BLUE HYDROGEN

How the feds see a big role for Big Oil in a hydrogen future

As some climate advocates push for hydrogen made from renewable energy, Natural Resources Canada is on the hunt for ways to include the oil and gas industry in the fuel’s future.

“Canada’s oil and gas sector is well-positioned to develop domestic hydrogen supply chains,” reads a meeting note Canada’s National Observer received through a federal access-to-information request. “In the short term, existing infrastructure and grey hydrogen production can kick-start Canada’s hydrogen economy.”

The note was prepared for Natural Resources deputy minister Jean-François Tremblay following a conference call March 10 between assistant deputy ministers Glenn Hargove, Mollie Johnson, Drew Leyburne, Frank Des Rosiers, and executive director of the ARC Energy Research Institute Peter Tertzakian. Tertzakian was not available for comment by deadline.

Hydrogen is increasingly seen as a fuel that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but experts realize any climate benefits are intrinsically tied to how the hydrogen is produced. The types of hydrogen produced are colour coded, with grey meaning produced from natural gas, blue meaning produced from natural gas with carbon capture technology used, and green meaning produced using renewable electricity. According to the Pembina Institute, more than 99 per cent of all hydrogen is grey, with blue and green together representing less than one per cent.

The note recognizes financing as a major obstacle for the oil and gas industry looking to break into hydrogen production, and reveals where Canada’s policy priorities might be.

“How would you address the debate over green versus blue hydrogen to persuade financial institutions to invest in blue hydrogen projects?” reads the note. “In your view, how can the government of Canada work with industry and the provinces to make headway on oil and gas sector diversification and competitiveness and reduce regulatory burden?” it also asks.

The note calls carbon capture “an essential part of Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy,” and says there are opportunities to deploy the technology in natural gas, upgrading, refining and petrochemical subsectors — depending on available financing — to curb emissions. Using carbon capture to convert natural gas to hydrogen would represent a new revenue stream for fossil fuel companies, the note says.

Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May says Canadians should be skeptical of climate solutions that don’t seek to phase out the oil and gas sector, calling carbon capture, nuclear power, and hydrogen — unless explicitly green — “scams” that keep a needed transition at bay.

“What we need to do is say out loud: We have to shut down the oilsands by 2030, let's plan for that. Let's make sure we have a plan for workers, let's make sure there's a plan for communities, let's make sure the Alberta economy benefits from all these other technologies that actually are green technologies,” she said.

“We cannot afford to blow it on hitting the Paris target, and that means we can't have fake, fraudulent, technology that continues to perpetuate fossil fuels,” she added.

Natural Resources Canada maintains the goal is to lower emissions and sees hydrogen as a key part of that.

“Our government released the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada in December 2020, outlining a path for Canada to capitalize on this opportunity to grow the economy and lower emissions,” said Ian Cameron, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan. “The goal of the strategy is to make Canada a top global producer of low-emission hydrogen.”

“I don't think we're categorically against blue hydrogen, but we don't want the carbon capture to involve enhanced oil recovery,” said NDP natural resources critic Richard Cannings, adding “that would be really extending the life of an industry we know that we have to move away from over the next 30 years.”

Cannings said aiming for green “is the way to go,” and that he is open to blue hydrogen production if it can be done without enhanced oil recovery, calling that “one step forward, two steps back.”

The same week assistant deputy minister for the Energy Technology Sector Glenn Hargrove and assistant deputy minister for the Strategic Petroleum Policy and Investments Office Drew Leyburne had a conference call with Tertzakian to discuss hydrogen supply chains, the two also hopped on a bi-weekly call with executives from Suncor, Cenovus, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited to discuss decarbonizing the sector.

According to a meeting note Canada’s National Observer received through a federal access-to-information request, the industry is looking for long-term policy predictability to feel more confident investing in technologies like carbon capture. The department admits in the note that some technology like post-combustion carbon capture has not been used in the oilsands, but expects to see multiple companies deploy the technology by 2030.

May says the government needs to ask of every piece of technology, “Does this get us off fossil fuels or not?”

“If it doesn't, then you don't do it, and you certainly don't spend public money on it, and you don't lie to Canadians and tell them you've embraced a clean economy agenda when embedded in it are fraudulent methods of keeping fossil fuels in use longer than they need to be,” she said.

The Pembina Institute says for hydrogen to help in the fight against climate change, it is best used in hard-to-decarbonize sectors that are already dominated by fossil fuels, like transportation or heavy industry.

John Woodside, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

Airbus tells EU hydrogen won't be widely used in planes before 2050
By Tim Hepher and Laurence Frost  

© Reuters/FABIAN BIMMER FILE PHOTO: A general view in a new A320 production line at the Airbus plant in Hamburg

PARIS (Reuters) - Most airliners will rely on traditional jet engines until at least 2050, with the introduction of zero-emissions hydrogen limited to regional and short-range planes, Airbus told European Union officials in a briefing released on Thursday.

The planemaker has emerged as the industry's leading champion for hydrogen propulsion, saying it plans to develop the world's first zero-emission commercial aircraft by 2035.

It has not publicly said whether the technology will be ready in time for the European industry's next major milestone - a replacement for the medium-haul A320 in the 2030s - but February's briefing to EU officials appeared to rule this out.

