2072 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

The Tyee is just anti-pipeline.

[Mike K.]

The same folks not that long ago also denied the need for Site C. When it comes to energy, these experts are wrong about everything. But that’s not important in the moment.

From the Tyee in 2017:

BC Hydro’s most recent demand forecast, submitted in January to the BC Utilities Commission, predicts a 30 per cent increase in demand over 20 years.

But critics say the corporation has got it wrong.

BC Hydro is counting on electricity demand to increase at the same pace as population growth, something Harry Swain — who chaired the only recent independent review of Site C — has criticized.

“The growth in efficiencies is outpacing growth of population,” he said in a recent presentation. New technology reduces power use, and demand per person decreases, he says.

BC Hydro’s forecasts also ignore basic economic principles, Swain says. As electricity rates rise, people and businesses will use less and invest to increase efficiency. And Swain is confident Site C’s high cost will mean significant rate increases.

…

But BC Hydro has removed LNG as a factor in its demand forecasts. Alberta’s energy minister said it’s too soon to say whether the province will buy the power, which would require a new set of transmission lines. (And Alberta has said it won’t buy from BC Hydro if the provincial government blocks pipelines from its gas and oil fields.)

Bennett acknowledged the lack of firm demand for Site C’s electricity at an energy conference in November. “Our opportunity is to drive demand. It’s to get people to use more electricity,” he said.

- https://thetyee.ca/N...Maybe not ever.

This last line is extremely important. Take everything you see regarding electrification with that agenda in mind.

[Mike K.]

Now fast forward to 2025, and CBC is reporting Site C cannot meet the province’s electricity needs.

https://youtu.be/kaN...N06ZgT9Cpn1S582

[Brighton]

Is it population growth or electric cars or data centres?

[Mike K.]

It’s perhaps a marketing effort that has become exceptionally successful.

But BC Hydro has removed LNG as a factor in its demand forecasts. Alberta’s energy minister said it’s too soon to say whether the province will buy the power, which would require a new set of transmission lines. (And Alberta has said it won’t buy from BC Hydro if the provincial government blocks pipelines from its gas and oil fields.)

Bennett acknowledged the lack of firm demand for Site C’s electricity at an energy conference in November.[v] “Our opportunity is to drive demand. It’s to get people to use more electricity,” he said.[/b]

So in comes the BC Building Code Step Code, in comes Net Zero, and in come very willing municipal politicians to underwrite these goals as smart progressive policy.

This is an incredible snippet, that quote above.

Today, gas/LNG is being increasingly depended on to generate electricity, as hydro “gets people to use more electricity.” Our municipal councils may have no idea that BC is increasingly relying on fossil fuels to supply electricity, surely.

This is either an accidental outcome, or a brilliant long play marketing game, that turned Site C opponents and electricity expansion doubters into hydro’s biggest boosters. Today, municipalities are banning natural gas, and pushing electrified-everything, not knowing gas/LNG is becoming a key source of energy behind the scenes.

[Victoria Watcher]

The federal government announced the first tranche in September. Being on the list is meant to help spur private investment and clear red tape for projects facing regulatory hurdles.

 

Carney said Monday he will make this week’s announcement in Prince Rupert, B.C., prompting speculation that the Indigenous-proposed Ksi Lisims natural gas liquefaction facility and marine terminal project would be on the list — speculation that sources confirmed.

 

The planned capacity is up to 12 million tonnes of LNG per year, representing a major economic and employment opportunity. Ottawa gave the project the green light to move on to the next stage of seeking approvals and permits in September.  

 

The Nisga’a Nation is listed as one of three principal proponents, alongside Rockies LNG Partners and Western LNG. 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...jects-9.6975256

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 November 2025 - 11:48 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

World oil and gas demand could grow until 2050, IEA says Energy agency bases forecast on current policies, not climate pledges, after U.S. complaints

 

 

 

Global oil and gas demand could grow until 2050, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, departing from previous expectations of a speedy transition to cleaner fuels following U.S. criticism about its climate focus.

 

The Paris-based energy security watchdog also predicted in its annual outlook that the world will likely fail to meet its goal to cap the rise in temperatures to as close as possible to 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial times to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change.

 

The IEA has been under pressure from the U.S. for a shift in recent years toward a focus on clean energy policies as President Donald Trump called on American companies to expand oil and gas production.

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-2025-9.6976107

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 November 2025 - 11:40 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Eby says B.C. is at a 'pivot point' as he promises future based on natural resources

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby used his appearance at the convention of British Columbia's New Democrats to highlight several resource projects, while saying that the federal ban on tankers off B.C.'s northern coast is here to stay.


https://www.timescol...ources-11494445

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 November 2025 - 01:20 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Why do we want to become a resource / manufacturing country / province when services pay much better and employ so much more?

[phx]

Natural resources are our competitive advantage.

