PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

Northern British Columbia and Alberta's Oil and Gas Industry Vol. 1 Issue 13 • dist: 20,325

January 27 • 2012

h t r o N

• Free

in this issue: voice of the people - bc backs ngp • smart students - studying the trades • RObin Sipe - Straight as an arrow •

Robin Sipe examines a turbine engine in the Fort St. John shop of his company, S&S Turbines. - Photo by james waterman

32530

2

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

The installation of the new walking trail bridge in Kin Park in Dawson Creek in November, 2011.

The South Peace Oilmen’s Association donated their time, energy and money to bring the new bridge to the park. Photo courtesy of the South Peace Oilmen’s Association.

When the walking trail through Kin Park in Dawson Creek required a new bridge, the South Peace Oilmen’s Association decided it was their job to fill the gap.

“The old bridge was made out of wood,” said Paul Gevatkoff, a veteran Oilmen since the club began in 1990. “And it just deteriorated to the point where it was condemned and it had to be removed. So, the city removed it and replaced it with a temporary bridge, just a 40-foot temporary bridge right down low on the creek. And that’s why we made the commitment to replace it with the proper bridge.”

The bridge is a legacy project from the 2006 BC Oil and Gas Conference that was held in the city and chaired by Gevatkoff, who also a city councilor at time time. According to Oilmen President Shaun Inkster, the club has contributed about $250,000 worth of donations in kind, but still need about $100,000 to complete the project.

“We try and get as much of the work done with volunteers and donations as possible,” said Gevatkoff. “And that’s where we tapped the members. So, from the start, we had to pay for engineering. And we had to get some of the preparation work done with volunteers – equipment work.

“We had help,” he added. “And lots of non-members too. I mean, people, companies that service the oil industry helped out with pilings and welding and equipment work. And crane work lifting the bridge. We actually purchased a bridge. It’s a pre-cast concrete bridge. We purchased it from Chilliwack. And we had to get it hauled up here. That was done by members, which was fairly significant, from Chilliwack up to here.”

Gevatkoff thought it was important that the Oilmen tackle the bridge project because the walking trail is so vital to the community.

“The trail is part of the walking trail network here in Dawson Creek,” he said, pointing out that that network was built before he had even arrived in Dawson Creek.

“And there’s a lot of people that use it, actually,” he continued. “When we were doing the work on it, there’s a lot of people that use that trail. Like mothers with their kids, bringing them to daycare.

And lots of young people. The schools use it in their [physical education] programs. They use the trail for walking and running. And use the park there for outdoor activities. So, it’s a well-used trail.

And it’s part of the walking trail network. So, it’s something that you have to keep going. You have to keep it. And Kin Park is part of the green area in downtown Dawson Creek. So, it’s well-used.”

Every year, the South Peace Oilmen’s Association erects a Christmas tree in downtown Dawson Creek.

Photo courtesy of the South Peace Oilmen’s Association.

PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION - HAPPENINGS

industry news voice of the people

Controversial poll finds BC backs Northern Gateway james waterman Pipeline News North

Public opinion in British Columbia is favourable to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian pipeline company.

The results of the survey – released on January 5, 2012 – show that 48 per cent of British Columbians support the project, which will transport oil sands bitumen from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. for export to Asia-Pacific markets by tanker if approved. Only 32 per cent of respondents were opposed to the project, while 20 per cent were still undecided at the time of the study.

The percentage of those strongly in favour of the project (14 per cent) nearly matches the percentage of those strongly opposed to the project (13 per cent).

Ipsos Reid doesn’t know the percentage of respondents who live along the proposed route for the pipeline.

“All I know is we have a northern sample of just under 200 people,” said Kyle Braid, Vice President of Public Affairs with Ipsos Reid. “And the percentage who are going to be along the pipeline route are going to be pretty small. It would be too small to do anything to even look at the results.”

Support for Northern Gateway was ahead of opposition across all regions and genders. The greatest support (55 per cent) is among northern residents, while 58 percent of male respondents support the project compared to 38 per cent of female respondents. Age was also a factor as 58 per cent of British Columbians over the age of 55 are supportive of the pipeline compared to 47 percent of those aged 35-54 and just 38 per cent of those aged 18-34.

Familiarity with the Northern Gateway proposal is also highest among men, northern residents and those over the age of 55. A

28231

large majority (66 percent) of those aged 18-34 aren’t familiar with the project, while 53 per cent of those over the age of 55 are familiar with the project.

The “familiar” group includes those who answered either “somewhat familiar” or “very familiar” to that question. Similarly, the “not familiar” group is made up of the “not very familiar” and “not at all familiar.” No more than 14 per cent of respondents from any region, age group or gender claimed to be very familiar with the project.

Only one per cent of respondents from the Southern Interior and two per cent of women polled claimed to be very familiar. There was a greater percentage of respondents aged 18-34 (7 percent) who were very familiar with the project compared to the two older age groups, as only 4 per cent of those groups were very familiar.

Overall, just 42 per cent of British Columbians are familiar with the pipeline, according to the survey.

Judging by comments made

by Enbridge spokesperson Paul Stanway in a January 5, 2012 Postmedia News article, the company is buoyed by the results of the poll, which he felt would create a “proper context” for the community hearings of the federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) assessing the project that began on January 10.

“The argument often made by our opponents is that there is overwhelming opposition from British Columbians in general, and I think that’s far from being an accurate view of what’s going on,” said Stanway.

“What this says to us is that there’s an opportunity here to convince and to educate British Columbians,” he added, referring to the public’s general lack of familiarity with the Northern Gateway proposal.

Nikki Skuce, Senior Energy Campaigner with ForestEthics, has a different take on the poll results.

“I would hardly deem 42 per cent support, by the way Enbridge worded their question as an innocuous ‘underground pipeline’ with no connection to tar sands or tanker introduction, as granting the company social license to operate in B.C.,” she said. “Opposition is strong and will only increase as the facts and stories unfold throughout the [public hearing] process.

“What the recent Enbridge poll shows is that public awareness linking Northern Gateway pipelines to an introduction of oil tankers to B.C.’s northern coastal waters is not there,” Skuce added. “British Columbians have consistently polled between 72 and 80 per cent against bringing oil supertankers to the Great Bear Rainforest. We think, as the review process begins next week and more attention is brought to the risks of the project, more British Columbians will be opposing this tar sands pipeline and tanker project.”

ForestEthics was the proponent of a 2010 survey conducted by the Mustel Group, which is often referenced as evidence that British Columbians are opposed to Northern Gateway. Asked about the discrepancy between the two polls in terms of public support for the project, Mustel suggested that the results of her poll may have been affected by the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which was still very fresh in the memory of the public.

George Hoberg, a professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management at the University of British Columbia, offers a different explanation.

“In polls like this, the stakeholders carefully frame the question to activate certain values in respondents,” said Hoberg. “The polling firms, in these cases, are highly professional. They’re doing their job to make sure they have representative samples. But in a client-driven poll like this, it’s really up to the stakeholder continued pg 18

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

special feature 4 Communities on the line 10 Americans funding pipeline

opponents

community 14 They waste not – family

goes on energy diet 27 Here be angels

industry news

6 Oil is thicker than water –

7 12 13

industry backs pipeline Blinded by the light of stars New Northest gas plant Pace of development

profiles 20 Straight as an arrow –

Robin Sipe and his turbine

engine

environment 22 Force of protection – tribal

park established to shield

forest from development

careers & training 28 Living the rig life 29 Smart students – renewed

interest in the trades 30 Site for people who need

people – Oilforce

3

4

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

h t r o N William Julian Regional Manager 250-785-5631 wjulian@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

special feature

communities As the Northern Gateway communities are taking a

Alison McMeans Managing Editor 250-785-5631 editor@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

James Waterman Reporter 250-785-5631 cell:250-263-1878 jwaterman@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

Dan Przybylski Sales 250-782-4888 ext 101 cell: 250-784-4319 dcsales@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

Ryan Wallace Sales 250-785-5631 cell:250-261-1143 rw.fsjsales@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

tk.fsjsales@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

Janis Kmet BC Sales 250-782-4888 cell: 250-219-0369 jkmet@dcdn.ca Published Monthly

by Glacier Ventures International Corp.

The Pipeline News North is politically independent and a member of the B.C. Press Council. The Pipeline News North retains sole copyright of advertising, news stories and photography produced by staff. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent of the editor.

CONTACT US:

evan spellman photo

james waterman Pipeline News North A decade since all the talk began about building a pipeline to transport Alberta’s oil sands bitumen to British Columbia’s coast for export to foreign markets, the communities along the proposed route of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline are finally getting their chance to speak directly to the federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) tasked with assessing the project.

As of January 10, 2012, the eyes and ears of the nation – even the world – began to look toward villages, towns and cities such as Prince George, Burns Lake and Kitimat to hear questions and concerns on topics ranging from the local economic benefits of pipeline construction to the environmental risks posed by potential spills from pipelines and tankers.

Far from the Pacific coast where project proponents hope Canadian oil will eventually leave our shores for foreign markets via tankers navigating the Douglas Channel near Kitimat, the small Alberta community of Mayerthorpe is ready for construction to start, according to Mayor Kim Connell.

“Most everyone I’ve spoken to is quite in favour of it,” said Connell.

“I haven’t really heard anyone set against it.”

“Northern Gateway have done several presentations in the community about it,” he continued. “So, if people have questions, they get their questions answered directly.

And they’re quite open and forthcoming about everything they’re doing.

They’ve just been good to get along with.”

Rene Fournier, President of the Fox Creek Chamber of Commerce in Fox Creek, Alberta, reports that the local business community is in a similar mood about the pipeline.

“We’re looking forward to it,” he said.

Fournier is also part of the local Northern Gateway Community

Advisory Board that participates in meetings with Enbridge regarding the project.

“Any issue that gets brought up, they handle them pretty well,” said Fournier. “There’s no problems.”

Although the Fox Creek economy is driven by oil and gas industry activity, Fournier believes that the main economic benefits to the community won’t come from direct involvement in pipeline construction, but from associated services. As for the potential environmental impacts, Fournier doesn’t seem to be particularly worried about the possibilities.

“If they should have a spill like a fuel tank should leak on a machine or a pick-up or something, we will be there to go ahead and clean it up for them right away,” he said, referring to his own company, Fox Creek Excavating.

the Northwest Territories before returning to his home province to work in forestry for four years.

“I jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire,” Cameron said about that move.

“And then I went into business for myself with a one-man sawmill and a post and pole peeling operation,” he added.

It wasn’t long until his neighbours discovered that he had been a fisheries technician and subsequently brought him into a campaign to address water pollution being caused by the pulp mill in Grande Prairie.

