National Transportation Safety Board Office of Public Affairs
Pipeline Rupture
and Oil Spill Accident Caused by Organizational Failures and Weak Regulations
July 10, 2012
WASHINGTON - Pervasive organizational failures by a pipeline operator along
with weak federal regulations led to a pipeline rupture and subsequent oil spill
in 2010, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.
On Sunday, July 25, 2010, at about 5:58 p.m., a 30 inch-diameter pipeline
(Line 6B) owned and operated by Enbridge Incorporated ruptured and spilled crude
oil into an ecologically sensitive area near the Kalamazoo River in Marshall,
Mich., for 17 hours until a local utility worker discovered the oil and
contacted Enbridge to report the rupture.
The NTSB found that the material failure of the pipeline was the result of
multiple small corrosion-fatigue cracks that over time grew in size and linked
together, creating a gaping breach in the pipe measuring over 80 inches
long.
"This investigation identified a complete breakdown of safety at Enbridge.
Their employees performed like Keystone Kops and failed to recognize their
pipeline had ruptured and continued to pump crude into the environment," said
NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "Despite multiple alarms and a loss of
pressure in the pipeline, for more than 17 hours and through three shifts they
failed to follow their own shutdown procedures."
Clean up costs are estimated by Enbridge and the EPA at $800 million and
counting, making the Marshall rupture the single most expensive on-shore spill
in US history.
Over 840,000 gallons of crude oil - enough to fill 120 tanker trucks -
spilled into hundreds of acres of Michigan wetlands, fouling a creek and a
river. A Michigan Department of Community Health study concluded that over 300
individuals suffered adverse health effects related to benzene exposure, a toxic
component of crude oil.
Line 6B had been scheduled for a routine shutdown at the time of the rupture
to accommodate changing delivery schedules. Following the shutdown, operators in
the Enbridge control room in Edmonton, Alberta, received multiple alarms
indicating a problem with low pressure in the pipeline, which were dismissed as
being caused by factors other than a rupture. "Inadequate training of control
center personnel" was cited as contributing to the accident.
The investigation found that Enbridge failed to accurately assess the
structural integrity of the pipeline, including correctly analyzing cracks that
required repair. The NTSB characterized Enbridge's control room operations, leak
detection, and environmental response as deficient, and described the event as
an "organizational accident."
Following the first alarm, Enbridge controllers restarted Line 6B twice,
pumping an additional 683,000 gallons of crude oil, or 81 percent of the total
amount spilled, through the ruptured pipeline. The NTSB determined that if
Enbridge's own procedures had been followed during the initial phases of the
accident, the magnitude of the spill would have been significantly reduced.
Further, the NTSB attributed systemic flaws in operational decision-making to a
"culture of deviance," which concluded that personnel had a developed an
operating culture in which not adhering to approved procedures and protocols was
normalized.
The NTSB also cited the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration's weak regulations regarding pipeline assessment and repair
criteria as well as a cursory review of Enbridge's oil spill response plan as
contributing to the magnitude of the accident.
The investigation revealed that the cracks in Line 6B that ultimately
ruptured were detected by Enbridge in 2005 but were not repaired. A further
examination of records revealed that Enbridge's crack assessment process was
inadequate, increasing the risk of a rupture.
Despite Enbridge bringing in hundreds of propaganda agents to knock on doors, PR spindoctors, over 20 public information open houses(Although Enbridge representatives failed to answer any questions, like how do you clean up the inevitable spills)...
Enbridge spent near $1/2 million dollars on PR..on advertising, on spin and bluster...
Not to mention Enbridge`s $60 million dollar provincial advertising campaign, endless streaming ads online, on TSN, on Global, on CTV, endless radio ads on CKNW, print ads, everywhere Enbridge ads and still.....
Kitimat city counsel also prevented the Haisla and Haida First Nations from voting on the plebiscite question, absolutely disgusting move by Kitimat city council as the Haida/Haisla traditional coastal lands are most at risk of complete annihilation by a tanker spill...
And despite all of Enbridge`s dirty tricks, Kitimat city council dirty tricks, they lost the plebiscite bigtime.....
60% against northern Gateway....40% for.....
The grassroots organization Douglas Channel Watch had but $1,500 dollars of money to compete against the corporate thug Enbridge....$500,000.00 against $1,500.00 ....
Stick that in your pipe Janet Holder.....I hope you are listening Stephen Harper...This pipeline insanity will be the death of both you and the Federal Conservative party..
To the fine people of Kitimat.....Grant G and the Straight Goods thank you...Cyber hugs and kisses are on the way..
For the Canadians increasingly
convinced that all conventional politicians are betraying Canadian democracy,
the death of James Michael Flaherty underscores their position.The response to his death by federal (and
other) parliamentarians and politicians says it all. The praise of a major
actor in the betrayal and deception of Canada and of all Canadians reaches
across the parties in the House of Commons (and across the country) without
interruption.
Let us not confuse
respect for the dead with blindness to history.The party and government to which James Michael Flaherty belonged is one
which eats at the freedoms of Canadians, destroys confidence in elected
politicians, attacks the democratic electoral process, habitually misrepresents
its actions as a government, and takes mean-mindedness and attacks upon the
innocent to an historically high level.
Any and all
politicians can say – and mean – that they send their deepest sympathy to the
family of James Michael Flaherty.After
that, in the interest and service of Canadians, they must add that the
government which he served faithfully is one of the most destructive
governments in Canadian history and that he was a faithful partisan in the
destruction of Canadian democracy.
In failing to do
that all politicians in the House of Commons and in Canada are making
absolutely clear that they have joined the forces intending to destroy fairness
and justice in Canada and to create a new kind of government in the country,
one that is fairly described as a fascist government – one which serves private
corporations (globally) before the Canadian people, which uses deception and
falsehood to achieve illegitimate ends, and which, finally, will use police and
military power to subdue a dissenting population.
