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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crocodile who wrote (5540)	2/27/2007 5:03:11 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24211

Not late; the year of the divorce, snowed on 18 days in April. Old timers said we once got it on July 4.

To: Crocodile who wrote (5540)	3/5/2007 7:10:49 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24211

Gas-burning drivers urged to rethink how they get around Mar 02, 2007 04:30 AM Michele Henry Staff Reporter The fuel shortage gripping Toronto has environmental and oil industry experts grumbling about the relationship Torontonians have with gas. Motorists take gas for granted, said Michael Ervin, president of MJ Ervin & Associates, a Calgary-based petroleum and refining consultant firm. Drivers are showing no signs of curbing consumption,he said. Instead of desperately searching for an open gas station or idling in line-ups at the pump, people should be using this shortage as a wake-up call. "We should be thinking about ... going back to something more environmentally friendly the next time we buy a family car, or we should use more fuel-efficient cars or drive less," Ervin said yesterday. "We need to stop being hypocritical as a society and stop complaining about high gas prices on one hand and being irresponsible as gas consumers on the other hand." Besides, he said, if we reduce demand for gas and lower consumption, prices will go down. The cost of gas has risen 17 per cent in the last two weeks, stabilizing at just below $1. Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth, an Ottawa environmental organization, isn't asking motorists to give up their cars, but to think again about how they get around. Try auto-sharing, instead of owning a car. Buy a weekend transit pass for family outings. "When you're hauling groceries it's nice to have a car," she said. "Just think about different options." For Olivastri, the gas shortage also illuminates the "stranglehold" Canada's large oil companies, such as Imperial, have. More than 200 gas stations in Ontario shut down temporarily this week when the pumps ran dry. A fire at Imperial Oil's Nanticoke, Ont., refinery last week, combined with a CN Rail strike and the annual winter closing of the St. Lawrence Seaway, caused massive disruptions in the distribution of gas. It all came as a sharp reminder that motorists are at the mercy of the oil companies. It'll be at least two weeks before the pumps begin running normally. Olivastri believes the situation should be viewed as an opportunity to change the way access to alternate fuels is controlled. "Let's make sure we're protecting consumers from corporate control on biofuels." Jane Savage, of the Canadian Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, said the gas shortage underscores the "vulnerable and fragile" nature of the supply network. Independent stations get gas from big distributors. But they are not a priority when it comes to refilling their tanks, Savage said, and they're struggling. thestar.com

To: Crocodile who wrote (5540)	4/14/2007 10:40:06 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24211

The New Oil Climate change will require Canada to sell water to the U.S., says the author of American study Kelly Patterson, CanWest News Service Published: Friday, April 13, 2007 * * * * OTTAWA -- Canadian water is on the table at trilateral talks between politicians, businessmen and academics from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, CanWest News Service has learned. A series of closed-door conferences for the North American Future 2025 Project will include the discussion of "water transfers" and diversions. According to the outline for the project, there will be a trilateral effort to draft a "blueprint" on economic integration for the govern- ments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The project was launched by the three governments in March 2006 to help guide the ongoing Security and Prosperity Partnership, a wide-ranging effort to further integrate the countries' practices on everything from environmental rules to security protocols and border controls. A draft report will be submitted to the three heads of state at a partnership summit in Alberta this August. "It's no secret that the U.S. is going to need water. ... It's no secret that Canada is going to have an overabundance of water. "At the end of the day, there may have to be arrangements,"said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, director of the project, which is spearheaded by the the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a powerful Washington think-tank, in partnership with the Conference Board of Canada and CIDE, a Mexican policy institute. No one will force Canada to sell its water, he said Thursday, stressing the project is "an analytical exercise ... it doesn't commit the governments to anything ... "Canada will have to make its own decisions. We recognize that," he said, recalling water was "the most sensitive topic in conversations" with the Privy Council Office when the the project was launched under the former Liberal government. "But they all felt at the end of day that it's an issue that had to be looked at." Water and other environmental issues will be the topic of April 27 talks in Calgary to which some environmental research groups, such as the Pembina Institute, have been invited, he adds. News of the talks emerged the same day as the UN's blue-chip panel on climate change released a report predicting the U.S. would clash with water-rich Canada as the drought-stricken Midwest looks north to the Great Lakes. Gordon Hodgson of the Ottawa-based Conference Board said Thursday that even though it includes the board's logo, the project outline does not necessarily reflect his institute's views. "The reality the Americans perhaps don't fully appreciate is that we don't have a whole lot of water to export. ... There are near-scarcity conditions in Western Canada, and a lot of water is being used to extract bitumen from the oilsands," Hodgson said. He said the outline is just a "catalyst for discussions." But Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians, which obtained the outline, said Thursday it "shows the American government and its think-tanks ... see Canada's water as a North American resource, not Canada's." Barlow said there has to be a national debate on Canada's water policy, noting there is at present no law banning the bulk export of water, even as Canadian supplies dwindle. 1 2 next page canada.com