“Just the number of stream crossings in the headwaters of very important streams for Arctic grayling, which are basically a threatened or almost threatened species, and bull trout, which is a protected species because they are threatened,” said Cameron, discussing his concerns about the potential environmental impacts of Northern Gateway.

One of those concerns is that the pipeline would cross the headwaters of the Wapiti River, which supplies Grande Prairie – Mayerthorpe Mayor Kim Connell with its water.

“And the Simonette [River] has already had a number of oil spills “Because things do happen, eh?” from existing pipelines,” he added.

Fournier continued. “If somebody Cameron’s concerns are heightrolls a pick-up or something. But as ened by problems he has seen with far as the rest of it, coming through aging infrastructure in the province, here they’re going to be following the as many pipelines are over fifty years Alliance Pipeline right-of-way. So, it’s old and frequently require repairs. all pretty good terrain. There’s some Additionally, there are issues of soil swamp and muskeg and stuff, but stability in the region. that will mostly be done in the winter “There’s not a river crossing of a months. So, we have got no conroad that doesn’t have a slump on it,” cerns, really. They’ve got it formatted he said, noting that the silty clay soils out quite well on what they’re going in the area are prone to a process to do and how they’re going to do it.” known as oversteepening and colBob Cameron of the South Peace lapse along riverbanks.

Environmental Group doesn’t share “The whole problem with subsidthat view. ence of riverbanks is a real problem.”

Cameron resides in Debolt, AlberDawn Remington understands ta, about thirty miles east of Grande those concerns. A retired water qualPrairie, and just north of where the ity biologist, she is also a member of pipeline will pass by the towns of the Friends of Morice-Bulkley, a comWhitecourt, Mayerthorpe and Fox munity group based in Smithers, B.C. Creek. An Alberta native, Cameron that has registered as an intervenor worked as a fisheries technician in

“Most everyone I’ve spoken to is quite in favour of it.”

Tom Kirschner Alberta Sales cell:780-625-2717

Phone: (250) 785-5631 Fax: (250) 785-3522 www.pipelinenewsnorth.ca

The Skeena River watershed is one of the largest salmon spawning habitats in North America.

billing:

Lisa Smith Accounting Manager 250-562-2441 ext 352 Fax:250-960-2762 accounting@ pipelinenewsnorth.ca

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

5

are on the line project comes under review, stand for and against the pipeline in the JRP process. The group takes its name from the Bulkley River, which is a major tributary of the Skeena River, and the Morice River, which joins the Bulkley River near Houston, B.C. Remington worked in that area for 35 years.

“The proposed pipeline crosses three major tributaries of the Skeena,” said Remington. “As it comes in from the east, it crosses several tributaries of Babine Lake, which is a major sockeye salmon producing lake. The biggest in the country, I believe.”

“Another one of the streams that it goes right across the top of is the Sutherland, which goes into the southeast end of Babine Lake,” she continued. “And the Sutherland produces a unique strain of very large rainbow trout.”

It is actually the largest rainbow trout fishery in the Skeena region, although it is a small population of just 500 adults.

“A major spill there could potentially wipe a unique ecotype of rainbows off the earth,” said Remington.

“Then it enters the Bulkley-Morice system, where it travels parallel to the Morice River for about 35 kilometres, right next to the river,” she continued, describing the pipeline route. “And then it goes up into the coast ranges from there, along a major tributary of the Morice.

That section of the Morice I’m referring to is the major spawning and rearing habitat for the largest Chinook salmon population in the Skeena. And the largest summer run steelhead population in the Skeena.

And that is the basis for what is really a significant economic boost for our region,

which is an internationally famous steelhead trout destination river for steelhead fishing.”

Remington isn’t about to take any threat to these fish populations lightly, not just because of the ecological implications, but because of the economic impacts as well.

“Very important part of our economy,” she said. “And it’s a part of our economy that, as forestry comes and goes and mining comes and goes, we can rely on those fish. And all we have to do is take care of their habitat. And they’ll always just come back. It’s a beautiful system [and] it’s a shame to put it at risk.”

Salmon is so important to the region that it is uniting people from coastal communities in opposition to Northern Gateway. Prince Rupert resident Artie Nagy, a member of the Haida Nation and the General Executive Board of the United Fisherman and Allied Workers Union, is one of those people.

“The salmon bonds us all the way from the headwaters right down to the marine environment,” said Nagy. “Because everybody along that watershed … depends on that salmon for food, for economic opportunities, and social and cultural purposes, both within the First Nations and for those of us who make our living in the marine environment catching and processing that fish in the coastal communities.”

Not only is Nagy speaking at the public hearings, but his union is also participating in the process as a registered intervenor. He plans to discuss the traditional

value of salmon to the Haida people as have to be in favour of every single indusa year-round food source, since they trial development. And it doesn’t take a routinely smoke and can the fish. rocket scientist to see that this particular “And as one puts other somebody values of ours that works in at risk.” the fish plants “I’ve looked and cans that into this a good salmon, I’m deal,” she conalso going to tinued, discussspeak upon ing the ecothe economic nomic benefits – Dawn Remington, A retired water of the pipeline importance of our healthy project for her quality biologist from Smithers salmon runs region. “During and a clean the two or three environment in that regards, for providing years it’s under construction through our us economic opportunities that can last region there’ll be a large influx of foreign forever if we maintain it and take care of work crews and they’ll have work camps. the environment that the fish need,” said And there’ll be certainly some business Nagy. stimulus supplying those camps and “If there’s ever a spill that goes into the that activity. But that’s a timeline of two Skeena River or out here on the marine or three years. Then the pipeline’s in the environment,” he continued, “I have one ground and essentially forgotten about.” option, and that’s to file for bankruptcy.

Remington said that she saw a quote Because my livelihood is completely from Enbridge CEO Patrick Daniels in destroyed and there’s no way that I’m which he said that he thinks Northern going to be able to maintain my mortgage Gateway could be in the ground for 100 payments or anything.” years. That number worries her, too.

Remington thinks that people who “The Enbridge pipeline that ruptured make their living from oil and gas should into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan understand a community trying to protect was 48 years old,” she said. a livelihood based on other natural reThe thought of a repeat of the Kasources, but that doesn’t seem to be the lamazoo River incident scares Dave case from her perspective.

Shannon, a retired Alcan engineer who “As a group – Friends of Morice-Bulkworked in Kitimat for 32 and now resides ley – we’re not opposed to all indusin nearby Terrace. He is also a member trial development by any means,” said of the Douglas Channel Watch, another Remington. “But it doesn’t mean that we continued pg 8

“It’s a beautiful system and it’s a shame to put it at risk.”

The communities along the route of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline are weighing the risks and rewards of the project. image courtesy enbridge

6

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

industry news

oil is thicker than water

Canadian oil supports the pipeline project james waterman Pipeline News North Canadian oil companies Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, Nexen and MEG Energy are among the five petroleum producers whose support for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project became public on January 4, 2012.

It was revealed through filings with the National Energy Board (NEB) that those four companies along with the Canadian subsidiary of Total SA had signed on as funding participants for the pipeline, purchasing some of the ten units that comprise the $100 million Enbridge Inc. fund. It was already known that China’s Sinopec Corp was one of the Canadian oil producers and Asian market interests among the project proponents.

“It’s all about access,” said Cenovus spokesperson Jessica Wilkinson, discussing the company’s decision to support the project. “That’s the most important part. And we’re supportive of all pipeline projects that would open up access to new markets for our oil. And the reality is that Canada as a whole has to

identify and create new markets so that we can maintain our growth and prosperity.”

Nexen spokesperson Davis Sheremata echoed those sentiments.

“Northern Gateway is going to be an important development to help us open up Asian and Pacific Rim markets and to sell our crude and condensate resources, which is going to be a very important value add for our shareholders,” he said.

“We have a strong history of working around the globe. We understand how to access emerging and growing markets.

And so Northern Gateway’s going to be a very important development for that, if approved.”

Other companies that are not known to financially support the project also had similar thoughts regarding the value of the Northern Gateway project.

“Imperial strongly supports policies that allow for expanding access to other markets including expanded [United States] markets and potentially other markets for oil sands production,” said Imperial Oil spokesperson Piuf Rolheiser.

“From our perspective, access to export markets, both in North America and

beyond, is a critical factor or condition for continued growth in the oil sands. And we believe that proposed pipeline projects, including … the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to the west coast, as well as the Keystone XL, will provide … the transportation infrastructure that’s necessary to get the predicted oil sands growth to market. That’s been our position and that remains our position.”

This sentiment is shared by many companies.

“Certainly, we support greater access to markets, whether it’s that out to the west coast or down to the U.S.,” said Tim Bryant, Vice President of External Affairs with ConocoPhillips.

Neither Wilkinson nor Sheremata seem overly concerned about their companies facing a backlash from Canadians opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline now that they are known to support the project.

“We’re committed to transparent and meaningful engagement with all of our stakeholders ,including our landowners, local communities and people interested in the oil and gas industry,” said Wilkinson.

“And we believe that it’s important for us to understand and address their concerns where ever possible. And then we expect all of our partners to hold themselves to that same standard. So, we think Enbridge is a responsible operator and this project will result in lasting social and economic benefits.”

“Enbridge,” said Sheremata, “they’re a Canadian company. They have similar values to Nexen. They have historically had an excellent operating record. We trust them to build a pipeline safely and responsibly. And we wouldn’t be in a partnership with Enbridge if we weren’t confident in their expertise to operate this pipeline safely and responsibly.”

“We’re confident that it’s going to meet regulatory requirements,” he continued, “but we’re looking forward to a full, rigorous and transparent hearing where you’re going to hear from industry, you’re going to hear from technical experts, and you’re going to hear from people who have concerns about the pipeline.

“And it will be the regulators decision to decide if it’s in the public interest. And we’re looking forward to that decision.”

Making time work for you Can you get your hard earned money to work even harder?

•

There is even more you can do to get the most out of compounding:

•

Don’t delay - The earlier you start investing, the bigger your return may be and the sooner you may be able to retire. For example, if you contributed $100 a month to your RRSP for ten years until you were 32, and then stopped - you would have invested a total of $12,000. If that money earned an 8% return, by the time you turned 65 it would have grown to $229,791.

If instead you didn’t start investing until you were 32, you would have to invest $49,896 to have $230,128 by age 65. In this example, by delaying ten years you must contribute over $37,000 more to earn the equivalent amount of savings at age 65.

32442

Contribute early - By making your investment in January of the current tax year, instead of at the last moment in February of the next year, you’ll have an extra 14 months worth of compounding working to your advantage.

•

Monthly contributions - If you can’t make a lump sum contribution early, you can still gain additional income by making monthly contributions. And to make it even easier to contribute regularly, you can choose to have your monthly contribution automatically transferred from your savings/chequing account into your RRSP.

•

Consider an RRSP loan - If you can’t maximize your RRSP contribution, consider borrowing the money. You can use the tax refund to help pay down the loan, and take advantage of the power of compounding.