James Michael
Flaherty, as Canadian finance minister, used and permitted the use of his
federal budgets to hide vicious and unfair attacks upon people and institutions
providing necessary information and services to Canadians. He permitted, in
so-called budget implementation legislation, hidden moves to curtail, to
weaken, to undermine, and to destroy the democratic freedoms of Canadians.He never spoke or acted against Conservative
election fraud that wasrepeated during
his time in power (and so, tacitly, he participated in it).
He undertook
politically motivated and dangerous cutbacks in science, the environment, and institutions
providing public information.He
provided wholesale support for vicious and destructive initiatives like
vengeful and oppressive prison laws, laws to destroy information Canadians need
to make responsible public choices, laws to protect and support the richest and
most oppressive forces in the society, and laws to humiliate and persecute
Canadian veterans.
He stood behind
the moves to destroy Canada’s universal medicare system and its other public
service institutions like the Post Office and the CBC.He gave his assent to untiring attacks on
labour unionism in Canada. He stood firmly behind poisonous anti-democratic
electoral laws being bludgeoned through the House of Commons. He helped to shape subsidies, subventions, and
laws (and failure to make laws) which assist polluters, especially in the
environmentally hazardous Tar Sands and Fracking operations.
James Michael
Flaherty was a major mainstay of the move by the present Conservative
government, led by Stephen Harper, to build a permanent, unreplaceable, fascist
government in Canada.
Any Canadian –
whomsoever – especially any Canadian politician who approves of, assents to,
fails to rail (and act) against, or who takes part in the tasteless, expensive,
repugnant, “bread and circuses”, fascist state funeral for James Michael
Flaherty is condemning himself or herself to....
A place in history
as a person who condoned and supported the move in Canada to the destruction of
democracy and to the end of justice, fairness, and freedom for Canadians. Written by Robin Mathews ______________________________________________________________
P.S......Hello friends, readers, contributors and PAB trolls....Sorry for not posting, been real busy repairing my mom`s world, we can`t choose family, one day my siblings might grow up and actually contribute to helping their mother and society as a whole, we won`t hold our breath, .....12 hours a day working for mom, pro-bono, .....Plus having to keep up on current affairs, write, publish guest posts.........All the while charming my new true, honest life partner... She is waiting patiently for more time.........and she wants to dance..! Mr. Mathews column was outstanding and on point, time and time again when scoundrels, liars, cheats and enablers within government drop dead their sins are forgiven, we don`t forgive hideous acts here at The Straight Goods, no quarter given, .........You might be resting in peace MR Flaherty..........However, those of us still living on the Canadian part of this blue orb won`t be, your complicit actions and muted mouth assisted oil whore and savage pussball Stephen Harper in terrorizing, frightening and abusing a once trusting Canadian populous... No quarter given...
A heartfelt send off is definitely called for, a friend, a voice, a clear concise no holds barred voice has gone silent, brought tears to my eyes, tears not of sadness but tears of inspiration, of hope, of relief knowing his physical pain has relented...
He will be missed, his clear written words will live on in the clouds..
Ian`s spirit will twinkle in the stars above..
Life is hard, frustrating and at times without reward, fleeting and far too short..
I would like to thank Ross K for confirming Mr. Reid`s transformation from the physical to spirit form..It explains the emergence of a new shining star I spotted last night in our western sky..
Some of Ian`s greatest works were scribed while he was challenging tomorrow, writing today not knowing if another sunrise was in the making...
Newspapers and
conventional media are losing readers, listeners, and viewers simply because
people use personal electronic devices of many kinds.For convenience.
Untrue.
Newspapers and
conventional media must, it is true, face and deal with the new “social media,
etc.” - which add an exciting dimension
to communication and publication.But
the established communication sources are losing ground for quite another
reason – which they will not whisper about in the dark or admit is even a vague
possibility.In short, they are the
(owned) servants of big corporate capital, and they serve it … first, last, and
always.They not only serve the One Per
Cent.They are the One Per Cent.
And so they don’t
give you the news.They give you
Corporate Propaganda.That doesn’t mean
they tell you daily what Goldman Sachs or RBC or Telus or CGI or the Stephen
Harper goons tell them to pass along to you.They simply shape news to back those kinds of Corporate giants and their
friends… and they don’t report facts that might shake your support for
globalized corporate rule.In Canada,
the Stephen Harper Conservative organization speaks for globalized corporate
rule: it is protected by the Mainstream Press and Media.
The Globe and
Mail’s “Public Editor” (Are there ‘Private’ Editors?) Sylvia Stead admits her
paper supports Stephen Harper (Mar. 29 14 F8, “Why endorsing Harper doesn’t
mean not criticizing him”.)She is proud
the Globe and Mail’s “editorial page
published an unprecedented five-part series calling on Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to kill the Fair Elections Act” because (her claim) of its devastating
anti-democratic force.She brags, as if
to do once what it should be doing all the time is a major achievement.
She does NOT write
that if the bill remains and is pushed through, the Globe and Mail will abandon
its support for Stephen Harper and his “Conservatives”, declare the need for a
change of government and – if suitable - back one of the Opposition parties. (“Come,
Come!” Ms. Stead might say,“Be
serious.We’re paid to say we believe in
democracy, but not if it means rejecting globalization, the corporate agenda, the
new fascism, and … Stephen Harper.”)
To show how the
chatter from Ms. Stead should be on the entertainment page, she points out how great,
bold journalists in Toronto have “made repeated efforts, including a running
scrum, to extract an answer from Mayor Rob Ford about newly released court
documents.”
