2 years now, what are they waiting for, still nothing built, nothing started, back-room discussions are going on right now, talks about reclassifying the LNG industry to Manufacturer status which will in turn bring a 30% plus capital cost subsidy, the companies also want their own HST, the ability to write off all provincial taxes..The hold-up is about making Canadian taxpayers pay for big oil`s profits through subsidies, tax-breaks and guile..For a promise of some employment our Governments are on the verge of allowing corporate raiders to dig deep in your pockets ..

Big Corporate Oil n Gas Companies are asking British Columbians and Canadians to trust them..Look to Australia and Qatar and see this ponzi scheme being played out, or look one province over to Alberta and see them going backwards, their largest ever deficit this year, their 5th in succession, see big oil companies playing the Wildrose Province for a sucker, as their yearly provincial deficits grow and grow despite massive tar sand development..

Another good read below

 http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/02/20/Natural-Gas-Gluts/

 This one too

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/02/21/Why-Cant-Alberta-Break-Even/

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open