•

Pay yourself first - Think of your RRSP investment as a regular bill you pay to yourself.

But remember to set realistic, attainable contribution goals.

Even if there are times in your life when you can’t make a contribution, you can feel good knowing the money you have already invested is continuing to work for you through the magic of compounding.

Talk to your Sun Life Financial advisor to find out how to make the most of your savings to reach your goals.

Submitted by: First Choice Insurance & Investment Services Inc. ©Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2007.

32441

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLER

Reaching your financial goals is easier with a plan. Know your options.

Life’s brighter under the sun First Choice Insurance & Investment Services Inc. Tel 250-785-7575 Fax 250-785-1677 fci@sunlife.com 9519 - 100th Avenue Fort St. John, BC V1J 1Y1 The advisors at First Choice Insurance & Investment Services Inc. are contracted with Sun Life Financial Distributers (Canada) Inc. a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies. © Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2011.

Group Benefits Made Easy Contact us for a FREE QUOTE: group@canwestgroup.com

www.canwestgroup.com

1-866-408-4999

28381

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

7

Blinded by the light of stars

An actor ’s opinion is affecting the debate james waterman Pipeline News North Just as the community hearings of the Joint Review Panel (JRP) assessing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal were beginning in Kitimaat Village on January 10, the attention of many interested parties was oddly turned toward Hollywood and the views of one Robert Redford.

Redford was suddenly cast as a key figure in the debate over Northern Gateway because comments made by federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver in an open letter to the Canadian public that was released on January 9 mentioned celebrities in the same breath as American foundations that have provided funding to Canadian organizations who are standing against the project.

“These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda,” Oliver wrote in his letter.

“They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources,” he added.

Redford was singled out by media outlets such as CTV because of the manner in which he compared Northern Gateway to the perpetually delayed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil sands bitumen to Texas refineries if approved. Redford has been strongly – and publicly – opposed to Keystone XL. “There’s a lot of different environmental issues that somebody like Robert Redford could choose to get engaged in,” said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, International Program Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is based in the United States.

Redford sits on the board of that organization and has voiced his concerns about these oil pipelines in that capacity.

“My feeling about the celebrity voices is that they tend to come in when there’s strong public concern in an area where they already have some type of long-standing interest,” she continued.

“So, in this case, what we see, for example, is Robert Redford has written a few blogs and opinion pieces about tar sands, specifically about the Keystone XL campaign, and he’s mentioned the Northern Gateway pipeline as well. Important response to the very strong public concern that has been shown both in the United States and in Canada with this newly proposed tar sands pipeline.

“Over the many decades that he has been an environmental leader, he has chosen to get engaged in issues that deal with protection of lands in the American west and that deal with issues of energy and climate. And tar sands and these proposed tar sands pipelines – both Keystone XL and, more and more, Northern Gateway – it’s something that NRDC has identified as a critical part of our climate and energy work, as well as our work protecting wildlands and wildlife. And Robert Redford completely agrees with that.

“And, personally, he’s worked for so many years in British Columbia. He does a lot of filming there. He has a deep love of the province of British Columbia and for the people of British Columbia. And that’s something you really see coming out in his being willing to speak out on the Northern Gateway pipeline, as you see his deep love of the American west coming out in his willingness to speak out on the Keystone XL pipeline.”

Mark Wexler, Professor of Business Ethics and Management at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, also considered Redford’s strong connection to B.C. when he read Oliver’s comments about “radical” ideologues from other countries and “jet-setting celebrities.”

“I’m not too sure why he’s called radical other than he disagrees with Oliver,” said Wexler, adding that the foreign element of Oliver’s argument is “somewhat

Robert Redford has been accused of being a Hollywood interloper for publicly opposing the Northern Gateway project. victoria times-colonist photo

irrelevant” because a resident of Canada’s Atlantic provinces could seem “equally foreign” to the people of B.C. “The foreignness is more important,” he continued.

“Foreignness is code for: ‘we should make the decision here.’ And … radical is code for uninformed. So, when he’s saying he’s foreign, he’s basically saying, ‘Well, what do people from afar know about these local truths?’

And, to me, that’s got to be dismissed.”

Wexler also suggested that Oliver’s choice of the word foreign “has a rhetorical and semantic use that is incendiary rather than informative.”

Casey-Lefkowitz insists that individuals such as Redford, who have had the opportunity to be truly global citizens, have the right to voice their concerns regarding issues that affect places that have frequently been temporary homes to them.

“I think it’s the right of everyone who cares about an area, because they’ve visited there, they’ve spent time there, they’ve gotten to know the people there, to speak out about it,” she said.

“But even more than that,” Casey-Lefkowitz continued, “this proposed tar sands pipeline and tar sands expansion is an issue of global importance. First and foremost, one of the biggest impacts of tar sands expansion is to make climate change worse, and that’s a global issue. The other is that this is a pipeline that is going through the Great Bear Rainforest and endangering the Pacific coast. And these are also areas of global importance and have been for many years.

“NRDC has worked with partners in British Columbia for over twenty years on protection of the British Columbian coast in large part because the threats that keep coming up are threats that, in part, are being driven by the U.S. marketplace. So, whether it’s the threat of unsustainable logging being driven by U.S. demand for lumber or it’s the threat of a pipeline like this being driven by U.S. demand for oil.”

As Casey-Lefkowitz explained, although most of the talk concerning Northern Gateway has revolved around exporting Canadian oil sands bitumen to China and other Asia-Pacific markets, exporting oil to California has also been on Enbridge’s radar since the very beginning of the project.

“It’s a short trip down the coast,” she said.

Indeed, Enbridge’s CEO Patrick Daniel was quoted in the January-February 2011 issue of the Watershed Sentinel saying, “The Kitimat solution appears to us to be the best, to provide access for VL (very-large) tankers,

not only for Asia generally, but the whole Pacific Rim. That could include California.”

“And it’s something that the federal government of Canada and the Alberta government and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), they’ve all mentioned California in their plans for how [to] get this oil to [market],” added Casey-Lefkowitz. “California has been one of the goals.”

That goal is a major reason why Casey-Lefkowitz is so offended by Oliver’s characterization of American foundations as foreign interlopers supporting radical ideologues, not to mention Redford’s inclusion in that group.

“These tend to be foundations who happen to be based in California, but who have as their main focus energy in Canada,” she said, discussing American organizations such as the California-based Hewlett Foundation that have contributed money to Canadian environmentalists.

“That’s why tar sands expansion has become something that they’re funding the fight against. But the other thing is that they’ve also been funding a lot of work into clean fuel standards in the United States. And California is the state where we have a clean fuel standard. There it’s called the low carbon fuel standard. Well, guess who’s been the main opponent of that clean fuel standard? It’s been the Canadian federal government and the Alberta government and the tar sands oil interests.

All of the companies have been lobbying against the clean fuel standard.

“So, it’s interesting to me when you have people, government officials in Canada, saying, ‘How dare these U.S. foundations come up and tell us what to do when, in fact, they’re coming to the United States and trying to undermine clean energy legislation through active lobbying. And on the other hand, up in Canada, it’s not U.S. groups that are trying to tell Canadians what to do.

“We’re trying to support Canadian people in doing what they want. It’s the foreign oil companies that are trying to tell Canadians what to do. And it’s all about oil company profits, not about what’s best for the public in Canada.” Casey-Lefkowitz continued.

“And so we were invited to come and join in the Northern Gateway campaign by First Nations and environmental group partners, including the smaller grassroots environmental groups in British Columbia. And we follow continued pg 13

8

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

special feature

taking the long Development must be sustainable for all

cont’d from pg 5 community group opposed to Northern Gateway. “[The pipeline route] comes out of Mount Nimbus into the upper Kitimat Valley,” said Shannon. “And it skirts Holt Creek, leading into Kitimat River, leading into the Douglas Channel, which is where the proposed tanker facility would be located. So, all you have to do is put 5000 barrels of crude oil spill into the upper reaches of the Kitimat River before it will have an enormous impact on the river leading into the Douglas Channel. And that’s a very prominent salmon spawning river.”

“You can destroy that river so easily,” he added, “as you can well imagine from reading news stories on the Kalamazoo, which they’re now blasting the riverbed to extract the bitumen that’s on the bottom.

The Kitimat River can’t stand any of that.”

“There is so much money in this pipeline for them that they consider the inconvenience of doing some clean up as just as part of doing business,” Remington remarked about Enbridge. “And from our point of view, it would devastate our whole way of life.”

“An oil spill in the Morice would be international news,” she continued. “And

whether the fishery were wiped out right then or not, you can bet every fishing lodge on the river would lose all its business right then.”

Lifelong Prince Rupert resident Karen Fait understands why people are so concerned about the possibility of an oil spill, particularly when it comes to the pipeline.

“I think the potential for an environmental disaster is much greater here,” said Fait, noting that she isn’t opposed to pipelines, just the route planned for this particular project.

“This is rugged country,” she continued.

“We can’t keep communications and highways open. And I certainly can’t see how they would manage if there was a leakage or spill. And leakages do occur. And especially in country like we have. You’re going through rock, muskeg, avalanche areas, inaccessible terrain that can be inaccessible for weeks at a time.”

Fait said that the region frequently experiences electricity and telecommunications outages, which can sometimes last for days.

“Just this past week, Highway 16 was closed for a couple of days because of a landslide onto it,” Remingon commented.

“Our gas pipeline went out for five days

1-877-55DEERE

4640 SKID LOADER

3 Year Full Machine Warranty On All 3 Products

•62HP Deutz Diesel •Cab w/ heater •1800 lb lift cap. Inc/ rear counterweight •149-inch operating height •Auxiliary Hydraulics 19 gpm •ROPS/FOPS ISO Level II •Servo-Controlled Hydrostatic Drive •Joystick Control

SALE $39,730

5640 SKID LOADER

•84 Yanmar engine •Cab w/ heater •2500 lb lift cap. Inc/ rear counterweight •162-inch operating height •Auxiliary Hydraulics 21.8 gpm •ROPS/FOPS ISO Level II •Servo-Controlled Hydrostatic Drive •Joystick Control

SALE $47,245

6640 SKID LOADER

•84 Yanmar engine •Cab w/ heater •2900 lb lift cap. Inc/ rear counterweight •168.3-inch operating height •Auxiliary Hydraulics 21.8 gpm •ROPS/FOPS ISO Level II •Servo-Controlled Hydrostatic Drive •Joystick Control

SALE $51,800

www.prairiecoastequipment.com

Purchase a GEHL Skid Loader and get a FREE John Deere 726E WalkBehind Snowblower Grande Prairie (780) 532-8402

Fairview (780) 835-4440

La Crete (780) 928-3337

Dawson Creek (250)782-4141

33554

Value: $1236

Prices subject to change without notice. These prices are for these products only and not to be combined with any other offer. Products may not be exactly as illustrated. Attachments are not included in price. Subject to US Dollar exchange at time of sale. Gehl Company may change financing without notice. All products and prices are subject to availability.Taxes, set-up, delivery, freight and preparation charges not included and may increase price. See dealer for complete details and restrictions

Marnie Yohemas, Senior Advisor of Stakeholder Relations with Enbridge, delivered a presentation on the Northern Gateway pipeline project on Thursday, January 5, 2012. james waterman photo

just a couple years ago when there was a into the stream, that would lead into the snow avalanche that was a kilometre by lake, which would lead into our river.” a kilometre,” said Fait. “We have seismic That is the location of a significant activity. There’s places where the road is salmon run. constantly being redone.”