Canadians have looked
and looked and looked for Globe and Mail reporters to follow Stephen Harper (in
a running scrum?) to extract answers from him about the F35 fighter, the
(admitted) guilt of his Party in Election Fraud, the relation of Conservative
Senators to that fraud, the suppression of scientific research in Canada and
the killing of environmental law and oversight, the alleged PMO activated
Robocall Fraud in 2013 concerning Saskatchewan electoral boundaries, his
relation to Nigel Wright and the possible criminal implications of their
relation … and … and … and.All in vain.
The Globe and Mail
doesn’t even seriously inform Canadians of Harper and PMO secrecy, of his
refusal to hold open press conferences, his purposeful suppression of
information that belongs to the public. The Globe and Mail (as a public
information source) should declare open and unending war against a prime
minister and party who – daily – do everything they can to prevent Canadians
from being informed about government in Canada – working, in effect, to destroy democracy in
Canada.The Globe and Mail, one might
say, colludes … by its repeated and continuing failures.(That might be the statement summing up the
whole Mainstream Press and Media in Canada.)
That’s why more
and more Canadians goaround them all – ignore them, all of them - to get real information
from somewhere else.
As if to prove the
point, the same Globe and Mail issue has a page-and-a-half spread on Goldman
Sachs, featuring Gary Cohn, No. 2 in the Goldman Sachs hierarchy (pp. B4, B5).Called “Goldman Opens Up”, the article
features a large photo of Cohn, laughing like a PNE clown.Between Rod Erman (writer), Cohn, and
editors, the Globe and Mail gives less information about Goldman Sachs than a
person could squeeze from a drunken PNE clown at the end of his shift.
Something to laugh about ….
Among almost all
serious commentators about the financial crash and burn of 2008, Goldman Sachs
is fingered as one of the most destructive.The Globe and Mail article tells a reader … nothing, but that Mr. Cohn
made$12.5 (U.S.) million in 2012.(The fact that payoffs are still so high
tells it all.Little has changed in that
corrupt world.)
The article builds
around the allegation that the 2008 crash wasn’t good for Goldman Sachs … and
how it has had to refurbish its image.Nothing is said about WHY that is necessary. Nothing is said about its
participation in the economic collapse of Greece or other international and
national depredations.Not a word is
said about what Goldman Sachs is alleged to have done to contribute to the
crash and to the loss of savings and security of millions of people. Not a
detail or a piece of information is given about the huge con-game of creating
(in layman’s terms) fake investments that melted like snow in hot sun when
fairly examined.
All we get is that
“We have reduced the lab where we used to have all these people creating and
engineering these things”. (REDUCED the lab?) Taking care not to explain
clearly that operations like Goldman Sachs (in layman’s terms) loaned money
that didn’t exist and sold “securities”without traceable records… and on … and
on, the reader is simply told “that banks [must] reduce the use of borrowed
money, the key in ‘levering up’ returns”.
In short, someone
who doesn’t know the lingo and needs clear information is told nothing that
matters about Goldman Sachs – which Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone called a
“vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its
blood funnel into anything that smells like money”.
Maybe we can stop
there.Readers get almost no information
about Goldman Sachs in what looks like an elaborate page-and-a half “infomercial”
for the corporation by the Globe and Mail.But if readers google Matt Taibbi and the new ‘The Intercept’ blog site,
they can find in-depth, serious examination of the gigantic and multi-facetted
con-jobs engaged in by the vampire squid community … people we might call “the
globalizers”.Readers WON’T get that
kind of information from The Globe and Mail.
Let’s shine a
little light on The Globe and Mail working in a local scene.British Columbia.
In that same Globe
and Mail issue, apparently investigative journalists Justine Hunter and Ian
Bailey look at politicians and entitlement. (S1, S4) To show the virtues of a
“good guy”, the journalists focus on present B.C. minister of finance Mike de
Jong and his personal push to cut expenses, to drive a twenty-year old car, to
refuse VIP transport, and to urge such virtue upon others.All that is reported to show up those others
who appear to swill at the public trough … and have been exposed lately… and
who seem to emit the faint odor of corruption … which, apparently Mike de Jong
is free of.
Except …except …
there’s Mike de Jong and the BC Rail Scandal. What is never said and has never
been approached by anyone at the Globe and Mail is that the (lily-pure and
independent) Special (Crown) Prosecutor - (appointed in 2003) in the 14 year
saga of the BC Rail Scandal investigation, pre-trial, and trial - was
illegitimately in the position.Appointed under the Attorney Generalship of Geoff Plant, his partner and
colleague for seven years, that Special Prosecutor had also been partner and
colleague of the Deputy Attorney General (Allan Seckel) for eleven years. Buddies,
you might say.
The Special
Prosecutor’s illegitimacy means that everything done toward, and including, the
BC Rail Scandal court case from his appointment in 2003 is invalid … and worse.The Attorney General of B.C. was fully
informed more than once of the violation … and did nothing … refused even to
answer correspondence.
Which is where
Mike de Jong comes in.Becoming Attorney
General around the time of the revelation about the illegitimate Special
Prosecutor, he decided – not to act on the irrefutable information but to have
a review of the appointment process of Special Prosecutors.He wanted a swift, efficient review by UBC
vice president Stephen Owen. Apparently … apparently, the review had nothing
whatever to do with the gigantically important violation in the case of the BC
Rail Scandal trial about which the Attorney General of B.C. had been fully
informed.
The Report by
Stephen Owen never mentions the BC Rail Scandal Special Prosecutor
appointment.The Report is a pumped up whitewash
of the process.The Special Prosecution
appointment process, readers are led to conclude, was made in heaven and the name
of each appointee is delivered to the Attorney General by an angel with golden
wings.So much for Mike de Jong.(Don’t Globe and Mail writers do ANY
research?)