"Zero-emission hydrogen aircraft will be primarily focused on regional and shorter-range aircraft from 2035. Which means that current and future iterations of highly efficient gas turbines will still be required as we move towards 2050, especially for long-haul operations," the presentation said.

Slides from the presentation to the office of European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans were released by InfluenceMap, an investor-led climate lobbying watchdog which said it obtained them through a freedom of information request.

"It is not yet decided what market segment the first zero-emission aircraft will target," an Airbus spokesperson said on Thursday, declining further comment on the February meeting.

Although research remains at an early stage, possible paths to replacement of the A320 are already a major focus of debate as rival Boeing ponders how to shore up the competing 737 MAX and engine makers focus on evolving gas turbines.

Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun last week ruled out using hydrogen on a significant scale before 2050.

Hydrogen has also taken centre-stage in talks over European government support for aviation during the COVID-19 crisis.

In June last year, France announced an increase in funding for the CORAC aviation research body including 1.5 billion euros over three years for technology such as hydrogen, rescuing 500 out of 15,000 jobs threatened by an Airbus restructuring.

The finance ministry listed five key targets for the investment including a successor to the workhorse A320, which it said would use hydrogen instead of today’s gas turbines and enter service between 2033 and 2035.

2022 CONCEPT DECISION

Industry officials have played down the prospect of a switch to hydrogen for the A320 family's replacement because of the aircraft's size and range, and infrastructure needed globally. Airbus says an A320 takes off or lands every 1.6 seconds.

Airbus officials say the research will in any case seed disruptive technology likely to play a role in the next generation of airplanes.

As an interim step, Airbus and others have called for more widespread use of sustainable fuels in existing planes.

In February's presentation, Airbus displayed industry forecasts suggesting the A320's medium-haul category of 150-250 seats would be powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) first, and "potentially some hydrogen" from 2050.

A smaller niche between 100-150 seats, which includes its A220 and Embraer E2, would use electric power, hydrogen and/or SAF from 2040, while only regional 50-100 seaters would be ready for hydrogen in the 2030s.

Airbus currently serves that market through its 50-70-seat ATR turboprop co-venture with Italy's Leonardo.

In September last year, Airbus presented three concepts for a hydrogen plane to enter service in 2035 including a turboprop, a traditional-looking twin-engined plane powered by hybrid-hydrogen engines and a more radical blended-wing body aircraft.

Airbus has said it will choose the final product for a new decarbonised plane in 2025. The briefing said it would also narrow down the choice of broad concept as early as mid-2022.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Laurence Frost; Editing by Mark Potter)

#NOTOKYOOLYMPICS
Japan's Olympic sponsors hire consultants to assess potential brand damage-FT


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese corporate 2020 Olympic sponsors have hired consulting firms to advise them on whether to push ahead with Olympic-themed marketing plans or limit their association with an event that could damage their brands, the Financial Times reported.

 Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon FILE PHOTO: Olympic rings reinstallation at the waterfront area at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo

The consultants include Kantar Group from Britain and two Japan-based firms, Macromill Inc and Intage Holdings, the FT said, citing unidentified people.

More than 60 Japanese companies, such as Toyota Motor Corp and and beverage maker Asahi Holdings, have together paid more than $3 billion to sponsor the Tokyo Games.

Most Japanese want the games canceled or delayed again, amid concern that tens of thousands of foreign athletes and Olympic officials could bring new coronavirus variants and further pressure on an already stretched medical system.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Peter Graff)

JAPANESE STATE-CAPITALI$M 

Probe concludes Toshiba, with government, sought to pressure shareholders at AGM

By Makiko Yamazaki  

 Reuters/Toru Hanai FILE PHOTO: Logo of Toshiba Corp is seen as Window cleaners work on the company's headquarters in Tokyo

TOKYO (Reuters) - An independent probe into Toshiba Corp's controversial annual shareholders' meeting last year concluded that the company, together with the government's industry ministry, effectively colluded to undermine shareholders' rights.

Activist investors including Effissimo Capital Management had successfully pushed for an investigation into whether the Japanese conglomerate applied pressure on shareholders over voting at the meeting.

"Toshiba, so to speak in unison with METI, devised a plan to prevent Effissimo from exercising its shareholder proposal right at the AGM," investigators said in the report which was released by Toshiba.

The controversy comes amid a push by Japan's government for improved corporate governance.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs)

Elizabeth Warren's proposal to cancel $50,000 in student debt would benefit low-income borrowers more, report finds

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) 

 Provided by Business Insider Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference about student debt outside the Capitol on February 4, 2021 in Washington, DC. Also pictured, L-R, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Critics of student-debt cancellation argue it would benefit high earners the most.
The Roosevelt Institute found cancelling $50,000 in student debt would be progressive, not regressive.
It would also help close the racial wealth gap, given that more Black borrowers graduate with debt.
See more stories on Insider's business page.

Some Democrats' calls to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower has critics, with even President Joe Biden arguing it would benefit the high-earners more than the low earners. But a new study challenges that argument.

The left-leaning Roosevelt Institute released a report on Tuesday analyzing the "regressive cancellation myth" that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's plan to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person would be regressive because it helps a well-off group with a college educations. The think tank found that the Warren-Schumer plan is, in fact, progressive, given that wealthy people rarely use loans to pay for college. The plan would also be critical in addressing the racial wealth gap.