“This town was hit really hard,” Gainor “This is not the country you want to run continued, discussing the local impact of a pipeline through,” she added, noting her the downturn in the forestry industry. “The doubts about Enbridge’s ability to detect mills did close. I think there was one mill and address a pipeline leak considering that stayed open partially throughout that the unreliability of telecommunications time when it was really bad a few years and the likelihood of landslides and avaago. It did hit the town hard. So, the town is grabbing at opportunity, right? But I think lanches in the region. it’s really important for us to show the town “What I’m concerned with is not so that this isn’t one of those things.” much the engineering as what would According to Gainor, the loss of local happen to any pipeline exposed to the forestry jobs and the fact that many landslides in the area,” said Shannon. residents have no clear idea of the local “Man can’t engineer around what naeconomic benefits of Northern Gateway ture can do to whatever man engineers.” are matters that haven’t been adequately Shannon emphasizes the fact that he addressed in discussions with Enbridge, isn’t opposed to oil sands development. during which they tend to say that, “it’s in In fact, as a University of Alberta engithe best interest of Canada and we need neering student in the late sixties, one of to diversify the market.” his projects involved working on how to “And you can’t sit and tell a small group extract oil from that resource. of people that, because we don’t care,” “I think Canada needs the developshe said. “We ment that would really don’t come from that,” care. It’s not he said. “And I our problem. would prefer that It’s not affectit was done more ing us. We’re cautiously, rather not going to than 5000 barget money rels a day going from it. It’s like, to Kitimat.” yeah, well, all Although the money the much farther government’s from the coast, making on it, there are residents of Fort St. – Marnie Yohemas, Senior Advisor what part of that are we James – which of Stakeholder Relation with Enbridge seeing? And also falls along they want us to the proposed take the risk?” pipeline route – who are also concerned “One thing that’s been rubbing me the about the potential impact on local fish wrong way has been Christy Clark telling populations. the world she’s off to Asia to sell British “There’s a pumping station that’s going to be going quite close to Fort St. James,” Columbia,” Gainor continued. “And I just think the wording in that is so awful. I said Jana Gainor of the Fort St. James think that is a bad sense of hurry up and Sustainability Group. “And it is located sell and boom and boom and boom. But upstream of Stuart Lake. So, there’s kind you see what happens. You have these of a collection moat around the pumpprovinces with huge booms. And what ing station that’s being proposed. And if happens after that, when we run out of there’s any spills, it will be contained in all these resources? We’re not leaving a that moat, and then treated, and then let

“Why Fort St. John?

I think they see... the bigger impact both on British Columbia and on Canada.”

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

9

view local industries legacy of anything.”

The City of Fort St. James hasn’t yet taken an official stance on the pipeline, but Mayor Rob MacDougall is also concerned about the pumping station that is going to be installed just south of town if the project is approved. Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold noted that his council doesn’t yet have an official position on the project either, but he his well aware that there are members of his community with concerns about the project, just as there are those interested in the economic opportunities. Other B.C. communities are also looking hard at positive economic impacts.

“We’re the economic development authority for Prince George,” said Tim McEwan, President and CEO of Initiatives Prince George. “We have a mandate to grow the economy of our city in synergy with the region. So, the perspective we take on the pipeline is this: we support the pipeline in concept, subject to the proponent making its case before the Joint Review Panel of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Board. And there’s three components to it. The first is that they consult and accommodate with First Nations as they’re required to and, if possible, partner with them. And second is that they fulfill their requirements for environmental protection, mitigation and remediation.

And then thirdly that a defined stream of community benefits be provided to First Nations and communities along the pipeline corridor.

“And I think that’s best sort of framed in terms of answering the question: what’s in it for us? So that there’s a defined stream of community benefits provided upfront for social, environmental, cultural and economic initiatives moving forward.

The best analogy I could give to that is in the Columbia Basin there’s the Columbia Basin Trust, where there is a trust that was set up following some impacts on the Columbia Valley due to the damming of the valley for hydroelectric generation.

So, in perpetuity, there’s some benefits that are provided to that region. In a similar vein, the larger the project, whether it’s Enbridge Northern Gateway or Site C or others, it makes sense to our corporation that there be a defined stream of benefits upfront that then gives a longer term payback to communities over and above the

transitory jobs and procurement opportunities that there are, together with the tax benefits.”

Although the City of Fort St. John is fairly far north of the pipeline route, members of that community and its thriving oil and gas economy are also interested in the economic benefits for them. The week before the public hearings were set to begin, a small delegation from Enbridge traveled to the city to speak to the Fort St. John Petroleum Association.

“Most proponents wouldn’t go that far away from the right-of-way,” admitted Marnie Yohemas, Senior Advisor of Stakeholder Relation with Enbridge. “So, we do get that question: why Fort St. John? And part of that is the city council has been quite actively interested in the process since it had been announced.”

“I think they see kind of the bigger impact both on British Columbia and on Canada,” she continued. “They’re wellversed in oil and gas. When something of this magnitude kind of rolls along, even though it’s not directly next door, they got interested.”

Yohemas said the main purpose of the visit was providing information, but her presentation included a call for support, encouraging people in the energy sector in Fort St. John to share their positive experiences with those in other communities not as familiar with the industry. However, when questions came up about local employment and procurement, Yohemas had no certain answers.

“I think at this stage of the game they’re reaching out for support wherever they can get it,” said Tyler Kosick, President of the Fort St. John Petroleum Association. “So, they’ll reach out to oil and gas driven communities and people involved in the oil and gas to get the support of the pipeline. … People that know the industry and understand what it can do for a community and how it can drive your community, as opposed to locals that have never seen it.”

The issue for Kosick and his peers in the Petroleum Association is that contracts for these large pipelines go to union companies, which excludes Fort St. John residents from most of the construction work.

“It’s happened before,” said Kosick.

“The Alliance Pipeline and different stuff goes through and these contracts get

Community groups are opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal in the hopes of protecting the environment of northwest British Columbia from oil spills. evan spellman photo

awarded to union companies. They come into town. They utilize all the secondary services. But … people that have the expertise right in local cities or surrounding cities, that just because they’re private and not unionized, don’t get a crack at the business.”

“Sometimes they will try to utilize local companies and local subcontractors,” he continued, discussing the union contractors, “but for the most part they try to rob qualified people and lure them into the union. And then there’s the other problem that we have, is local companies will have qualified people, qualified equipment to go to work. We have a hard enough time finding skilled labour. And all of a sudden, here’s a five, six year project, and a union is guaranteed, and they lure, and they have the possibility of stealing our

workers.”

Kosick thinks the same could happen in communities like Fort St. James and Burns Lake.

“The people that are currently employed there, have currently made a stronghold in the community and supported the community since the beginning of their business venture, are not going to be the ones that get a piece of the pie,” he said. “It’s going to be the people that they have trained that jump ship to work for these big union pipeline companies that are going to benefit.”

Still, Kosick is fairly supportive of the project.

“I believe Canada needs it,” he said. “I also believe that we have a responsibility to our environment, the landowners [and] stakeholders along the route.”

34077

10

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

special feature

americans funding

Is it worries about our shared planet

james waterman Pipeline News North

However, she feels that Ethical Oil and the federal government have jumped to conclusions based on her research, as indicated by Oliver’s open letter, and that Vivian Krause felt her heart sink when she read the their rhetoric is only going to hurt Enbridge’s side of the open letter issued by federal Natural Resources Minister argument.

Joe Oliver on the eve of the first community hearings “Unfortunately, there are environmental and other of the Joint Review Panel (JRP) assessing Enbridge’s radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. to diversify our trade,” wrote Oliver. “Their goal is to stop After all, it looked as though Oliver and the federal any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian government had taken a page from Ezra Levant’s Ethical families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No Oil Institute and their “our decision” campaign, which, mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.” according to Krause, has misused her research into how “These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory American non-profit foundations have been providing system to achieve their radical ideological agenda,” he funding grants to Canadian environmental organizations continued. “They seek to exploit any loophole they can to fight Alberta’s oil sands development and the Northern find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that Gateway pipeline that would transport that oil to the west delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign coast for export to foreign markets. special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national Krause’s issue with the “our decision” campaign is economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with represented by an image on their website that shows an some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the apparent businessman with organizations such as Corpo- world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural rate Ethics International, West Coast Environmental Law resources.”

Foundation and the Pembina Institute dangling from “The Americans are going to be laughing all the way his puppet strings. The to the bank if they get businessman is saying, Canadians fighting each “See how they dance other,” said Krause, once they get a taste of reacting to Oliver’s letmy foreign money?” ter. “Nothing better than “I don’t like the puphave us all scratch each pet,” said Krause. “I don’t others’ eyes out and the like mocking anybody. I pipeline will take five think this campaign lacks years longer or never get – Vivian Krause, controversial blogger and class and tact. And far built. from contributing to the “And, meanwhile, all Kitimat native success of this pipeour oil, costing us billions line, which Ezra Levant of dollars a year, will just supposedly believes in, I think it’s going to make it more keep flowing south. So, I don’t want the thing polarized. difficult. Because it will further polarize people and make I want this to be a time where we come together, where people angry. And I think we should look for common there’s empathy, there’s understanding, we try to put ground. And we should try and build on that. It shouldn’t ourselves in each others’ shoes. And that won’t happen if be a question of whether or not we do it. It should be a we’re calling each other nasty names.” question of how. And hopefully the companies will offer Krause, a native of Kitimat, British Columbia, began the local communities a fair deal. And then that deal researching the link between American foundations and will hopefully be worked out without the interference of Canadian environmental organizations in the context of foreign interests.” the Northern Gateway proposal because of her experiKrause emphasizes that she never accused any orgaences with the salmon farming industry in B.C. nization of being a puppet of those foreign interests, but “There was a $5 million public inquiry going on into only questioned the role of American foundations in the salmon farming and sustainable aquaculture because debate. there was so much controversy,” said Krause. “And I felt “All I’m trying to do is raise what I think are fair questhat the whole issue was misunderstood because it really tions,” she said. “Unfortunately, I have more questions wasn’t about technical problems and environmental risks. than answers.”