The two Globe and
Mail columnists on the story during the four-year long BC Rail Scandal pre-trial
and trial (known also as the Basi, Virk, and Basi trial) were (award winning)
Gary Mason and Mark Hume.They were in
the courtroom frequently.When the
Special Prosecutor’s illegitimate appointment was reported upon, the blog world
lit up with the information.The
Mainstream Press and Media refused to touch it, to investigate the facts, to do
… anything. Gary Mason and Mark Hume never published a word.
Sylvia Stead, Public Editor, Globe and Mail,
writes: “the role of the media in a democracy [is]: to think, to challenge, to
question, to include the facts and not just to accept what is said.And to do it regardless of which party or
leader is in power.”
The Globe and
Mail, demonstrably, does not do what Sylvia Stead says it must do in a
democracy.Serious Canadians, then,
should ignore (and more and more do) the organ of sleazy corporate propaganda called
the Globe and Mail.
Canadians, more
and more, seek information from almost any other source than Canada’s
Mainstream Press and Media, and, especially, from any source other than their
flagship institution, called – we all know – Canada’s National Newspaper, the
Globe and Mail.
(The examples Robin has noted are only but a few, British Columbia`s media has become a putrid sewer, bias corporatism, a bowing to the elites, columnists and reporters polishing BC Liberal jackboots.....Cowards, Keith Baldrey thinks Twitter followers count as status, those with few are treated as lepers....
_______________-
Some idiot with 9 followers insults me and demands I ANSWER HIM NOW! Too funny. Applies to many other twits. You know who you are. #bcpoli
______________
You see, that Keith Baldrey Tweet...Keith Baldrey could have said.....Some idiot wants me to respond to him, but no, Keith Baldrey thinks the person is beneath him because of the amount of Twitter followers he has, ...Baldrey did the same thing months ago with me, in a private message...Keith Baldrey has never broken one big story, or one scandal in his entire political career, nothing, he`s a paid stenographer, a pathetic little man with an inflated ego.....A cowardly slug who couldn`t hold a candle to 90% of those who blog and report....!
Vaughn Palmer with his fluffball Voice of B.C. Government press release no tough questions zero follow-up inquiry bootlick dog n pony show...Billy Good and his Friday political panel, now known as..The Yawning Edge of the Ledge..
Just in the last few weeks alone, A big scandal in our ambulance service, ignored, Laura Millar scandal, ignored, Amit Virk and the devastating Kwantlen college scandal, all but ignored because it involves BC Liberals, Christy Clark`s lobbying for big oil with her sex partner Mark Marissen, ignored, yet a tired old failed ex premier Mike Harcourt with either a bad case of dementia or revisionist history syndrome makes a statement borne out of anger over Adrian Dix`s feeble and fatal electioneering is plastered on front pages, a lead news item on Global, as well as endless drone on radio, a nothing story pounded by media on orders from corporate headquarters......
Pathetic, and the media knows it, the columnists and writers know it, patting each other on the back while pretending they mattered, or made a difference when clearly they did neither, complicit by compromise, by concession by concealment and of course, collusion....Grant G)
Quiz:
1. How much natural gas is the United States currently extracting?
(a) Barely enough to meet its own needs
(b) Enough to allow lots of exports
(c) Enough to allow a bit of exports
(d) The United States is a natural gas importer
Answer: (d) The United States is a natural gas importer, and has been for many years. The EIA is forecasting that by 2017, we will finally be able to meet our own natural gas needs.
Figure 1. US Natural Gas recent history and forecast, based on EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release Overview
In fact, this last year, with a cold winter, we have had a problem with excessively drawing down amounts in storage.
There is even discussion that at the low level in storage and current rates of production, it may not be possible to fully replace the natural gas in storage before next fall.
2. How much natural gas is the United States talking about exporting?
(a) A tiny amount, less than 5% of what it is currently producing.
(b) About 20% of what it is currently producing.
(c) About 40% of what it is currently producing.
(d) Over 60% of what it is currently producing.
The correct answer is (d) Over 60% what it is currently producing. If we look at the applications for natural gas exports found on the Energy.Gov website, we find that applications for exports total 42 billion cubic feet a day, most of which has already been approved.* This compares to US 2013 natural gas production of 67 billion cubic feet a day. In fact, if companies applying for exports build the facilities in, say, 3 years, and little additional natural gas production is ramped up, we could be left with less than half of current natural gas production for our own use.
*This is my calculation of the sum, equal to 38.51 billion cubic feet a day for Free Trade Association applications (and combined applications), and 3.25 for Non-Free Trade applications.
3. How much are the United States’ own natural gas needs projected to grow by 2030?
a. No growth
b. 12%
c. 50%
d. 150%
If we believe the US Energy Information Administration, US natural gas needs are expected to grow by only 12% between 2013 and 2030 (answer (b)). By 2040, natural gas consumption is expected to be 23% higher than in 2013. This is a little surprising for several reasons. For one, we are talking about scaling back coal use for making electricity, and we use almost as much coal as natural gas. Natural gas is an alternative to coal for this purpose.
Furthermore, the EIA expects US oil production to start dropping by 2020 (Figure 3, below), so logically we might want to use natural gas as a transportation fuel too.
Figure 3. US Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release Oil Forecast for the United States.
We currently use more oil than natural gas, so this change could in theory lead to a 100% or more increase in natural gas use.
Many nuclear plants we now have in service will need to be replaced in the next 20 years. If we substitute natural gas in this area as well, it would further send US natural gas usage up. So the EIA’s forecast of US natural gas needs definitely seem on the “light” side.
4. How does natural gas’s production growth fit in with the growth of other US fuels according to the EIA?
(a) Natural gas is the only fuel showing much growth
(b) Renewables grow by a lot more than natural gas
(c) All fuels are growing
The answer is (a). Natural gas is the only fuel showing much growth in production between now and 2040.