"Contrary to common misperceptions, careful analysis of household wealth data shows that student debt cancellation - at all proposed levels - is progressive; it would provide more benefits to those with fewer economic resources and could play a critical role in addressing the racial wealth gap and building the Black middle class," the report said.

The report highlighted five errors people make when saying debt cancellation is regressive:
Including private loans, when debt cancellation proposals have only concerned federal loans;
Only analyzing borrowers, rather than the entire population;
Focusing on distribution of debt by income rather than wealth;
Highlighting the value of debt to the government, rather than to the borrower;
And ignoring the racial distribution of wealth.

According to the report, 61% of students with incomes of $30,000 and under who began college in 2012 graduated with student debt, compared to the only 30% of students with incomes $200,000 and higher who left school with such debt.

The racial wealth gap is a large factor behind advocates pushing for debt cancellation. Last week, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Derrick Johnson, said in a statement that the student-loan debt crisis is "a key issue at the core of the racial wealth gap."

Insider also reported in April that 36 civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, were calling on Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person to close the racial and wealth disparities in the country that put borrowers "on the brink of financial devastation."

While many Democrats and advocates want Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person using his executive powers, he has noted his concerns with doing so multiple times, even citing the regressive argument on debt cancellation.

"The idea that you go to Penn and you're paying a total of 70,000 bucks a year and the public should pay for that? I don't agree," Biden said in an interview with The New York Times last month.

He used the same argument that people who go to Ivy league schools do not need student debt forgiveness at a CNN town hall in February, where he said student debt is not a "Harvard, Yale, and Penn" problem.

But Warren, Schumer, and other Democrats continue to argue against this notion. Warren told Insider on Tuesday that Biden can cancel $50,000 in student debt "with the stroke of a pen."

"The time is now," Warren said. "We know what the problem is: student loan debt is holding back tens of millions of people across this country. People who can't buy homes, people who can't buy cars, people who can't start small businesses. We need to cancel that student loan debt, not only for those people individually, but for our whole economy."
Read the original article on Business Insider

Canada's British Columbia grants indigenous request to defer old-growth logging

© Reuters/JENNIFER OSBORNE FILE PHOTO: Protesters stand on debris of a cutblock as RCMP officers arrest protesters in the Fairy Creek area of Vancouver Island

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's British Columbia province agreed on Wednesday to a request from indigenous groups to defer logging of old-growth trees in the Fairy Creek watershed on Vancouver Island, where environmental activists blockading forestry roads are in a standoff with police.

The Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations formally requested a two-year deferral for old-growth harvesting in parts of their territories on Monday.

Activists have been blocking roads to stop private logging company Teal Jones from harvesting old-growth trees since last August, and there have been more than 180 arrests after police moved in to enforce an injunction last month.

The protest reignited a debate about protecting ancient forests in the province but also raised questions over whether environmentalists have a right to tell indigenous communities, many of which benefit economically from forestry, how to manage their resources.

"We have allowed as a province the titleholders to make decisions on their land," British Columbia Premier John Horgan told a news conference on Wednesday, announcing the deferral, which applies to about 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres).

Forestry contributes around 5% to B.C.'s economy and the Pacific Coast province is working on a strategy to modernize the industry and protect shrinking old-growth forests, which are trees aged at least 250 years old in the coastal region.

"These are monumental steps ... these announcements are transformative for an industry that has been foundational to British Columbia's success," Horgan added.

He said the government would consider old-growth logging deferral requests from other indigenous communities but that the process would take time.

Teal Jones said on Monday it would abide by the First Nations' request to defer logging.

Kathy Code, spokesperson for the Rainforest Flying Squad that organized the Fairy Creek protests, said Horgan's announcement was a step in the right direction but more action was needed to protect ancient forests.

"We intend to hold firm until we have old-growth forest defended across B.C. This is the last of our biodiversity," she said.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Video: Police make B.C. logging protest arrests (The Canadian Press)

B.C. approves First Nations' request to defer old-growth logging for two years

VICTORIA — British Columbia has approved the request of three First Nations that want old-growth logging deferred for two years in part of their territories, including at the site of ongoing protests and arrests.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Premier John John Horgan said Wednesday the province has taken a transformative step in forestry and respecting the nations' land-management rights is part of its commitment to align policies with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The move is also in keeping with the government's adoption last September of recommendations of an independent panel, starting with the deferral of nearly 200,000 hectares of old-growth forests.

"This is in everyone's interest," Horgan said. "It's in the interest of those majestic forests and the biodiversity that depends on it. It's in the interest of industry because they have certainty. And of course it's in the interest of communities because we're going to attach forests to communities, not to shareholders."

Hereditary and elected chiefs of the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations on southwestern Vancouver Island issued a declaration Monday calling for old-growth logging to be temporarily deferred in Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew as well as the central Walbran area. The deferral in the two areas involves about 2,000 hectares of old-growth forest.

The chiefs said in a joint statement that they are humbled by the broad base of support they have received for the declaration from across B.C. and Canada.

It said they welcome the decision by the provincial government and will monitor forestry activities in the areas to ensure old-growth timber is not cut.

"While this essential work is being carried out, we expect everyone to allow forestry operations approved by our nations and the government of British Columbia in other parts of our territories to continue without interruption. Please respect that our citizens have a constitutionally protected right to benefit economically from our lands, waters, and resources."