[LJ]

Eby says B.C. is at a 'pivot point' as he promises future based on natural resources

VICTORIA — British Columbia Premier David Eby used his appearance at the convention of British Columbia's New Democrats to highlight several resource projects, while saying that the federal ban on tankers off B.C.'s northern coast is here to stay.


https://www.timescol...ources-11494445

Now if they could only stop all the US tanker traffic off BC's northern coast.

 

It is here to stay as long as Eby is here, which hopefully won't be too much longer.

[Bernard]

 

It is here to stay as long as Eby is here, which hopefully won't be too much longer.

 

And what replacement government would not be even more pro oil and gas?

 

We have a competitive advantage in education.  People in BC are among the most educated population in North America.

 

I am trying to figure out the impact of LNG would have on the domestic price of natural gas.  It must have an impact as the point of LNG is to get more money for the natural gas.

[splashflash]

And what replacement government would not be even more pro oil and gas?

 

We have a competitive advantage in education.  People in BC are among the most educated population in North America.

 

I am trying to figure out the impact of LNG would have on the domestic price of natural gas.  It must have an impact as the point of LNG is to get more money for the natural gas.

 

Education has to be targeted to our advantages or at least where we can compete.  "Education is rather broad."  As an educator I knew said, "Education not being used is useless."

Edited by splashflash, 17 November 2025 - 03:07 PM.

[LJ]

And what replacement government would not be even more pro oil and gas?

 

 

 

Any replacement government would be more pro oil and gas, as would I.

[Victoria Watcher]

There is one example of state ownership working much closer to home, and it’s a paradoxical one.

 

The Trans Mountain Expansion project, which twinned the oil pipeline from Alberta to the port of Vancouver, was headed for oblivion when the federal government bought it outright for $4.5 billion in 2018.

 

B.C. spent millions fighting the line every step of the way.

 

It went massively over budget to the tune of $34 billion and finally started operating in 2024, six years late.

 

But an independent report last August found it delivered more than $12 billion in revenue in its first year. It reduced the discount formerly applied to Alberta oil and tripled shipments to non-U.S. customers at a crucial time in a trade war when Canada is desperately trying to disengage from the U.S. Alberta saw a $5 billion boost in revenues from TMX in the first year. Eby released a new industrial strategy on Monday covering all sectors, but there’s only one brief off-hand mention of the TMX, which is not even at full capacity yet.

 

NDP opposition to a north coast pipeline is obvious, but it looks like the pipeline antipathy continues to extend to the southern pipeline as well, even though it is making a fortune, and ticking all the boxes in the new industrial strategy.

 

Eby said B.C. hasn’t seen a fraction of the return that was originally alleged.

 

 

https://www.timescol...loated-11503316

[Mike K.]

We're paying lower gasoline costs now on the BC coast, thanks to that expansion.

[phx]

We have a competitive advantage in education.

 

Our education system isn’t what it used to be. That advantage is waning.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://www.theglobe...d-oil-pipeline/

 

 

Ottawa and Alberta appear close to striking an energy accord long sought by Premier Danielle Smith to boost her province’s oil and natural gas sector, with Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia playing a key role in the negotiations, two sources say.

 

Two federal insiders said the broad outlines of the agreement, which would take the form of a memorandum of understanding, involve an oil pipeline running from Alberta to the northwest coast of British Columbia.

 

On the table to support it would be a limited exemption to the current ban on oil tankers on the B.C. coast, a plan to move ahead with changes to industrial carbon pricing in support of scaling up carbon capture technology, and a lowering or removal of the industrial emissions cap.

 

Players in the federal and Alberta governments are expressing optimism that a deal is within reach and could be announced in time for next weekend’s United Conservative Party of Alberta convention.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 November 2025 - 10:53 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

B.C. Liberal MPs say tanker ban changes would need provincial, First Nations consent

 

The comments come after reports that the federal government is considering allowing some tanker traffic on the northern B.C. coast.

https://www.timescol...onsent-11511541

[Mike K.]

The feds are scrapping Bill 59’s industry smothering environmental claim provision, requiring companies to cite international agreement in support of their environmental claims.

The former iteration of the Liberals introduced that legislation, which effectively made it illegal for, say, a fossil fuel firm to claim environmental benefits from its energy unless internationally recognized, which made it next to impossible for Canadian energy to freely and openly speak to their energy advantages over other forms of energy largely because Canadian firms working in Canada are not under any purview of an international oversight committee or body.

In fact, even employees could be personally sued for citing benefits without International scientific backing, that’s how far the Liberals went under Trudeau and the former activist-turned-Minister of Environment.

This, in turn, forced energy companies to go quiet, even though, by comparison, a project like Site C was far more environmentally destructive than additional natural gas use in B.C. would have ever been, as just one example. Even Elizabeth May says the Liberals went too far with the bill. Go figure.