Figure 4 below shows the EIA’s figure from its Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release showing expected production of all types of fuels.
Figure 4. Forecast US Energy Production by source, from US EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release.
Natural gas is pretty much the only growth area, growing from 31% of total energy production in 2012 to 38% of total US energy production in 2040. Renewables are expected to grow from 11% to 12% of total US energy production (probably because the majority is hydroelectric, and this doesn’t grow much). All of the others fuels, including oil, are expected to shrink as percentages of total energy production between 2012 and 2040.
5. What is the projected path of natural gas prices:
(a) Growing slowly
(b) Ramping up quickly
(c) It depends on who you ask
It depends on who you ask: Answer (c). According to the EIA, natural gas prices are expected to remain quite low. The EIA provides a forecast of natural gas prices for electricity producers, from which we can estimate expected wellhead prices (Figure 5).
Figure 5. EIA Forecast of Natural Gas prices for electricity use from AEO 2014 Advance Release, together with my forecast of corresponding wellhead prices. (2011 and 2012 are actual amounts, not forecasts.)
In this forecast, wellhead prices remain below $5.00 until 2028. Electricity companies look at these low price forecasts and assume that they should plan on ramping up electricity production from natural gas.
The catch–and the reason for all of the natural gas exports–is that most shale gas producers cannot produce natural gas at recent price levels. They need much higher price levels in order to make money on natural gas. We see one article after another on this subject: From Oil and Gas Journal; from Bloomberg; from the Financial Times. The Wall Street Journal quoted Exxon’s Rex Tillerson as saying, “We are all losing our shirts today. We’re making no money. It’s all in the red.”
Why all of the natural gas exports, if we don’t have very much natural gas, and the shale gas portion (which is the only portion with much potential for growth) is so unprofitable? The reason for all of the exports is too pump up the prices shale gas producers can get for their gas. This comes partly by engineering higher US prices (by shipping an excessive portion overseas) and partly by trying to take advantage of higher prices in Europe and Japan.
Figure 6. Comparison of natural gas prices based on World Bank “Pink Sheet” data. Also includes Pink Sheet world oil price on similar basis.
There are several catches in all of this. Dumping huge amounts of natural gas on world export markets is likely to sink the selling price of natural gas overseas, just as dumping shale gas on US markets sank US natural gas prices here (and misled some people, by making it look as if shale gas production is cheap). The amount of natural gas export capacity that is in the approval process is huge: 42 billion cubic feet per day. The European Union imports only about 30 billion cubic feet a day from all sources. This amount hasn’t increased since 2005, even though EU natural gas production has dropped. Japan’s imports amounted to 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day in 2012; China’s amounted to about 4 billion cubic feet. So in theory, if we try hard enough, there might be a place for the 42 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to go–but it would take a huge amount of effort.
There are other issues involved, as well. The countries that are importing huge amounts of high-priced natural gas are not doing well financially. They aren’t going to be able to afford to import a whole lot more high-priced natural gas. In fact, a big part of the reason that they are not doing well financially is because they are paying so much for imported natural gas (and oil).
If the US has to pay these high prices for natural gas (even if we produce it ourselves), we won’t be doing very well financially either. In particular, companies who manufacture goods with electricity from high-priced natural gas will find that the goods they make are not competitive with goods made with cheaper fuels (coal, nuclear, or hydroelectric) in the world marketplace. This is a problem, whether the country produces the high-priced natural gas itself or imports it. So the issue is not an imported fuel problem; it is a high-priced fuel problem.
Another issue is that with shale gas, we are the high cost producer. There is a lot of natural gas production around the world, particularly in the Middle East, that is cheaper. If we add our high cost of shale gas to the high cost of shipping LNG long-distance across the Atlantic or Pacific, we will most definitely be the high cost producer. Other producers with lower costs (even local shale gas producers) can undercut our prices. So at best those shipping LNG overseas are likely to make mediocre profits.
And there would seem to be great temptation to stir up trouble, to encourage Europe to buy our natural gas exports, rather than Russia’s. Of course, our ability to provide this natural gas is not entirely clear. It makes a good story, with lots of “ifs” involved: “If we can really extract this natural gas. If the price can really go up and stay up. If you can wait long enough.” The story makes the US look more rich and powerful than it really is. We can even pretend to offer help to the Ukraine.
Perhaps the best outcome would be if virtually none of this natural gas export capacity ever gets built–approval or no approval. If it is really possible to get the natural gas out, we need it here instead. Or leave it in the ground.
Sometimes I just can`t help but laugh my face off, these BC Liberals are really going all in on both propaganda and lying on this LNG thingy..
According to British Columbia`s immigration minister, he stated at a Government arranged bafflegabfest in Vancouver yesterday that BC will need 1 million workers by 2020,, these 1 million jobs, according to the minister will be in the northern part of British Columbia, these (fictional) jobs will peak between 2016 and 2018 and most of the jobs, according to this BC Liberal spindocter will be related to LNG......
This minister also said these jobs would be temporary in nature...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
British Gas, one of the proponents contemplating building a B.C. LNG plant wrote last year..British Gas outlined their workforce requirements..
______________________
"BG(British Gas) intends to build a facility on Ridley Island capable of producing 21 million tonnes of LNG a year. Called Prince Rupert LNG, it would be built overseas in modules and shipped to Prince Rupert for assembly.
Even so, the plant would create 3,500 jobs during construction,
250 permanent direct jobs and another 250 spinoff jobs.