It was about how people were being treated and how the local people felt they had been dismissed, ignored, belittled, trivialized.

“They felt that there were double standards being applied to the companies and to the communities. They ✔ Designed to sit on felt that there were secrets that were being kept. And so screw piles people were angry. But it wasn’t actually about how the ✔ Engineered to take environment was being treated. It was about how people 50 lb. snow load per sq. ft. were being treated.”

Krause sees a correlation between that inquiry and the debate over Northern Gateway.

“If you follow the discussion on the pipeline,” she said, Inside a 60’ x 100’ set up in Fort St. John “you find very much the same situation, that people feel We sell single and truss arch buildings from 20 - 120 ft. wide, any length that this is being forced on them. And of course they’ll all Get your valuables out of the weather at a reasonable cost! cite the risk of the Exxon Valdez. But, more importantly, people are upset about feeling that they’re being railroaded into this.”

Phone (Fax) 250-827-3373 • Email: donedith@pris.ca As Krause was looking into the salmon farming inquiry, she found information about funding that suddenly put the aquaculture controversy in the context of a marketing campaign.

“Nobody was looking at the controversy from a marketing perspective,” said Krause. “Nobody was seeing how (780) 538-1987 the funding of the controversy, and, in fact, the creation Mon-Fri: 9am - 6pm • Sat: 9am - 5pm of the controversy, over one industry was creating the 9813 116 AVE., GRAND PRAIRIE market for the alternative. So, because they created all Across from Value Village this controversy over salmon farming, it was propping up PROFESSIONAL SALES & INSTALLATIONS the market for the wild fisheries, because everyone was • Wood & Gas Stoves • Ardent Energy LENNOX being scared away from the competition.”

• Fireplaces & Inserts • RSF Energy HEARTH STONE • Chimney Systems • Blaze King “That’s exactly the same thing that’s happening with TRAGER BBQs • Heartland Cookstoves • Valley Comfort coal and oil right now,” she added.

HARMAN • Kingman Fireplaces • Jotul Cast Iron Stoves PELLET STOVES • Bosch Water Heater Krause believes that American entities such as the

“The Americans are going to be laughing all the way to the bank if they get Canadians fighting each other.”

60’ x 100’

29853//01

Peace Country Shelters

29807

This ad is part of a larger campaign to highlight foreign involvement in the Northern Gateway review process. screen shot from ourdecision.ca

Tides Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation are contributing funds to campaigns that oppose Alberta’s oil sands as part of a strategy to create the market for renewable energy.

“The campaign against Canadian oil is funded as a small part of that much bigger strategy to, in fact, foster the energy security and in fact the economic security of the United States,” said Krause.

“So, that’s what we need to understand. That it’s not so much that they’re against Canadian oil. If you only see that, then you miss the forest for the trees. Because the bigger forest here is the energy and economic security – the national security – of the United States. And locking down our oil and creating the renewable energy market are two ways of doing that.

“People often say to me, ‘Well, the fact that the American foundations are funding the fight against Keystone, well, that would appear to contradict my theory that Americans are doing this to further their own energy security.’ No. Not at all. That’s missing the point.

“The point is that the campaign against Keystone serves a purpose of stigmatizing oil in a negative way.

And, of course, they’re picking on Canadian oil because we’re so nice. It’s much easier to pick on Canadian oil than pick on Middle Eastern oil or Venezuelan oil.”

However, she doesn’t like how Ethical Oil is trying to stick up for Canada in this battle, particularly their persecution of five specific organizations: West Coast Environmental Law Foundation, Corporate Ethics International, Environmental Defense Canada, Pembina Institute and Ecojustice Canada.

“It just doesn’t make sense on any note,” said Krause.

“He’s targeting five environmental organizations. Well, one of them is American. It’s not even Canadian. Corporate Ethics. How can you blame an American organization for getting American funding?”

“Secondly,” she continued, “he’s got another organization that has reported zero foreign funding. Pembina. So, if you actually look at Pembina’s Canadian tax returns, they’ve reported zero foreign funding.”

That reduces that list to three Canadian organizations that have actually received foreign funding.

“The percentage of foreign funding that they reported ranges from 7 [per cent] to 13 [per cent],” said Krause.

“I don’t know how you can call somebody a puppet of foreign paymasters when less than 15 per cent of their money is coming from that foreign source. “The bigger issue, which he misses completely, is that, first of all, the two top foreign funded environmental groups are Tides Canada and Ducks Unlimited. Both of those receive more than 30 per cent of their total revenue from foreign sources. So, he’s completely missed the target here. If he

e

11

pipeline opponents

or concern about sharing the profits? was trying to highlight the worst offenders, he’s missed it.”

According to Krause, Tides Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) received $73 million in foreign funding during the same period that West Coast Environmental Law Foundation, Environmental Defence Canada and Ecojustice only received $1.4 million from foreign sources.

“And the real issue here isn’t these small groups that are foreign funded,” she continued. “It’s what do Tides Canada and Ducks Unlimited do with the $73 million. Because my theory is that they’re re-granting it. Because these other smaller groups, they actually reported about 40 per cent of their funding from other charities.”

Tides Canada declined to comment, but DUC issued a news release on January 11, 2012 in response to all the speculation about foreign funding for those organizations opposing the oil sands and Northern Gateway.

“Since waterfowl conservation is a continental activity, DUC receives funding from DU (Ducks Unlimited) Inc. in the United States, U.S. federal and state governments.

We also receive funding from corporations, foundations and individual contributors. These resources are delivered through Canadian partnerships to key threatened landscapes where they will have the greatest impact on wetlands and associated habitat,” said Henry Murkin, National Director of Conservation for DUC, in that news release, which also noted that DUC has many project partners, including energy sector companies.

“The majority of our funding – so, over 95 per cent of our funding – is through membership donations,” said Mike Hudema, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Canada. “So, through mostly small monthly donors is where the majority of our funding comes from. And then we get five per cent of our funding from foundations, some of which are in Canada, but some of which are not.”

Krause contends that Greenpeace Canada has received grants from the Oak Foundation to “create controversy over coal and oil.” She has also pointed her finger at the Dogwood Initiative, which she claims has received funding from the Brainerd Foundation to “promote opposition to Enbridge” and a grant from the Wilburforce Foundation to “devolve control of land on B.C.’s central coast to First Nations and communities.”

Emma Gilchrist, Communications Director with the Dogwood Initiative, was unable to find any record of that Wilburforce Foundation grant, but admitted that the objective mentioned in that grant description does align with the Dogwood Initiative’s goals.

Regardless, she doesn’t seem to have much patience for the foreign funding controversy.

“I think that point is really being brought up as a distraction to the real issues that are to be debated here,” said Gilchrist.

“If the federal government were really concerned about foreign money in Canada, foreign investment in Canada, they’d be looking at the Chinese state-owned oil – Natural Resources company, which is funding Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal. They’ve provided at least $10 million. And Enbridge has $100 million from a variety of different oil companies to get through the review process.

“And then you have the intervenors. When you look at the intervenors, you have, again, China’s stateowned oil company, Sinopec Canada, you have Korea’s Daewoo, you have Japan Canada Oil Sands, you have British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Imperial Oil. You have all of these huge foreign oil companies registered as intervenors in the public hearings. And you have Joe Oliver talking out against regular Canadians who’ve registered for the hearings.”

Gilchrist mentioned that statistics provided by the

Ezra Levant speaking about “ethical oil” during the BC Oil and Gas Conference in Fort Nelson in September, 2011. james waterman photo

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) show that $20 billion of foreign money was invested in the oil sands between 2007 and 2010.

“And then you look at the research that Vivian Krause has done about environmental organizations,” said Gilchrist, “and she has said that over the course of ten years, all of the American funding that all of the Canadian environmental organizations have received on all causes is $300 million, which is less than 1.5 per cent of that massive amount of foreign funding into the oil sands. So, we’re up against the biggest oil companies in the world with literally tens of billions of dollars, and then you have organizations like mine who receives a $100,000 grant here and there. It’s really a drop in the bucket if you want to talk about foreign money.”

“If you look at the big picture,” she continued, “it’s kind of absurd to be talking about that money. We’re proud to get that money. It’s in all of our annual reports. There’s no secrecy around it whatsoever. We set our mission.

We set our strategic direction. And we look for people who share our values to support our work. And if anybody who supports our work wants to give us money, we’re happy to accept that money so long as there are no strings attached.”

“This is funding that has strings attached,” insisted Ethical Oil spokesperson Kathryn Marshall. “So, there are puppet strings there.

These foreign interests are paying groups to represent their interests.”

Marshall has nothing but good things to say about Krause and her research, but she makes no apologies the characterization of Minister Joe Oliver for Canadian organizations as puppets of foreign influences, despite Krause’s objections.

“Our goal with this campaign is to just shed light on the reality that many of the environmental [non-governmental organizations] who oppose and fight against the Northern Gateway and the expansion and development of Canada’s oil sands are getting a lot of their funding from foreign interests,” she said.

“And we launched it a week ahead of the Gateway hearings because we also want to expose the fact that a lot of these groups are also involved in the hearing process and that this should be a Canadian decision that isn’t being manipulated and hijacked by foreign interests and their paid front groups.”

“They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources.”

Marshall was also quick to defend the inclusion of organizations who receive little or no foreign funding, as well as the American group Corporate Ethics International, in their campaign.

“It’s not even just about Canadian organizations,” she said. “It’s about foreign interests in general. I mean, there are foreigners who are registered to speak at the hearings. People from Uruguay and Europe and the [United Kingdom]. There are foreign groups that are based in foreign countries that are registered to speak.

Hugo Chavez’s state-owned oil company, Citgo, is testifying.

“So, it’s not even just about these front groups. It’s about foreign interests, period, that are infiltrating the system. These are just five groups that we picked and there’s plenty others out there. I mean, people can look on Vivian Krause’s website and there’s been a lot of coverage of it in the media. But I think what’s important about these groups is they are doing work in Canada and they … are getting funds and targeted funding continued pg 26

Janette Taylor

250-783-0760

janette@jetsue.ca

ISN®, COR, SECOR, ISO, AISC Safety and Quality Certification Preparation

250-783-9273 www.jetsue.ca

Box 223 Hudson’s Hope, BC V0C 1V0

33878

e

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

For information on Membership

contact Art Jarvis, Executive Director South or Laurie Dolan, Executive Director North for contact information see www.energyservicesbc.org

34111

e

JANUARY 2012

12

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

industry news

New Northeast gas plant

How many are required to fill the need? james waterman Pipeline News North Plans to build another natural gas processing plant in northeast British Columbia is adding to concerns the Fort Nelson First Nation Lands Department has regarding the pace and manner of natural gas exploration in their traditional territory, the shale gas plays of the Horn River Basin, the Liard Basin and the Cordova Embayment.