A protest group dubbed the Rainforest Flying Squad said members will remain in the Fairy Creek area because large-scale logging could still occur in old-growth forest directly adjacent to Fairy Creek and in parts of the central Walbran not included in the deferral.

Saul Arbess, a member of the group, said in a statement that while the government's announcement is a positive step, "it falls short of the deferrals required to pause logging in all the critically endangered areas currently being defended, for generations to come."

The group is calling for the protection of about 4,600 hectares in both areas.

Horgan said he's hopeful that protesters at Fairy Creek will understand the process involving an industry that has long been the foundation of B.C.'s economy "is not one that can happen overnight."

The province will act as quickly as it can on deferral requests from other First Nations, Horgan said.

There's been a demand for change in the forestry sector since the 1970s but that will involve widespread consultations that include First Nations, he said.

"I think this is the way forward as to the Pacheedaht, Huu-ay-aht and Ditidaht."

Adam Olsen, a Green party member of the legislature from Vancouver Island, said approving the deferral is only the first step in a long process.

"For decades, Indigenous people have watched natural resources trucked out of their territory to the economic benefit of industry and the provincial government," said Olsen, a member of the Tsartlip First Nation.

"The B.C. NDP government has a responsibility to provide the resources necessary, with no strings attached, to these Nations to develop this comprehensive integrated resource management plan," he said in a statement.

RCMP said Tuesday that 194 arrests have been made at Fairy Creek since police began enforcing a court injunction that would allow a logging firm to resume its work.

Teal-Jones said Monday that it would abide by the nations' declaration and would engage with them as they developed their forest management plans.

The impact on jobs from the current deferral is not expected to be significant because the three First Nations will continue harvesting in parts of their territory, Horgan said.

"I think we've done a pretty good job of making sure that the tenure holders understand the expectations from people who own the resources, that being the people of British Columbia, and also understanding that workers can continue to support their families wherever they live."

— By Camille Bains in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Ottawa outlines its $647M strategy to save Pacific salmon

The federal government released the broad strokes of its plan to save plummeting wild salmon stocks on the West Coast on Tuesday.

Federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan outlined the initial framework and guiding principles for Ottawa’s $647.1-million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI), announced as part of the recent federal budget.

Four key areas form the foundation of the strategy: conservation and stewardship, enhanced hatchery production, harvest transformation, and integrated management and collaboration, Jordan said.

Some B.C. salmon conservationists say the plan’s pillars and funding are positive, but the devil is in the details. Concerns raised include the use of hatcheries, the need to establish recovery plans, ensuring First Nations are true partners in the process, and that the entities steering the process are independent.

“Overall, it’s a positive announcement,” said Aaron Hill, executive director of Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

“We’re cautiously optimistic that it'll move things in the right direction.”

Many wild salmon stocks in B.C. and the Yukon are on the verge of collapse and bold action was necessary to reverse the trend, said Jordan, noting some populations have suffered declines of 90 per cent.

“The challenges facing Pacific salmon are enormous, but they're not insurmountable,” Jordan said.

“With the development of the historic Pacific salmon strategy, we will deploy the resources on a level that meets the scale of the crisis head on, and we will turn the corner.”

The four pillars support a strategic and co-ordinated long-term response rooted in collaborative action, she added.

“This is not a top-down approach,” Jordan said, adding Indigenous peoples, provincial and territorial governments, harvesters, stewardship partners, academia, environmentalists, and other stakeholders will be relied on to execute and guide the strategy.

The plan aims to develop stronger science and habitat restoration, stabilize and grow salmon populations and sustainable and reliable fisheries, as well as deepen communication and co-ordination between partners.

The funding is dedicated to conservation initiatives on the ground, Jordan said, adding the salmon strategy isn’t a new report or study.

Ottawa is partnering with the B.C. government on conservation through the province’s Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF) to fund projects on the ground immediately, Jordan said.

In the recent budget, Ottawa committed a further $100 million to the $143-million program.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will also begin planning and consultations to build new hatchery facilities to provide critical assistance for at-risk salmon stocks, Jordan said.

Video: Atlantic salmon returned from the ocean in greater numbers last year (cbc.ca)

“We're starting work immediately to consult with First Nations and local organizations to determine exactly where these hatcheries should be located to deliver the biggest impact,” Jordan said, adding DFO will take strategic steps to ensure that hatcheries won’t compromise wild fish stocks.

Strategic work with existing hatcheries will enhance their efforts where needed and aim to support economic opportunities for recreational fishers, she added.

Hill expressed concern that using hatcheries to support fisheries will further erode at-risk stocks by reducing the genetic fitness of wild salmon, and would see hatchery fish competing with endangered populations in the marine food web already under increasing duress.

“There is a need for hatcheries in some cases to rescue wild salmon runs from extinction,” Hill said, adding he’s pleased Jordan suggested DFO will take a conservation approach to their use.

“But the best way to do that is through a biological risk-assessment framework — something they currently have — but which is in a bit of a shambles and needs a massive overhaul,” he said.

DFO also urgently needs to develop science-based recovery plans for specific at-risk salmon populations, as required by 2019 changes to the Fisheries Act, Hill said.