BG says it is planning to build it in two phases, beginning in 2016. The first phase — two seven-million-tonne-a-year processing units, or trains — is to be completed by 2021"
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The immigration minister eluded to 1 million jobs, he claimed the "majority of these 1 million jobs will be in the LNG industry", he claimed employment numbers would peak between 2016 and 2018...By majority, a majority of 1 million jobs must be at least 600,000 jobs, 600,000 LNG construction jobs between 2016 to 2018..
Yet we still haven`t got even one final investment decision, furthermore, as you can read above the large British Gas LNG plant proposal(if built) would have a peak construction workforce of 3,500 jobs..
Assuming we had 10 LNG plants all being constructed at the same time...Multiply British Gas`s peak employment numbers by 10 and you arrive at .....35,000 jobs....Yet this deputy minister is claiming at least 600,000 jobs...
Even the BC Liberal press release 2 weeks ago ..... In that press release the BC Liberal`s Job numbers totals for LNG were skewed way too high, but know where near as high as minister Dave Byng`s projections....Here is what the BC Liberals said two weeks ago on LNG job numbers..
As the LNG industry develops, it will create jobs all over the Province.
In fact, corporate offices have already opened in the lower mainland and demand for labour is growing in northern B.C. The LNG industry will create thousands of jobs in the natural gas sector.
These jobs will include direct and indirect employment during the construction phase as well as long-term operations.
Based on a current forecast of 5 plants in operation by 2021:
21,600 jobs will be directly involved in the building of LNG export facilities and associated pipelines.—
41,900 jobs will be created in the industries that supply goods and services during the peak construction phase.—
2,400 permanent jobs are required to operate and maintain the plants and pipelines on an ongoing basis.
61,700 jobs are required to support LNG operations including workers required to drill, produce, process and transport the natural gas required to feed the export facilities.
In addition to these jobs, there will be thousands of spin-off opportunities created and supported as result of LNG. For example: When a welder earns income, the money spent on their cost of living is injected into the economy. By spending their wage on things like buying clothes, eating in restaurants or renovating a home, the welder supports the financial well-being of the community and indirect jobs for their neighbors.
Recently, the B.C. government released a Natural Gas Workforce Strategy and Action Plan in collaboration with industry and training authorities. Our action plan outlines the employment demands expected from LNG as well as details on how government will prepare people for new jobs.
Skills and core industrial certification requirements, as well as new postsecondary programs, will be created to ensure British Columbians are trained for new, high paying jobs in the resource sector.
"Emails between top-level BC civil servants show Premier Clark’s 100,000 LNG jobs were based on dubious assumptions thrown together at the last minute for her 2013 throne speech. Were those civil servants working for the public interest or Clark’s election campaign?........
Were the Prosperity Fund and the job claims part of an elaborate election ploy? It wouldn’t be the first time a government made an election promise it didn’t intend to keep. A more troubling possibility, though, is that Provincial public service employees and public funds were used to create that election ploy,...... . The initiative appears to have been overseen by Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance Doug Foster. Foster outsourced the work to three private firms and delivered the numbers for Clark’s speech only days before it was made. Foster appears to have been reporting to Neil Sweeney, Deputy Minister, Corporate Policy in the Premier’s Office........
The report that provided the numbers was authored by Grant Thornton LLP (download from link at end of story), a prestigious accountancy firm with world-wide operations. Grant Thornton’s report allowed the Premier to say in her February 2013 throne speech, “LNG development is poised to trigger approximately $1 trillion in cumulative GDP within British Columbia over the next 30 years and that means more than $100 billion will flow directly to the Prosperity Fund. Province wide, LNG is expected to create on average 39,000 annual direct, indirect and induced full-time jobs during a nine-year construction period. As well, there could be as many as 75,000 full-time jobs required once all LNG plants are in full operation.”........
After we read the report, which had the deceptively simple title Employment Impact Review, Focus filed an FOI for the record of communications between the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas and Grant Thornton as they developed the study. The report contained many warnings to the reader that it was based entirely on assumptions provided by “the Province and its advisors.” We wondered who those “advisors” were and whether the Province and its advisors had pushed the process toward some desired outcome...... Grant Thornton’s estimation of long-term employment is also puzzling. According to an extensive study by KPMG of the $35 billion Australia Pacific project, ongoing operations of the LNG plant would employ 325, the pipeline 20 and the gas fields 520. Extrapolating from that example, a $98 billion project in BC would create 910 long-term operational jobs at LNG plants, 56 pipeline jobs, and 1456 gas field extraction jobs. That’s direct, long-term employment....... It’s difficult to see how Grant Thornton arrived at the conclusion $98 billion would bring 75,000 long-term full-time jobs to the province. It seemed possible, then, after analyzing the Grant Thornton study last May, that the process of creating the report might have been pushed to create a 100,000-jobs election platform rather than function as a careful and reasoned analysis of the potential for LNG to produce jobs in BC. If it was the former, had taxpayers paid for a Liberal campaign expense? If it was the latter, why had the jobs report been kept in a drawer during the election?" http://focusonline.ca/?q=node/695 ____________________
Bernard Schulman too doubts the BC Liberal`s advertised LNG job number totals and has been thoroughly stymied in his government FOI requests..Bernard is attempting to figure out how these BC Liberals derived these job number totals..
Simple math, 600,000 LNG welders making 200,000.00 per year ....That totals $120 billion in wages, ..2 years of welders making $200,000.00 per year is.....$240 billion in wages alone, cut those welder wages in half($100,000.00 per year)...That is still $120 billion in just wages over 2 year....LNG plants take much longer than 2 years to build, on average these big multi-train LNG plants take at least 5 years to build.....$hundreds of billions in construction wages alone, how about adding in the cost of materials, pre-made modules from south Korea, shipping costs, executive and managerial costs....Add in financing costs, carrying costs, investor return costs..We are talking about over 1/2 $trillion dollars just building this industry....Oh, and what is the proposed taxation level these companies will be subject to....."1 1/2% taxation until capital costs are recouped
It would take decades for these companies to break even if one was to believe the BC Liberals in how much employment is reqired to get this industry going...Furthermore, the BC Liberal proposed taxation and royalty scheme presented to these energy companies has been thoroughly rejected by industry as too onerous..