Texas-based petroleum company Quicksilver Resources announced their intentions to construct the facility as part of a midstream partnership with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR) on December 27, 2011. The project falls on the heels of TransCanada Pipeline extending their Alberta system to Quicksilver’s northeast B.C. acreage, which is believed to contain recoverable reserves in excess of ten trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas.

The compressor station located North of the proposed Fortune Creek Gas Plant site. photo courtesy quicksilver

KKR has contributed $125 million and a commitment to carry Quicksilver on their share of the initial cost of constructing the processing plant in exchange for a fifty per cent stake in the project.

“This partnership, which has a scope much larger than the initial phases, but in it’s initial phase will build a 150 million a day CO2 (carbon dioxide) treating facility at a cost of about $120 million,” said Toby Darden, Chairman of the Board for Quicksilver, during a January 5, 2012 company conference call.

“And Quicksilver has the option to be carried for its fifty per cent of capital in exchange for a preferential payout to KKR, which greatly assists us during the early development phase of this project.”

However, the area does come with unique difficulties.

“The challenge for Horn River is the remote nature of the acreage,” Darden continued, discussing the necessity of the joint venture. “It’s in the northeast corner of British Columbia. And from the outset we knew we would have to establish a midstream solution – a transportation solution – for the gas produced from this basin.”

Quicksilver projects that the partnership will offer a cost savings of approximately $0.80 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas delivered to market over the alternatives. It is also expected to provide transportation and processing opportunities for third party companies operating in the 30 million acre Area of Mutual Interest (AMI) that will be created in the Horn River, Liard and Cordova as a result of the agreement.

“We will have the lowest cost delivery of gas out of the Horn River Basin to the liquid market of AECO and ultimately to

the west coast where there are going to be export opportunities,” said Darden.

However, the question being posed by Fort Nelson First Nations Lands Director Lana Lowe is: how many gas plants does northeast B.C. need?

“Yet another gas plant,” she said, listing a few of the facilities that already exist in the region.

“I’m worried that every company’s going to have their own gas plant. Because first Encana and Apache have [the Cabin gas processing plant], which now belongs to Enbridge. Now Quicksilver has theirs.

And then Spectra.”

“I don’t know why Quicksilver couldn’t just use Cabin,” she added.

Lowe’s concerns about the potential cumulative impacts of these developments appear to be falling on deaf ears.

“When we go through all these assessments, we jump through all these hoops with the province and the Canadian government to talk about impacts, and they refuse to talk about the cumulative impacts, even though clearly they’re physically linked,” said Lowe. “The pipeline’s linked to the gas plant and the gas plant’s linked to the wells. They scope it so that it’s assessed as individual projects with no cumulative effects whatsoever. Then if you don’t do that kind of cumulative effects analysis, you’ll never know when enough is enough.”

While the traditional use of the land is important, it is the overarching effect that she is more concerned about.

“But, really, the big issue is cumulative effects. Why another gas plant? So, this plant goes in. That means that our land has to be developed – destroyed – to do all the drilling to get the gas to fuel the processing plant.”

Democracy is not entertainment cont’d from pg 7 their lead. So, very much for us, engaging in Northern Gateway is seeing what we can do to amplify internationally the concerns and solutions that the local groups in British Columbia are putting forward.

“And so when someone like our board member Robert Redford also speaks up, he’s doing exactly that same thing. He’s not trying to represent NRDC’s interests.

He’s trying to amplify the voices that he hears coming from community members in British Columbia.”

That is why Casey-Lefkowitz also takes issue with the manner of the attack on celebrities in Oliver’s letter.

“I think that what we see is that the federal government in Canada is singling out celebrities, somehow trying to make it seem as though the campaigns against these tar sands pipelines are not are coming from the people,” she said.

“But I think nothing could be further from the truth. Fundamentally, what a

celebrity voice does is it amplifies public concerns. And, certainly, when you have true, longstanding environmentalists like Robert Redford engaging in an issue, fundamentally, that’s what he’s doing. He is working to amplify the concerns that the public is raising.”

Wexler agrees that celebrities can amplify those concerns, but he also notes that they can muddy the issue as well.

“Celebrities bring in new eyes to the problem,” he said.

“Think of an argument field as having committed players who are interested and follow it no matter what, and then people who drift in from other areas of the world, where they’re not paying that much attention, but they’re there because of Robert Redford.

“Celebrities bring in people who are less informed than those who typically are players in the problem field. Players in the problem field have vested interests, have been following this, have part of their livelihood involved with this, are concerned because in some senses they’re

working out their own personal interests.

“Celebrities bring in people who are kind of attracted as hummingbirds … are to flowers by the attention-getting mechanism of the celebrity. Not caused by the celebrity, but the harnessing of the celebrity to a particular position.

“How does that muddy things?” Wexler continued. “Well, a lot of people then get involved without too much information or knowledge. Being attracted, of course, because they’re interested in the appearance of Robert Redford. …

And this doesn’t mean that democracy is problematic, but democracy that runs by spectacles can be problematic.”

Wexler believes Oliver is employing the rhetoric about foreign influence and celebrities to suggest that the anti-pipeline side is “engaging in unfair practices.”

“If the for side and the against side could use celebrities, both would,” he added, noting that the “against side” has enjoyed the advantage in terms of attracting celebrities to join their cause.

“Is it unfair to use them?” said Wexler.

“I don’t know if it’s unfair. Because I’m sure if the for side could use them, they’d be using them right, left and centre.”

Wexler does admit that there can be reason to question the motives of celebrities and the idea that they may have the right or the responsibility to lend their voices to causes because of their fame.

He discusses the matter in terms of the difference between what he calls voluntary audiences and addicted audiences.

Voluntary audiences have chosen to listen to the views of the celebrity and consider them rationally. An addicted audience may simply accept the opinion of the celebrity as truth as a result of their fandom. It is also a matter of conviction on the part of the celebrity.

“If they’re using [the issue] to bolster their career, perhaps that’s not a responsible usage,” he explained. “So, really, what we’re talking about with responsibility is not so much the consequences, but the motives of the celebrity for engaging in this.”

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

13

pace of development Simultaneous pipeline hearings could streamline the process, but at what cost?

james waterman Pipeline News North Federal and provincial Conservative parties are receiving harsh criticism from environmental groups and opposition parties for their comments about the regulatory system that has led to the lengthy assessment process for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project.

BC Conservative leader John Cummins released his two-point plan for accelerating the Northern Gateway assessment process on December 14, 2011. The plan includes the creation of two additional panels to hear public testimony so that simultaneous public hearings can be held in different locations and by only allowing Canadians to speak at those hearings.

“Canadians should be heard, but these hearings cannot go on indefinitely,” Cummins said in a December 14 media release outlining his plan.

“I don’t know how he can claim that the review panel that has been named could actually hear all the perspectives of the persons who have already registered, according to the rules of the National Energy Board, if suddenly there were two simultaneous or surrogate panels named,” said British Columbia NDP Environment Critic Rob Fleming. “They would not hear that testimony directly. And that’s a problem.”

Fleming drew parallels between the second point of Cummins’ plan and recent comments by federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver that connected Canadian environmental organizations to “foreign special interest groups” and “radical ideological” agendas.

He also accused Cummins of “trying to attack the motives and values of environmentalists – Canadian environmentalists – and their interests in this project proposal.”

“And that is really an attempt to discredit very valid, legitimate and longstanding concerns,” Fleming continued.

“I don’t know if Mr. Cummins has thought this through,” he added, “but what he’s suggesting would invalidate industry organizations like ExxonMobil.”

Nikki Skuce, Senior Energy Campaigner with ForestEthics, one of many environmental organizations opposed to Northern Gateway, took issue with a statement in the December 14 media release that read: “The environmental assessment of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline has been delayed for a year given over 4000 individuals, groups

29329

and companies have filed to be heard at the Joint Review Panel’s public hearings.”

“A major project like Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, that threatens British Columbia’s fisheries and tourism economies, First Nations cultures and livelihoods, and would greatly increase our climate emissions, deserves nothing more than a rigorous review process,” said Skuce.

“From our perspective, this project is not in the national interest and the risks to B.C. from an oil tanker spill are too great. Enbridge had years to put together their case. Others deserve appropriate time to make their arguments against this project.

“The vast majority of the public who signed up to share their views about Enbridge’s risky project are from British Columbia,” she continued.

“To suggest otherwise and to try to speed up the process is irresponsible and undemocratic. The [JRP] as a whole needs to hear the perspectives of citizens across this province who have a great deal to lose if this project goes ahead.”

Skuce was also irked by recent comments from both Oliver and Prime Minister Stephen Harper regarding accelerating the assessment process for projects like Northern Gateway by dealing with delays caused by opponents to those projects.

“We have to have processes in Canada that come to a decision in a reasonable amount of time, and processes that cannot be hijacked,” Harper told reporters in Edmonton, Alberta. “In particular, growing concern has been expressed to me about the use of foreign money to really overload the public consultation phase of regulatory hearings just for the purposes of slowing down the process.”

Skuce disagrees that opponents are simply trying to cause delays.

“The greatest fear that people have, over death, is public speaking,” she said. “And 4500 people have taken the courage to sign up and participate in this process because of their concerns about it. And the process set up this democratic outlet for people to be able to speak up.

And I think that they deserve to have their voices heard.”

“For government to come in and try and polarize and politicize the work of an independent panel is unprecedented,” said Fleming. “And I think it’s disturbing that the Harper Conservatives – and I’m certain they’re in direct communication with the Clark Liberals – for them to try

John Cummins’ plan for speeding up the assessment process has come under attack. handout photo

and use a bully pit to override legitimate concerns that British Columbians have is reprehensible.”

“They’re trying to polarize the situation rather than let the independent regulator do its job [and] let the public be heard,” he added.

“The prime minister and the premier should have the respect, not only for the independence of the regulator, but for the public, to hear and acknowledge the legitimacy of their concerns about the risks associated with this project.”

In the December 14 media release, Cummins characterized Northern Gateway as “vitally important for the economic future of B.C. and Canada.”

Fleming disagrees.

“I would say that Mr. Cummins is failing to see the provincial perspective and the liabilities and risks that would fall to all British Columbians to pay for a catastrophic oil spill and, in some cases, in certain scenarios, what would be decades long clean-up costs,” he said.

“That’s something that every British Columbian has an interest in. Of course, the communities that would be on the front line of the contamination in a major oil spill would have a particular view, and that’s perfectly legitimate.

“But what I’ve heard him not comment on at all is that we’ve enjoyed a tanker exclusion zone in British Columbia for

safety reasons about transporting oil for four decades. And Christy Clark and the BC Liberals know that this is at stake through this process and have failed to defend it. They’ve failed to speak to any of the environmental risks that are major concerns to British Columbians from every corner of the province. And to me that’s a dereliction of their duty, as a province that is acting as a bystander to a review process.”

