Energy revival fuelling boom
By Tamara Gignac, Calgary Herald, December 27, 2011
Province set to regain status as national leader
Albertans know all about the B-word: boom.
Environmental think-tank calls on Alberta regulators to check up on old pipelines
Canadian Press, 25 Nov 2011
EDMONTON – An environmental think-tank says recent spills in Alberta show it’s time for regulators to review how aging oil pipelines are monitored and maintained.
Nathan Lemphers of the Pembina Institute says there’s a greater chance of more spills because more oil is flowing through older lines.
Shine a light on loopholes in the electricity market
By Stephen Ewart, Calgary Herald, November 12, 2011
In a letter TransAlta president Steve Snyder wrote for today's Herald to explain how his company didn't "intentionally breach any rules or regulations" when it manipulated Alberta's electricity market last fall, he was adamant they simply "misinterpreted" the rules.
Pipeline politics trump sisterhood of the premiers
Rod Mickleburgh, Globe and Mail, Oct. 24, 2011
The Northern Gateway pipeline could be the most glittering jewel of all in Premier Christy Clark’s highly-hyped jobs plan for British Columbia.
Vandals spill 30,000 litres of oil, water
By Matt Dykstra, Edmonton Sun, October 11, 2011
Fairview RCMP are looking for some mischief-makers who mucked about with some oil pipeline valves last week, spilling 30,000 litres of oil and water.
Talisman backed anti-global warming campaign
By Mike De Souza, Calgary Herald, September 14, 2011
Alberta firm tried to block news of contribution
Enbridge To Buy Montana-Alberta Transmission Line Project
Edward Welsch, Wall Street Journal, 16 August 2011
Enbridge Inc. (ENB) is entering the electricity transmission business for the first time with its planned acquisition of Tonbridge Power Inc. (TBZ.V) and a C$300 million powerline project between Montana and Alberta.
Coal power plant expansion challenged in court
By Rebecca Penty, Calgary Herald, August 3, 2011
Applicants charge approval allows sidestepping of future federal rules
CALGARY — Environmental groups opposed to a coal power plant expansion in western Alberta have launched court action against the provincial utilities regulator and the local proponent, arguing approval of the project was fast-tracked so it could skirt forthcoming federal coal rules.
Waste-to-Energy Facilities Gaining Support in Alberta
By Justina Reichel, Epoch Times, Jul 20, 2011
Turning garbage into energy a proposed alternative to landfills
Garbage could be Alberta’s newest energy source once engineering studies for a new waste-to-energy facility are completed.
Ontario premier decries 'subsidies' for Western Canada’s energy industry
By Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald, July 21, 2011
An east-west energy battle is brewing among Canada’s premiers at the annual Council of the Federation conference being held in Vancouver, as Alberta and Saskatchewan spar with Ontario over oil and gas development.
Industry sponsorship of ministerial conference throws gasoline on a simmering fire
By Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald, July 20, 2011
Talk about providing fuel for your enemies. Clearly, the Alberta government doesn't understand optics. How else to explain why the wealthiest province in Canada sought out industry sponsors for the Energy and Mines Ministers' Conference in Kananaskis that started on Saturday and ended Tuesday?
Pembina Pipeline reports oil leak near Swan Hills
By Dave Cooper, edmontonjournal.com, July 20, 2011
Pipeline has been shut in, cleanup has started
EDMONTON - Pembina Pipeline Ltd. (PPL:TSX) estimates 1,300 barrels of crude oil has leaked into the pipeline right of way and a nearby unnamed creek about five kilometres north of Swan Hills.
Ottawa faces crucial test in the fight against coal
Clare Demerse, Pembina Institute, July 5, 2011
Just over a year ago, the federal government announced a plan to regulate some of the dirtiest sources of energy in Canada — coal power plants. Now, a decision by an Alberta regulator to approve a new coal plant has put the ball squarely in the federal government's court to live up to one part of that 2010 announcement, namely a commitment to "guard against" companies rushing new coal plants into service in an attempt to skirt the federal proposal.
Foreign environmentalists want review of Alberta oilsands plan
By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal, June 18, 2011
EDMONTON — A collection of environmental groups from the United States and Europe are calling on the Alberta government to form an independent panel of experts to assess concerns with a new provincial land-use plan for the oilsands region.
Gearing up for a new labour crunch
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE, Globe and Mail, May 22, 2011
Canada’s oil patch is scrambling to bring back foreign workers, desperate to avoid a repeat of the labour crunch that clobbered the industry three years ago.
Save resource money for the future? Nah, says Alberta
JEFFREY SIMPSON, Globe and Mail, May. 25, 2011
Dead on arrival. Such is the fate that awaits the report from a blue-ribbon panel on Alberta’s future.
Alberta's water not for sale: Renner
By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal With Files From Darcy Henton, Calgary Herald, May 12, 2011
Nestle chair's comments raise fears that H2O to become commodity
A controversy over water management has boiled up in Alberta over a media report in which the chairman of a major food company suggested the province is looking at the idea of allowing water to be traded and sold on an exchange like a commodity.
4.5 million litres of crude oil spill from northern Alberta pipeline
By Hanneke Brooymans, Edmonton Journal, May 4, 2011
EDMONTON — About 100 people are cleaning up 4.5 million litres of oil, the biggest crude oil pipeline spill in Alberta since 1975.
Worker killed in Alberta sour gas leak
Nathan VanderKlippe, Globe and Mail, May. 01, 2011
Deadly sour gas has killed the second worker in three years near the small Alberta community of Fox Creek.
RCMP were called Saturday evening after the gas, which contains hydrogen sulfide, leaked while three people were doing maintenance on a natural gas line. Two of the workers were exposed; a third was farther away.
Eminent domain bill tabled; future of bill and power-line work in doubt
By MIKE DENNISON, Billings Gazette, April 11, 2011
HELENA — A state Senate panel on Monday voted to table a high-profile bill designed to override a court decision that has stalled construction of a northern Montana power line to transport wind energy — but it's unclear whether the measure is dead at the Legislature.
Environment groups blast Athabasca plans
By Hanneke Brooymans, Edmonton Journal, April 6, 2011
Tory conservation efforts not enough, they say
In its ongoing struggle to balance the economy and the environment in northern Alberta, the provincial government has boosted conservation areas in the lower Athabasca region to be 22 per cent of the total.
Alberta conservation plan stuns oil patch
Carrie Tait, Nathan VanderKlippe and Josh Wingrove, Globe and Mail, April 05, 2011
The Alberta government has proposed new environmental rules that would revoke a number of oil sands leases – including those which already have active projects – in an effort to protect sensitive habitat, wildlife and forest land in the most industrialized area of the province.
Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
By Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca, February 21, 2011
With so many now heeding the harsh effect oil sands bitumen has on pipelines and refineries, why aren't the province's regulators?
The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), which regulates oil and gas activity in Alberta and is 63 per cent funded by industry, put a very oily foot in its mouth last week.
Alberta to launch single oil, gas regulator
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE, Globe and Mail, Jan. 28, 2011
The Alberta government is working to create a single body to regulate oil and gas development for the province, a major shift that promises to speed approval of new wells and oil sands projects by months.
Oil company reports pipeline explosion in Alberta
Postmedia News, Calgary Herald, January 2, 2011
CALGARY — A fire was sparked after an explosion this weekend at a gas pipeline in the area of Swan Hills, Alta., about 220 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, an oil and gas company has reported.