Bob Chamberlin, a former vice-president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and a longtime advocate for wild salmon, said he wants Ottawa to abandon just consulting First Nations and work at a government-to-government level to enact the strategy.

Doing so is particularly relevant as Ottawa undertakes legislative changes to bring Canadian laws in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), he said.

“This is one of those vital opportunities to get it right the first time, and create space for First Nations partnerships to develop and implement salmon restoration,” Chamberlin said.

Work is already underway to co-ordinate a First Nation salmon restoration framework in B.C. to identify priorities, he added

“That’s the work I’ve been doing for the past six months. I've talked to First Nations across B.C. and the support is overwhelming.”

As part of the strategy, a federal Pacific salmon secretariat will be developed to caretake and integrate the data collected under the initiative, Jordan said.

A restoration centre of expertise for Pacific salmon will also be created to provide technical expertise to support restoration efforts by salmon stewardship groups.

“This (centre) will break down silos, increase communication, and we will learn from these groups to ensure we are focused in the right direction and the right areas, and adapting as time progresses,” Jordan said.

To be effective, both the proposed secretariat or the centre of expertise shouldn’t be overseen by the DFO, which also regulates salmon farms in B.C. waters and might potentially ignore or suppress science suggesting the operations pose a threat to wild stocks, Hill said.

“The idea of a Pacific salmon secretariat could be a great thing, but I’m concerned it might just be a sort of administrative function within DFO,” Hill said.

“We’d really love to see something that's arm's length.

“I don't think we'll see a good outcome if they're the ones that are also in charge of rolling out this whole initiative and overseeing it.”

Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

UPDATES

Developer officially cancels Keystone XL pipeline project blocked by Biden


(Reuters) -A $9 billion oil pipeline that became a symbol of the rising political clout of climate change advocates and a flash point in U.S.-Canada relations was officially canceled on Wednesday.

© Reuters/TODD KOROL A TC Energy pump station sits behind mounds of dirt from the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline as it lies idle near Oyen

Keystone XL, which was proposed in 2008 to bring oil from Canada's Western tar sands to U.S. refiners, was halted by owner TC Energy Corp after U.S. President Joe Biden this year revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the 1,200-mile project.


Opponents of the line fought its construction for years, saying it was unnecessary and would hamper the U.S. transition to cleaner fuels. Its demise comes as other North American oil pipelines, including Dakota Access and Enbridge Line 3, face continued opposition from environmental groups. ​

"This is a landmark moment in the fight against the climate crisis," said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're hopeful that the Biden administration will continue to shift this country in the right direction by opposing fossil fuel projects."

The Keystone XL pipeline was expected to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to Nebraska, but the project was delayed for the past 12 years due to opposition from U.S. landowners, Native American tribes and environmentalists.

TC Energy owns the existing Keystone oil pipeline, which runs from Alberta to the U.S. oil storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, and to the U.S. Gulf, along with a power and storage business. It pledged to ensure a safe termination of the project.

"We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline's border crossing," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had approved a permit for the line in 2017, but it continued to face legal challenges that hampered construction. Biden had committed to canceling the project during his campaign and revoked the permit soon after taking office.

TC Energy swung to a loss in the first quarter, hit by C$2.2 billion ($1.81 billion) impairment charge related to the suspension of Keystone XL.

Its shares closed largely flat on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Anil D'Silva and Lincoln Feast.)

Keystone XL pipeline project canceled by developer

By Matt Egan, CNN Business 

The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline announced Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the controversial project after the Biden administration revoked its permit in January.

© Andrew Burton/Getty Images GASCOYNE, ND - OCTOBER 14: Miles of unused pipe, prepared for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, sit in a lot on October 14, 2014 outside Gascoyne, North Dakota. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

TC Energy, the Canadian company behind the project, said it decided to terminate the project after a comprehensive review of its options and consulting with the government of Alberta, Canada. The company said it would coordinate with regulators, stakeholders and Indigenous groups to ensure a safe exit from the project.

The cancellation ends more than a decade of controversy over the pipeline and marks a big win for environmentalists who argued the project threatened the environment and would only worsen the climate crisis.

The project aimed to carry oil from the tar sands of Canada into the United States, and it has been a political football for years.

On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden revoked the permit his predecessor granted to Keystone XL, and also moved to re-enter the United States in the Paris climate agreement. TC Energy warned at the time that the decision by Biden would "directly lead to the layoff of thousands of union workers."

The end of Keystone XL will add to the pressure on Biden from environmentalists to terminate other projects, including Line 3 and the Dakota Access pipeline.

"The cancellation of Keystone XL is a reminder that this project was never needed and never in the public interest, and that it is time for the fossil fuel era to rapidly come to a close," David Turnbull, strategic communications director with Oil Change International, said in a statement.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's largest trade group, expressed disappointment over the news.

"It's unfortunate that political obstructionism led to the termination of the Keystone XL Pipeline," said Robin Rorick, vice president of midstream and industry operations at the API. "This is a blow to U.S. energy security and a blow to the thousands of good-paying union jobs this project would have supported."

Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute, said the decision to terminate the project was understandable given the administration's decision, but that ultimately "the American people will lose the most by not having access to affordable and reliable energy that would have been safely and efficiently transported by the pipeline."

Environmental groups, however, cheered the news.

