Sunday, October 26, 2008

Back again.

What, I've been busy, got a problem?

New post! Read this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081025/ap_on_el_pr/palin_pipeline_prospects_1

Summary: Palin's big accomplishment as Governor of Alaska is to award a license to TransCanada Corp to get going on a pipeline that can transfer gas, be it liquified or not, from Alaska to the Lower 48 States.

Recent media has been targetting Palin in recent days over the selection process because only one bid ultimately qualified, but what bothers me is this... Go and search for "palin pipeline" and the article I've linked above would likely be one of the few if not only article that mentions the requirement of Canadian government approval. All other articles makes no mention of that whatsoever, and furthermore, gives the reader the impression that once the US approves it, it's all good.
The concern behind the lack of mentioning of Canada is that knowing the American media and Stephen Harper's foreign policies, if the Americans demand it, they'll probably get it. Now, 90% of that pipeline is gonna go through Canada, if there's any cleanups needed, especially in the permafrost, it's our environment and ecosystem at stake. Are the Americans gonna pay for that? Maybe, probably not. What's more is that the way this pipeline process is going, the proponent is probably going to avoid public consultations as much as possible, and hence avoid the issue of having to deal with the stakeholders, especially the aboriginals and conservationists.
Assessment concerns aside, dude, its our country. Palin does not have control over my country. If you wanna pipe gas, go underwater or something. Oh wait! Exclusive Economic Zone! Take that. What irks me the most is that even the American media have seem to bought into the idea that US can get what they want in Canada. If anything, this project should have gotten approval through the Canadian government first THEN Alaska.

Truth is though, this project's probably never gonna work. Not with the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline going relatively smoothly these days.