Below is what this BC Liberal spindocter said yesterday(Friday March 28th/2014)
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"BC will see a million job openings by 2020, most within the next three years.. There are 47 projects in the province on the books worth over half-a- billion each. Dave Byng told a business audience on Friday that three quarters of the work associated with them are in northern BC and are associated with liquid natural gas.."snip
Boy oh boy, those job numbers associated with LNG just keep on growing and growing, now we are up to over 70,000 jobs for each LNG plant...????...I recommend you read the article posted directly above..
Dave Byng also said these LNG jobs are temporary in nature, the peak will be, most of these required workers will only be needed between 2016 and 2018..
I wonder where British Columbia`s 600,000...700,000 or more LNG workforce made up with skilled trades are going to go for work after these "temporary jobs" end?
Well, I guess we could build another few dozen LNG plants...!
Anyway, right now we are in the middle of a BC Liberal and corporate media propaganda campaign, The Vancouver Sun started yesterday with an...
An article titled "special" on their front page..
And cknw starts on Monday with a month long series on putting BCers to work...Included sponsors are CAPP, Fortis, YVR and some of our looking for money universities..
Sorry to scare you with that Christy clucking Clark photo..
Oh, by the way, those not familiar with Dave Byng....He was one of the top BC Rail dudes, he knows how to spin for sure..
Dave Byng helped spin BC Rail out of our provincial hands right into David Mclean`s clutches..
Robin Mathews touched on how media personalities have morphed into political party spokepersons and he is correct, my problem isn`t their affiliation it`s the fact they pretend to be neutral or well reasoned when clearly they are neither..
News reporting, television news, newspaper news and in particularly radio commentary on current events has became staged, manufactured, fake, no more spontaneity, radio today is kin to television soap operas, actors, extras and phony plots, good guys coming to the rescue and tune in tomorrow for another episode of..
How my stomach turns..
Today, right now actually Bill Good on cknw is nauseating, sickening and so transparent, he is lavishing praise on how Christy Clark rode in on her white horse, slayed the demon, broke down the barriers and single-handily ended the crippling port/truckers strike...
Really Billy, you actually went there, so important to the BC Liberals was this strike that the legislature took a one week spring break while the trucker strike raged...
Funny, I said to families members sitting across from me at 7:00 am this morning...."you watch, Billy Good is going to put Christy Clark on a pedestal over ending the truckers strike"
And sure enough, exactly as predicted, Billy Good played his role, ....Global BC with Keith Balderdash Baldrey did the same thing on Global news last night, ...Christy photo-op Clark got her smiling mug in front of the camera, praised lavished on her for being a miracle worker..
Yet a month ago Christy Clark punted this labour dispute to the feds, only after hearing criticism from industry and an announcement from the feds that they were staying out, ...1 month later, with a week long legislature spring break in between while the strike escalated fake media actors and actresses place Christy Clark on a pedestal...
Yesterday Brian Yu from Central One credit was playing his part too, called in for favour to tell radio listeners that everything is looking roses for British Columbia, this was done to change channels on Linda Reid, on more job losses, more scandal and failed Government, all part of the script acted out by media...Bring on the channel changer to prop up the great money managing BC Liberals(insert sarcasm here)..
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Central 1 economist Brian Yu forecasts increasing strength in the province's trade sector, driven by a lower Canadian dollar and recovering U.S. economy.
He is calling for economic growth to average above four per cent from 2016 to 2018 as the LNG sector fires up across the northern half of B.C.
Central 1 is also predicting continued low interest rates, with a modest increase over the next five years, while Yu says the loonie will average 87 cents U.S. through 2018, but could go lower.
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A made to order channel changer out of the blue from Brian Yu, British Columbia is the promised land and we all know how accurate these economic forecasters are, almost always wrong yet still paraded out in front of the public over and over again to preach failed forecasts, our actors in media have perpetual amnesia when it comes to citing these economist`s seering track record of error..
All part of an elaborate stageplay...To make my case there was an article yesterday by Barbara Yaffe, she presented Jock Finlayson`s doom n gloom forecast for British Columbia, on the same day Brian Yu was saying everything is coming up roses Jock Finlayson was saying the exact opposite..
According to Jock Finlayson, British Columbia is going to be dead last in growth in Canada, Jock cited how little investment BC will have in new machinery, he whined about Tesako`s rejected mine, he cited how obstructive First Nations are, he suggested that BC`s taxes are too high for corporations, real estate for development too expensive and of course..
Jock Finlayson was laying the blame for British Columbia`s poor showing on....On the fact we don`t have an HST tax anymore, all our ills will be fixed if we just bring back the HST...Jock Finlayson also cited how great the growth will be in Alberta....yet Jock conveniently forgot to mention that Alberta has no HST...
Oh my, doom n gloom according to Finlayson because we rejected the HST, ...Really Jock, you gotta let it go, you lost that battle...For those who didn`t pay attention, Jock Finlayson was on cknw and cited in our daily newspaper on a daily basis during the run-up to our HST referendum, he pleaded, he begged, spun, fabricated and lied in an all out effort to save the consumer ball-busting tax grab aimed at joe public..you gotta let it go Jock...Sheesh.
(I recommend the read, compare what Jock Finlayson says compared to what Brian Yu said)
The show must go on, a staged faked show...Christy Clark is bubbling today and has made a media statement, Christy Clark clucked that her LNG plan is real because Canada has approved 4 more export licenses bringing the total to 7 export licenses granted...Well, ...Christy forgot to mention that 3 of those export licenses were granted three years ago, these licenses for export mean nothing, big multi-national energy companies have yet to act on the first 3 granted LNG export licenses, there still is not one company that has decided to go forward, no final investment decisions..