"The termination of this zombie pipeline sets precedent for President Biden and polluters to stop Line 3, Dakota Access, and all fossil fuel projects," Kendall Mackey, campaign manager of 350.org's Keep It in the Ground campaign, said in a statement.

Keystone XL pipeline nixed after Biden stands firm on permit

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline pulled the plug on the contentious project Wednesday after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies “to ensure a safe termination of and exit" from the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.

Construction on the 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) pipeline began last year when former President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Obama administration. It would have moved up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Biden canceled the pipeline's border crossing permit in January over longstanding concerns that burning oil sands crude could make climate change worse and harder to reverse.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had objected to the move , raising tensions between the U.S. and Canada. Officials in Alberta, where the line originated, expressed frustration in recent weeks that Trudeau wasn't pushing Biden harder to reinstate the pipeline’s permit.

Alberta invested more than $1 billion in the project last year, kick-starting construction that had stalled amid determined opposition to the line from environmentalists and Native American tribes along its route.

Alberta officials said Wednesday they reached an agreement with TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, to exit that partnership. The company and province plan to try to recoup the government's investment, although neither offered any immediate details on how that would happen.

“We remain disappointed and frustrated with the circumstances surrounding the Keystone XL project, including the cancellation of the presidential permit for the pipeline’s border crossing," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a statement.

The province had hoped the pipeline would spur increased development in the oil sands and bring tens of billions of dollars in royalties over decades.

Climate change activists viewed the expansion of oil sands development as an environmental disaster that could speed up global warming as the fuel is burned. That turned Keystone into a flashpoint in the climate debate, and it became the focus of rallies and protests in Washington, D.C., and other cities.

Environmentalists who had fought the project since it was first announced in 2008 said its cancellation marks a “landmark moment” in the effort to curb the use of fossil fuels.

“Good riddance to Keystone XL,” said Jared Margolis with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of many environmental groups that sued to stop it.

On Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation, tribal president Andy Werk Jr. described the end of Keystone as a relief to Native Americans who stood against it out of concerns a line break could foul the Missouri River or other waterways.

Attorneys general from 21 states had sued to overturn Biden’s cancellation of the pipeline, which would have created thousands of construction jobs. Republicans in Congress have made the cancellation a frequent talking point in their criticism of the administration, and even some moderate Senate Democrats including Montana's Jon Tester and West Virginia's Joe Manchin had urged Biden to reconsider.

Tester said in a statement Wednesday that he was disappointed in the project's demise, but made no mention of Biden.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, was more direct: “President Biden killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and with it, thousands of good-paying American jobs.”

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TC Energy's announcement. In his Jan. 20 cancellation order, Biden said allowing the line to proceed "would not be consistent with my administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

TC Energy said in canceling the pipeline that the company is focused on meeting “evolving energy demands” as the world transitions to different power sources. It said it has $7 billion in other projects under development.

Keystone XL’s price tag had ballooned as the project languished, increasing from $5.4 billion to $9 billion. Meanwhile, oil prices fell significantly — from more than $100 a barrel in 2008 to under $70 in recent months — slowing development of Canada’s oil sands and threatening to eat into any profits from moving the fuel to refineries.

A second TC Energy pipeline network, known simply as Keystone, has been delivering crude from Canada's oil sands region since 2010. The company says on its website that Keystone has moved more than 3 billion barrels of crude from Alberta and an oil loading site in Cushing, Oklahoma.

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Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

Former Keystone XL pipeline worker: ‘Gratifying’ to hear the Biden administration admit the importance of pipelines

A timeline of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project


July 2008: TC Energy Corp. — then called TransCanada Corp. — and ConocoPhillips, joint owners of the Keystone Pipeline, propose a major extension to the network. The expansion, dubbed Keystone XL, would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oilsands bitumen from Alberta to Texas.

2009: As the U.S. State Department wades through comments based on an environmental assessment of the project, TransCanada starts visiting landowners potentially affected by the pipeline. Opposition emerges in Nebraska.


June 2009: TransCanada announces it will buy ConocoPhillips's stake in Keystone.

March 2010: The National Energy Board approves TransCanada’s application for Keystone XL, though the OK comes with 22 conditions regarding safety, environmental protection and landowner rights.

April 2010: The U.S. State Department releases a draft environmental impact statement saying Keystone XL would have a limited effect on the environment.

June-July 2010: Opposition to Keystone XL begins mounting in the United States. Legislators write to then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton calling for greater environmental oversight; scientists begin speaking out against the project; and the Environmental Protection Agency questions the need for the pipeline extension.

July 2010: The State Department extends its review of Keystone, saying federal agencies need more time to weigh in before a final environmental impact assessment can be released.

March 2011: The State Department announces a further delay in its environmental assessment.

Aug. 26, 2011: The State Department releases its final environmental assessment, which reiterates that the pipeline would have a limited environmental impact.

August-September 2011: Protesters stage a two-week campaign of civil disobedience at the White House to speak out against Keystone XL. Police arrest approximately 1,000 people, including actors Margot Kidder and Daryl Hannah as well as Canadian activist Naomi Klein.

Sept. 26, 2011: At a demonstration on Parliament Hill, police arrest 117 of 400 protesters.

Nov. 10, 2011: The State Department says TransCanada must reroute Keystone XL to avoid an ecologically sensitive region of Nebraska.

