Category Archives: Pipelines

Busting Dogwood’s “Myths” on Oil-by-Rail and Crude Oil Exports

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Blair

This week the pipeline debate returned to the headlines and with it have come the anti-pipeline activists who have ramped up their outrage machine to 11 and have been on the various media platform presenting their case. What I find … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

On Site C, Pipelines and Noble Cause Environmentalists

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Blair

I am a pragmatic environmentalist. As an environmentalist I am always on the look-out for how we can make incremental changes to improve the world around us. As a pragmatist, I acknowledge that we need to advance our cause through … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Pipelines, Site C, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

On those proposed Northwest refineries, neatbit and the Trans Mountain expansion project

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Blair

As everyone interested in Canadian oil production knows, the new NDP/Green coalition (or not-coalition as the case may be) in BC has made one of the core planks of their agreement a promise to block the construction of the Kinder … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, General Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Debunking some activist myths about the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Posted on November 30, 2016 by Blair

On Tuesday November 29th the Trudeau government approved the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). I am someone who has researched the topic extensively and have a very nuanced  view on the project. I also have a strong desire that any discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

On tanker bans, oil spill response, coastal barges and government doing its job

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Blair

For the last week my twitter feed has been filled with discussions about the grounding of the Nathan E Stewart and the ensuing diesel spill into the fragile ecosystem of Athlone Island. Now the activist community, never willing to let … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, General Politics, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

A challenge to the climate activists, Leapers and anti-pipeline activists: show us your plans

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Blair

I started this blog to provide a venue for pragmatic discussions about evidence-based environmental decision-making. The problem with being both pragmatic and evidence-based is that it grounds you in the mundane realities of the world. It prevents you from taking … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Climate Change, Climate Change Politics, Environmentalism and Ecomodernism, Leap Manifesto, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

How reliant are we on fossil fuels in British Columbia?

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Blair

A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog post that included a thought experiment of a world where fossil fuels had magically disappeared. As many of you know, I write a blog for the Huffington Post Canada and I decided to … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Fossil Fuel Free Future, Pipelines, Uncategorized | 24 Comments

A layman’s guide to the behaviour of diluted bitumen in a marine spill

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Blair

Having listened to the arguments for and against the Energy East and the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) projects one of the things that really struck me was the low quality of the scientific knowledge used in the debates. In particular, … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Politics, Chemistry and Toxicology, Energy East, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 26 Comments

When anti-pipeline activist pretend that facts don’t matter

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Blair

In my last post I bemoaned the lack of intellectual rigour among the activists fighting pipeline expansion in BC, Ontario and Quebec. I thought I had presented three pretty solid examples where the opponents of the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy East, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Trans Mountain | 11 Comments

On the absence of intellectual rigour and honesty in the pipeline debate

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Blair

Well it seems that with the re-commencement of the NEB hearings on the Energy East project and the Trans-Mountain consultations all I seem to be talking about these days is pipelines. As a pragmatic environmentalist I find this disheartening, not … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy East, Oil Sands, Pipelines, Trans Mountain, Uncategorized | 9 Comments