Fleming said the benefit would go to oil companies and producers that are Alberta-based: “The treasury of Alberta would be the primary beneficiary of royalties and taxes. The temporary employment would be in British Columbia. The majority of permanent jobs would be in another province.

“Our concern should be about the environmental protection of British Columbia. That should be among our primary concerns in this process. It is not about getting a product to market. And that debate will happen. Those perspectives will be part of this process.

“But to try and shut down and expedite what holds a widespread public interest by people who have gone through the process and registered, for Mr. Cummins to advocate that position, I think, is irresponsible.”

John Cummins could not be reached for comment.

14

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

community

they waste not... james waterman Pipeline News North A Marsh Lake, Yukon family was declared the winner of the first Energy Diet Challenge on December 12, 2011.

The Kitchen-Kuiacks – along with five other families from across Canada – were recruited by Shell Canada and Canadian Geographic to participate in the three month competition, during which they had to attempt to reduce their energy consumption while making online accounts of their progress through videos, blogs and social media, all in the hope of encouraging other Canadians to follow in their shrinking environmental footprints – and earn votes.

“We are just so honoured and grateful to be given first place in this challenge,” said Marguerite Kuiack, mother of the Kitchen-Kuiack family, in a news release issued by Shell Canada on December 12.

“My husband and I are so proud of our children, Simone and Marika. They put their heart and soul into this. We’ve developed some great habits and we’re going to keep them up as ambassadors representing the North.”

Shell Canada Strategic Relations Manager Ashley Nixon was impressed that a northern family was able to win the challenge considering the energy requirements of contending with cold temperatures, short days and long drives even just to get their children to school, which was the case with the Kitchen-Kuiacks.

“And that particular family, like a lot of families up in the North, are relying on wood as a primary fuel source,” said Nixon, adding that the competition – which also included families from Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia – was designed to put all competitors on an even playing field.

“We wanted to make it fair right across the six families,” he explained. “So, we got them to work out their improvements based on their own baseline. … So, while energy use might have been relatively high to begin with, how did that come down by a certain percentage?

“And so, in fact, that family didn’t get the biggest percentage reduction in their energy use. When we factored in all the other things, like a magnificent effort on posting blogs and coming up with stories and so on, they came out the winner. But it was a very close competition, I must say.”

Notable accomplishments included the Doyle-Beggs family of St. Bruno, Quebec reducing their energy, fuel and

water consumption by fifty per cent over the course of the competition and the Gagnon-Morneau family of Varennes, Quebec establishing an anti-idling bylaw for their community.

“Another family came up with a tremendously exciting idea of going for one hour, no power,” said Nixon, referring to the Belbin family of Nanaimo, B.C. “And they would literally turn off their electricity for an hour and play board games with their kids and so on. And just avoid using electronics.”

The organizers of the contest were thrilled with the results.

“Really good outreach in their communities and very influential stuff,” Nixon remarked.

The Energy Diet Challenge also went a long way to achieving goals set by Shell after discussions with various stakeholders across Canada throughout 2009 and 2010.

“We got lots of feedback about a lot of things about our oil sands business out of [those discussions],” said Nixon.

“But one of the most pressing things that came to our mind was a call for us to work with a third party to promote better use of energy and better understanding of the use of energy in Canada. And so that led us to put together an action program.

“And we thought about who might we work with. And we identified Canadian Geographic as a potentially good partner.

We approached them. And they were very enthusiastic about the idea. And off we went. So, we formed an alliance – a partnership – with Canadian Geographic.

And created this program.

“What we wanted to do through the Energy Diet Challenge,” he continued, “was to basically promote better energy use. And we wanted it to be a family orientated competition involving all generations. We wanted it to be right across the geography of the country. And we came up with the idea of having six families competing in a challenge which would publicly show they were driving down their energy use at home and also in their transportation.”

The partners began promoting the competition last spring through radio and newspaper advertising as well as the Canadian Geographic website. They received approximaely 130 applications.

“We came up with about a dozen [candidates],” said Nixon. “And we did some Skype video interviews with them all over the country. And landed on these six competing families.”

Shell was the funding partner, but Nixon emphasized that it wasn’t just

The Kitchen-Kuiack family was able to save power and spread the word.

Fritz Mueller photo

about money for the oil company.

“We’re a very active partner in it,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things that oil companies may get behind and they just put their brand on it and so on. I think it’s important to say here that this is something really rooted into what we believe in at Shell Canada in terms of facing the energy challenge. And so we’ve been very active in this partnership, selecting the families, working with the families, and being involved in the competition.”

Nixon also noted that Canadian Geographic was a “terrific partner” for the initiative.

“They were thoroughly behind the idea,” he said.

Shell and Canadian Geographic are following up on the first family challenge with a classroom challenge that is set to run from February 6 to March 30 this year.

“It’s a competition open to all classrooms in all Canadian schools,” said Nixon. “So, it’s from Kindergarten through to Grade 12. And individual classrooms or their teacher apply for the competition.

And it’s got two components. One is to

conduct a number of assignments which have to do with energy, just basically about raising energy awareness amongst those school students.”

Completion of those assignments will make those competitors eligible for prizes such as SMART Board systems for their classrooms or money to donate to a charity of their choice.

The second component of the Classroom Energy Diet Challenge is a video contest during which classrooms submit scripts for short movies up to a minute in length that discuss energy use and energy awareness.

A panel will assess the scripts and give the children camera to produce their own videos. The top entries will be showcased at a Hollywood-style premier.

“And it’s all about raising awareness, not only with those schoolchildren themselves, but we feel that they’re very influential in their own families, Nixon continued.

“I’ve got two kids in Grade 3 and Grade 8, and I could see them coming home to me and telling me things about energy maybe I don’t even know.”

28392

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

15

won’t someone think of the children?

Maternity ward gets a makeover matthew bains Pipeline News North Mothers of Dawson Creek and area, rejoice, as the Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation is closer to realizing its goal of raising enough money for a complete renovation and retrofit of the hospital’s maternity ward, thanks to a recent donation.

On Friday, representatives from Shell Canada presented a cheque for $25,000 to Jerimy Earl, communications and events co-ordinator with the Foundation, towards the “Extreme Maternity Makeover” campaign. The donation brings the Foundation to within $30,000 of raising the $430,000 needed to finance the renovations and purchase equipment to upgrade the hospital’s maternity and neonatal unit.

“Contributing to the wellbeing of the community and the general public that grants our licence to operate is really key for Shell in the Peace Country,” said Carson Newby, community affairs advisor for the oil and gas company.

Earl said renovations are tentatively scheduled to begin in February and be completed by the end of April. He said

the work will be divided into sections so that birthing rooms remain available to expectant mothers.

The upgraded maternity unit will include new equipment such as radiant warmers, pediatric crash carts, blanket warmers, and intravenous (IV) infusion pumps, as well as practicalities such as new security doors, new cabinets, new furnishings, showers, and a tub to help mothers relax during labour. The $25,000 donation is actually just about enough to cover the cost of a new birthing bed that will be included with the unit.

The maternity ward campaign kicked off in the late summer of 2010, and has been a success due to the overwhelming generosity of local businesses and individuals, said Earl.

He joked that in regards to the Foundation’s next fundraising effort, which was like asking Captain Ahab what his future plans are after he has killed Moby Dick!

He said after two ambitious renovation projects – the South Peace Cancer Centre of Hope, which was completed in January of 2010, and now the maternity unit – the Foundation will look to refocus on refocus on strictly purchasing equipment for different areas of the hospital.

Senior electrical specialist Garth Haugen (middle) and community affairs advisor Carson Newby (right) with Shell Canada – joined by Haugen’s two youngest children, Linden and Ella – are pleased to present Jerimy Earl with the Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation with a cheque for $25,000 towards a complete renovation and retrofit of the hospital’s maternity unit. Coincidentally, Haughen, his two children, and Newby were all born in the maternity unit at the hospital. matthew bains photo

investing in first nations The aboriginal business and investment council will take a practical approach james waterman Pipeline News North British Columbia Premier Christy Clark announced that recently elected Haisla Nation chief councillor Ellis Ross will also serve as the first chair of the province’s newly created Aboriginal Business and Investment Council on December 16, 2011.

Ross was surprised by the appointment, as he feels he isn’t as well known in B.C. as other First Nations leaders, but he thinks he knows the reason he was chosen for the position.

“I did have a couple meetings with the Premier when she toured the northwest here, when she came to [Prince] Rupert and Kitimat,” said Ross. “And I guess what I said in terms of how to get a specific project moving forward made an impact on her. That’s mostly what I can think of.”

They were discussing the Kitimat LNG (liquefied natural gas) project led by Apache Canada, EOG Resources and Encana at the time. The Haisla are closely involved with that project, as the liquefaction plant will be located on their traditional land in Kitimaat Village. Ross has played a significant part in making that a project a reality by helping complete the lease for that land and the interim First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Agreement.

“She was looking for ways to streamline the permitting process so that the project could get online quicker,” Ross continued, referring to those meetings with Clark.

“And I made the point that that’s fine and dandy, but you can’t streamline Aboriginal Rights and Title. You can’t.

Unless there’s a willing First Nation and a willing Crown and a willing proponent. But there are ways to address it. I think she really latched onto that idea.”

Ross’s goal for his term as chair of the council is to show other First Nations how to participate in economic development in their regions, using the recent experiences of the Haisla as a positive example.

“Quite frankly, First Nations like Sechelt, Squamish, Haisla have achieved it,” said Ross. “So, there’s no sense in a First Nation trying to do it right from scratch.

Why try and invent the wheel when it’s been invented so many times by successful First Nations?

“And I’ve seen some of the other reports out there on economic development from all different entities, but it doesn’t actually, specifically tell a First Nation, or a proponent for that matter, or the Crown, how to do it on the ground level. And that’s basically what I’d like to see this council get into.”

It is still uncertain what shape the council and its activities will take, as the next step is reviewing applications of those who would like to be part of the organization, but Ross definitely has a few ideas.

“What I’d really like to see [on the council] is those First Nations leaders that have experience in getting into business, like taking a consultation-accommodation process and transferring that into a business opportunity where the benefits actually help out their people,” said Ross.

“There’s a lot of First Nations out there that are right in

the process right now of getting involved with projects,” he continued. “If they want us to come talk to them, I’m more than happy to go there and talk to them with the council.”

Ross has been a band councillor since 2003. He has also worked for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“Ellis Ross’s pragmatic approach to economic development, co-operation and collaboration make him an incredible asset to the Aboriginal Business and Investment Council,” said Clark in a government news release issued on December 16, 2011.

Ross will continue to serve as chief councillor throughout his time as council chair.