Nov. 14, 2011: TransCanada agrees to reroute the line.

December 2011: U.S. legislators pass a bill with a provision saying President Barack Obama must make a decision on the pipeline’s future in the next 60 days.

Jan. 18, 2012: Obama rejects Keystone, saying the timeline imposed by the December bill did not leave enough time to review the new route. Obama said TransCanada was free to submit another application.

Feb. 27, 2012: TransCanada says it will build the southern leg of Keystone XL, from Cushing, Okla., to the Gulf Coast, as a separate project with a price tag of $2.3 billion. This is not subject to presidential permission, since it did not cross an international border.

April 18, 2012: TransCanada submits a new route to officials in Nebraska for approval.

May 4, 2012: TransCanada files a new application with the State Department for the northern part of Keystone XL.

Jan. 22, 2013: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman approves TransCanada’s proposed new route for Keystone XL, sending the project back to the State Department for review.

January 2013: Pipeline opponents file a lawsuit against the Nebraska government claiming the state law used to review the new route is unconstitutional.

Jan. 31, 2014: The State Department says in a report that Keystone XL would produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than transporting oil to the Gulf of Mexico by rail.

Feb. 19, 2014: A Nebraska judge rules that the law that allowed the governor to approve Keystone XL over the objections of landowners was unconstitutional. Nebraska said it would appeal.

April 18, 2014: The State Department suspends the regulatory process indefinitely, citing uncertainty about the court case in Nebraska.

Nov. 4, 2014: TransCanada says the costs of Keystone XL have grown to US$8 billion from US$5.4 billion.

November-December 2014: Midterm elections turn control of the U.S. Congress over to Republicans, who say they’ll make acceptance of Keystone XL a top priority. But Obama adopts an increasingly negative tone.

Jan. 9, 2015: At the Nebraska Supreme Court, by the narrowest of margins, a panel of seven judges strikes down the lower-court decision.

Jan. 29, 2015: The U.S. Senate approves a bill to build Keystone XL, but the White House says Obama would veto it.

Feb. 24, 2015: Obama vetoes the bill.

June 30, 2015: TransCanada writes to then-secretary of state John Kerry and other U.S. officials saying the State Department should include recent climate change policy announcements by the Alberta and federal governments in its review of Keystone XL.

Nov. 2, 2015: TransCanada asks the U.S. government to temporarily suspend its application.

Nov. 4, 2015: The U.S. government rejects that request.

Nov. 6, 2015: The Obama administration rejects TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada CEO Russ Girling says he is disappointed, but continues to believe the project is in the best interests of both Canada and the U.S.

Jan. 6, 2016: TransCanada files notice to launch a claim under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, alleging the U.S. government breached its legal commitments under NAFTA. The company also files a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Texas arguing that Obama exceeded his powers by denying construction of the project.

May 26, 2016: Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says he would approve Keystone XL if elected, a pledge he repeats several times during the campaign.

Nov. 8, 2016: Trump is elected president.

Jan. 24, 2017: Trump signs an executive order that he says approves Keystone XL, but suggests the United States intends to renegotiate the terms of the project. He also signs an order requiring American pipelines to be built with U.S. steel.

Nov. 9, 2018: A U.S. federal judge blocks the pipeline's construction to allow more time to study the potential environmental impact.

March 29, 2019: Trump issues a new presidential permit in an effort to speed up development of the pipeline

May 3, 2019: TransCanada changes its name to TC Energy.

March 31, 2020: Alberta agrees to invest $1.5 billion in Keystone XL, followed by a $6 billion loan guarantee in 2021.

April 7, 2020: Construction begins, despite calls from Indigenous groups and environmentalists to pause their efforts.

May 18, 2020: Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, vows to scrap Keystone XL if elected, but doesn't set out a timeline for doing so.

Nov. 3, 2020: Biden is elected president.

Jan. 17, 2021: TC Energy announces a plan for Keystone XL to achieve net-zero emissions.

Jan. 20, 2021: Biden revokes Keystone XL's presidential permit on his first day in office, hours after TC Energy said it would halt work on the project.

May 7, 2021: In reporting quarterly earnings results, TC Energy says it is taking a $2.2-billion writedown on the cancelled project. Shippers including Cenovus Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and Imperial Oil Ltd. had previously reported non-cash writedowns on earnings related to their commitments to Keystone XL.

June 9, 2021: TC Energy announces termination of the project.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX: TRP)

The Canadian Press

NDP calls on Ottawa to recognize residential schools as genocide


OTTAWA — New Democrats are calling on the federal government to recognize the residential schools policy pursued by Canada for over a century as genocide against Indigenous Peoples.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

In a motion to be tabled in the House of Commons on Thursday, NDP MP Leah Gazan is asking fellow lawmakers to unanimously acknowledge the institutions' history as the deliberate, systematic destruction of a cultural group.

“There is no reconciliation without truth. And what happened in residential school was clearly an act of genocide, with impacts that reverberate (in) our families’ community today," said Gazan, MP for Winnipeg Centre and a member of the Wood Mountain Lakota Nation in Saskatchewan.

"In honour of all the children who never returned home, in honour of all the mothers and fathers and families that were left to suffer in grief, we must end the debate."