Bill Good had on a guest this morning from Steelhead, that`s the hedge fund that appointed Geoff Plant to its board of directors, a hedge fund, no LNG expertise, no experience, they are a pension fund, a hedge fund, last week Global BC tried to propagate this LNG spin job by presenting this outfit as legitimate, yet they have no land site chosen, haven`t decided to be an on shore or offshore operation, they have no lease land in the gas fields, no feedstock gas, no drilling rigs, they have nothing yet they are, advertised by a political agenda oriented media as another one of the real deal LNG outfits...
(Read this article, when amateurs, hedge funds, pension funds are proposing building LNG export facilities it tells me that it really is a Ponzi scheme, if we as a province can`t build, don`t possess the skills to build a plant but hedge funds do, well)
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Many of the details of Steelhead’s plan have yet to be ironed out. They aren’t sure exactly where they would build – they’re considering five to six spots along the coast – or whether they would have on or off-coast facilities. “It’s a process that will take time,” admits Kuzemko. “We have to get an export license, we have to make sure we have a sight that works from a technical perspective, we have to get arrangements around any site associated with first nations agreements.” “[But] we are absolutely serious about this, and so are our Canadian investors.” Samir Kayande, a energy research analyst at ITG Investment Research, says Steelhead’s dreams are just that unless they find actual buyers – something the company doesn’t have lined up yet.
The BC Liberals are in trouble, internal polls are very bad for the Liberals, John Horgan has NDP numbers rising across the province, this in part has caused this Ponzi LNG fantasy to get really silly, and desperate on behalf of a corporate bought media...
I called out the BC Liberals on LNG, called them liars on their LNG job projections, both Bernard Schulman and David Schreck have been stymied with their FOI requests on where and how the BC Liberals arrived at their advertised job numbers...Rich Coleman and Christy Clark are lying..
I posted last month, I gave you a direct quote from Rich Coleman, a quote where he states that 3 LNG plants would be $100 billion in investment and 100,000 jobs...I laughed, busted his sorry ass on his statement..
Vaughn Palmer and Keith Balderdash Baldrey ignored Coleman`s statement..
Robin Mathews pointed out how Andrew Coyne is fake, didn/t cover his tracks...
Yesterday in the Burnaby Now Keith Baldrey indirectly called Rich Coleman a liar...
Baldrey talked about LNG jobs, Baldrey said how the BC Government stated that 5 LNG plants would create 39,000 construction jobs....Then Baldrey did his backflip...
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For example, B.C. Hydro estimates a staggering 33,000 jobs would be created in the construction and development phase of the Site C dam project, as it makes its case for the mega-project to go ahead. The B.C. government estimates that if five liquefied natural gas plants are built in the northwest (an admittedly ambitious and perhaps unrealistic plan) that 39,000 construction jobs would be created. Throw in those pipeline job estimates, and we could be looking at a whopping 80,000 construction jobs – new jobs – being created over the next decade. Now, let’s say those estimates are much too high. But even if half those jobs come to fruition, they will have a substantial impact on B.C.’s economy, not least because they will all be well-paying jobs that create a lot of economic activity.
You see, Keith Baldrey because of my work on LNG, because of David Broadband/s work knows Christy Clark`s and Rich Coleman`s job numbers are big-time bullshit, yet Keith Baldrey has no courage to call it what it is, a government lie, and more..
This is part of a slow climb-down on job numbers by the BC Liberals, by this time next year LNG job numbers will fall by a factor of 5....And Keith Baldrey will forget the lavish promises made by the BC Liberals on LNG...Keith, Billy and Vaughn will turn the argument on LNG to...They will create many high-paying jobs and that is good
That`s not what the BC Liberal`s promised us, they promised a debt free province, crown debt eliminated, a $100 billion dollar prosperity fund, tolls removed, school and hospital infrastructure money, sales tax eliminated, monies for northern communities and First Nations.
Keith Baldrey epitomizes slack, corrupt stageplay media, not a journalist, not a legislative reporter, a rug wearing soap opera actor is all he is, Baldrey is more concerned with counting Twitter followers than he is on reporting truth, reporting scandal..
Keith Baldrey, lead actor in the made in BC soap opera..As Our Stomach Turns
Lastly, there was another article yesterday on LNG, the BC Government is asking for public comment on a proposed LNG plant,...The article had some very interesting items in it..
This one LNG plant, PETRONAS, this one plant would increase BC`s emissions, increase our greenhouse gas totals by 8.5%....It would increase Canada`s greenhouse gas totals by nearly 1%...
Now, if we were to have 7, count-em, 7 LNG plants would mean British Columbia`s greenhouse gas emissions would rise by...
Rise by nearly 70%...Canada`s emissions would rise by nearly 7%.....
We are also seeing the port of Vancouver pushing for increased thermal coal facilities, with the stated goal of increasing thermal coal exports to China..
So please, would you Christy cluck cluck Clark stop blathering about saving the world from dirty coal, blathering about reducing Asia`s greenhouse gas emissions by selling them LNG...Really Christy, while British Columbia gets blasted 24/7 365 days a year by giant emission spewing LNG plants, while simultaneously increasing coal exports too..
You Christy Clark, and you BC Liberals can shove the carbon tax up your ass, make joe public pay a carbon tax when your ambitious plan of being an LNG exporting super-power would almost double our provincial emission totals....
Anyway, British Columbia`s media soap opera stageplay will continue, but all I`m asking, will you BC Liberals and your media actor friends stop pulling our legs..
Global BC 