Gazan's demand comes in response to last month's news that ground-penetrating radar detected what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The government-sponsored, church-run institutions operated in Canada for more than 110 years and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ruled in 2015 they constituted a "cultural genocide."

Gazan questioned the sufficiency of the commission's determination, laid out in a report that followed seven years of hearings and testimony from thousands of witnesses.

“There is no legal definition in international law for cultural genocide. What happened at the residential schools was genocide, full stop," she said, citing the United Nations convention against genocide.

Genocide comprises any one of the criteria laid out in the 1948 convention's definition, and Gazan said Canada's residential schools policy meets all five: killing members of a group, causing them serious physical or mental harm, placing them under conditions to destroy them, imposing measures to prevent births or forcibly transferring children to another group.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said Liberals "will look at the wording of the motion."



Video: What is Ottawa doing about the legacy of residential schools? (cbc.ca)

She noted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week he accepts the conclusion of the 2019 inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women that "what happened amounts to genocide."

At a news conference with Gazan on Wednesday morning, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said denying an act of genocide would “belittle the history and the reality” of survivors of schools that continued to open into the 1970s.

"Residential school is not a historic thing that happened hundreds of years ago. It happened just yesterday," he said. "My younger siblings attended residential school."

Christian churches and the federal government launched the boarding schools in the 1880s and kept them going for more than a century, seeking to convert and assimilate Indigenous children, who suffered widespread physical and sexual abuse at the institutions. Thousands died in them.

The last one closed in Punnichy, Sask., in 1996.

A third-generation survivor, Dumas said churches also need to atone for their role. "I am very disappointed with the stance of the church for their silence."

On Sunday in Rome, the Pope expressed his pain over the recent discovery by the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation of the unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. But many Indigenous leaders have stated their disappointment and frustration over Pope Francis's remarks, saying they fall short of an apology for the Catholic Church's key part in the policy.

“Old wounds opened up. Our nation woke up," said Gerry Shingoose, an elder and survivor who attended the Muscowequan Residential School in Saskatchewan for a decade starting in the early 1960s.

“I ask that each one of you bring that love forward to the survivors and their families, because when we were in school we never received that love. We received hate," she said. "And no child should ever experience that.”

A vote on Gazan's motion, which requires unanimous consent to pass, is expected Thursday.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2021.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Representative for 17,000 Sears Canada retirees says insolvency laws are unjust

 Provided by The Canadian Press

A court-appointed representative for Sears Canada retirees said Tuesday that Canada's bankruptcy laws should be changed to avoid future financial hardship for members of other underfunded pension plans.

Kenneth Eady, a former Sears Canada management employee who now represents 17,000 other pensioners, told MPs that he doesn't believe it's fair that Canada's two bankruptcy laws give banks more protection than pensioners.

Parliament should pass a Bloc Québécois bill to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, Eady told a Commons committee that's reviewing the proposed legislation.

"You're the ones who can make a difference here, folks," Eady said. "The MPs on this committee can vote in favour of this bill, and help protect seniors. I suggest you do."

Under questioning, Eady said that Sears Canada retirees would have been helped if the proposed amendments to the two laws were in place when Sears Canada filed its initial request for court protection in June 2017.

But he said Sears Canada retirees probably wouldn't have been helped much if they were ranked ahead of other creditors and still behind banks, which have "super priority" status.

"It's a different type of debt that you have with the pension plan. It's a long term outstanding debt. And so, they have to be treated as super creditors to be to make it meaningful to pensioners," Eady said.

In the Sears Canada bankruptcy process, which hasn't yet been completed, there wasn't enough money to fund pension shortfalls after debts to banks and active employees were repaid ahead of other classes of creditors.

Eady is one of several witnesses who have spoken for or against a private member's bill that proposes to give underfunded pension plans and banks similar priority in bankruptcy courts.

Representatives from the Canadian Bankers Association and the Insolvency Institute of Canada warned the same committee last week that the bill's proposed changes would create worse problems than they solve.

Charles Docherty, assistant general counsel for the Canadian Bankers Association, said on Thursday that "a very careful balance has been achieved over several decades in the order of priority and bankruptcy."

"Ultimately, changes to the order of priority in bankruptcy threatens to seriously undermine the delicate balance with ripple effects across the economy," Docherty said.

Eady said in an interview Tuesday, after his virtual presentation to the committee, that the high profile nature of the Sears Canada bankruptcy serves as an example of what's wrong with the current laws.

"MPs are people with family who shopped at Sears. Maybe they worked there as a kid. I know several that have," he said. "Hopefully the fact that Sears is familiar to so many people, helps ... bring this issue clarity."

Laura Tamblyn Watts, a lawyer and seniors advocate who also addressed the committee Tuesday, said she doesn't think the banks' position is supported by evidence in other countries.

"Compared to other jurisdictions Canada significantly lags in its protection of pensioners," said Tamblyn Watts, chief executive of CanAge, a non-partisan national advocacy group for seniors.

In an interview after her virtual appearance before the committee, she said "everyday Canadians" may not understand the technical terms in the law but they understand the Sears Canada story.

"For instance," Tamblyn Watts said, "if you tell somebody that the pensioners at Sears in the U.S. didn't lose any money or any benefits — but they lost 20 per cent (of their pension payments) in Canada and really all of their benefits — people are shocked to understand that the U.S. has better protection."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2021.

David Paddon, The Canadian Press