“My own personal mandate for the Aboriginal Business [and Investment] Council is going to be goaldriven,” he said.

“I want to put together this package there so First Nations have something in their hands they can use on a daily basis to take advantage of economic opportunities.

Once I achieve that, I’m basically gone. I’m not looking for a long-term position with this council. My mandate runs until 2013 anyway. Short period of time to get something accomplished.”

The Aboriginal Business and Investment Council was created alongside the BC Jobs and Investment Board as part of the province’s “Canada Starts Here: The BC Jobs Plan” initiative that was launched on September 22, 2011. That plan also includes a commitment to developing the province’s LNG industry.

16

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

FEBRUARY COURSE OFFERINGS

S U N D AY

T U E S D AY

W E D N E S D AY

T H U R S D AY

F R I D AY

1

2

3

GODI DC OFA 1 FN H2S Alive FN Hazard Recognition and Control TR

OFA TE FN OHH DC Fall Protection TR OFA 1 FN Global Ground Disturbance FN Confined Space TR Lockout Awareness TR

S AT U R D AY

4

6

7

8

9

10

OFA 1 DC OFA 3 DC S-100 Fire Supression TR

Confined Space CH H2S Alive DC OFA 1 FN Airbrakes FSJ

OFA 1 CH Forklift Safety DC OFA 1 FN

H2S Alive CH

OFA 1 FN Firearms Safety FN Snowmobile Safety FN Fall Protection FN LDV TR

13

14

15

16

17

18

OFA 1 DC OFA 1 FN Confined Space FN

H2S Alive DC Airbrakes DC H2S Alive FN

Fall Protection CH Fall Protection FSJ OFA 1 FN H2S Alive FN

GODI CH Forklift Safety FSJ

OFA 1 FN

UTV Safety FN

20

21

22

23

24

25

OFA 1 CH OFA 1 DC OFA 1 FN

H2S Alive DC Airbrakes FSJ GODI FSJ

Confined Space DC OFA 1 FN

H2S Alive FSJ

26

27

28

29

OFA TE CH

OFA 1 DC OFA 1 FN

H2S Alive DC OFA TE FN

Fall Protection DC Confined Space FN

12

CAMPUSES

19

CH – Chetwynd Campus DC – Dawson Creek Campus FN – Fort Nelson News Campus FSJ – Fort St. John Campus TR – Tumbler Ridge Campus

COURSES

5

M O N D AY

11

OFA 1 CH OFA 1 FN Firearms Safety FN

GODI – General Oilfield Driver Improvement LDV – Light Duty Vehicle Driver Improvement OFA – Occupational First Aid OFA TE – OFA Transportation Endorsement

NORTHERN LIGHTS COLLEGE

WORKFORCE TRAINING Customized Industry Services.

We can provide your business with customized training in the classroom or on-site.

Find out how we an help improve your employees’ skillset and efficiency with training developed specifically for your company by calling the Workforce Training Department located at your nearest Campus.

Dawson Creek 250-784-7576 Hugh McNair hmcnair@nlc.bc.ca

Chetwynd 250-788-2248 Verna Rowsell vrowsell@nlc.bc.ca

Fort Nelson 250-774-2741 Ramona Nehring rnehring@nlc.bc.ca

Tumbler Ridge 250-242-5591 Al Miller amiller@nlc.bc.ca

Fort St. John 250-785-6981 Bob Haugen bhaugen@nlc.bc.ca

Fort Nelson 250-774-2741 Kate Ring kring@nlc.bc.ca

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

17

UPCOMING COURSES IN

MARCH

Visit nlc.bc.ca for a full listing of WFT courses under Programs.

ON-LINE SAFETY TRAINING THROUGH NLC (Morning start times recommended).

• WHMIS • Bear Aware • Ground Disturbance • PST (Petroleum Safety Training IRP #16) • CSTS (Construction Safety Training System) • Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) • Wildlife Awareness Call the Workforce Training Department at your nearest Campus.

NLC’S WORKFORCE TRAINING DEPARTMENT

Your local provider delivering the right training to suit industries needs Our Workforce Training Department can organize a wide variety of courses for industry, business and the community

SOME EXAMPLES: • Air Brakes • ATV Rider • Boom Truck Operator • Snowmobile Rider Safety • Confined Space • Construction Safety Training • COR/SECOR • Detection and Control of Flammable Substances • Driver Training • Electrical Code Update • Electrical Course for Instrumentation Personnel • Enform Courses • Enform Chainsaw Safety • Fall Protection • Firefighting • First Aid • Forklift Safety • Gas Processing (all levels online) • GPS • General Oilfield Driver Improvement (GODI)

• Ground Disturbance – Global • Hazard Assessment • Hoisting and Rigging • H2S Alive • H2S Awareness • Incident and Accident Investigations • Management Skills • Oilfield Hauler • Oilfield Swamper • Petroleum Safety Training (PST.IRP #16) • Pesticide Applications • Portable Extinguisher Firefighting • Power Engineering (all levels online) • Private Security Training • S100 Fire Suppression • Safety Program Development • Safety Training for Wellsite Supervisors • Scaffolding • Seismic Blaster Safety • Track Inspection • Traffic Control • Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) • Well Blowout Prevention…and more!

Call the Workforce Training Department at your nearest campus.

For more information or to register for any course listed in the monthly calendar: Are you interested in:

• call the appropriate Workforce Training coordinator • call toll free 1-866-463-6652 and ask for the Workforce Training department at the campus where the course is offered • go online to nlc.bc.ca, click Workforce Training under the Programs tab.

• taking a course that currently is not scheduled?

• having a course designed specifically for your company?

• having a course offered at your workplace?

The courses listed in the monthly calendar are accurate as of January 12. However, new courses are

Contact the Workforce Training coordinator at your local campus.

being added on a regular basis at each NLC campus. For updated schedules, go to nlc.bc.ca and

We will work with YOU to meet your needs.

click on the Workforce Training menu under Programs.

18

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

industry news

The Skeena River at night. Herring-sized fish known as oolichans spawn along this stretch in early March, although the river is still mostly covered with ice. evan spellman photo

What’s best for BC? Debate rages across the province

cont’d from pg 3 to pose the question. And it’s really important to look at the differences between the responses of the Ipsos Reid poll that Enbridge commissioned and the Mustel poll that environmentalists commissioned. Because you can see with different questions that activate different aspects of the pipeline issue, you get reverse responses. So, using the Enbridge poll to say British Columbians support the pipeline, I don’t think that’s a proper way to construct.”

Hoberg echoed Skuce’s comments about the content of the question, suggesting that the absence of terms such as “oil sands” and “tanker” may have elicited a different response than there would have been if those terms had been included.

However, although Skuce and Hoberg are correct about the exclusion of “oil sands” from the question, they are incorrect about the use of the word “tanker.”

Ipsos Reid’s question regarding familiarity with the project reads as follow: “As you may know, Enbridge is the company leading the Northern Gateway Pipelines Project, which is a proposal to build an underground pipeline system between near Edmonton, Alberta and Kitimat, in northern B.C. One pipeline will transport oil to Kitimat for export by tanker to China and other Asian markets. A second pipeline will be used to import condensate (a product used to thin oil products for pipeline transport) to Alberta. Prior to today, how familiar were you with the Northern Gateway Pipelines Project?”

Mustel disagreed with Hoberg’s suggestion that the

proponents of either poll framed the question. “[That] is really [under] our control [as] the research company,” she said. “And we certainly take great pains to make sure that we’re asking a question in a neutral and unbiased fashion, because it doesn’t reflect well on our company if we try and load the results.”

“We often go back and forth,” Mustel continued, discussing how the questions are formulated jointly between the proponent and her company. “And we’ve even walked away from polls that we say, no, this is clearly leading or providing misinformation. Or sometimes even lack of information can be an issue as well.”

Similar to the new Ipsos Reid poll, Mustel doesn’t know the percentage of respondents to the 2010 survey who reside in communities that will be directly affected by the pipeline.

Hoberg insists that the views of those living outside those areas are just as important.

“I agree that impacts are most directly [felt] by the local folks, especially in terms of the disruption of construction and the immediate risks if there is a spill to the environment around them,” he said.

“But some of the areas we’re talking about are major salmon rivers in British Columbia that folks throughout the province and elsewhere use for recreation. And there’s also a lot of symbolic identification that people have with the resources that are at stake. And that gets much bigger when you get to the coast and you’re talk-

ing about tankers and oil spills. That’s the second thing that enlarges the, what political scientists call, the scope of conflict.

“And the third is the greenhouse gas implications, which gives a much broader group of people with stakes in the issue. And I do think that this is something important for people along the route to understand that there are a lot of people outside that [region] that do feel very strongly about the issue.”

He also believes awareness of the project will increase significantly.

“When you think about the politics and the media around this issue, it’s been in the business pages,” he said. “The stakeholders – the [environmentalists], the First Nations, the oil sands companies, the people who know a lot about the issue – they’ve been talking about it for half a decade now.

“In terms of the average members of the public, the hearings that are beginning … will start putting that on the front page and higher up in the news. So, raise awareness that way. And as it becomes – which I think it will – an increasing issue for electoral politics, a lot more people will become aware of it.

“This is going to be an issue in the British Columbia election. [Premier Christy] Clark has remained publicly ambivalent about the issue, but the NDP is going to be very strongly opposed. And they’re going to try to use it to drive to their advantage in the election.”

industry human impact study contracted james waterman Pipeline News North The Fraser Basin Council (FBC) has been contracted by the provincial Ministry of Health to conduct the first phase of study into the human health impacts of oil and gas development in northeast British Columbia.

Public and stakeholder engagement is the focus of the first phase of the study, allowing local citizens to discuss their concerns and personal experiences with the energy sector in the bustling natural gas region. The findings from phase one are expected to help direct the subsequent two phases.

“We are happy to be working with the Province on this project,” said David Marshal, Executive Director of FBC,

a non-profit organization committed to resolving conflicts and issues concerning sustainability.

“We have a history of working with a wide variety of interests in different sectors and in different areas of the province. We look forward to reaching out to communities of the Peace to identify the issues of concern,” he added.

“As the local MLA for the region, I’ve heard this concern in the past, and while I’m confident that the process is a safe one, this study will let us know if something does need to be changed,” said Peace River South MLA Blair Lekstrom.

“I’ve met personally with many different groups about this and support their request for this review and am looking forward to the results. The majority of the people who live in the region support the oil and gas industry and are looking for information that ensures the health

and safety for themselves and their families. I believe this study – which is following through on a commitment made by Premier Clark – will benefit both industry and people living in northeast B.C.” This sentiment seemed to be shared by politicians across the region.

“It is important that we take the time to carefully consider all public-health aspects related to oil and gas development, and that is just what this study will do,” added Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm.

Health Minister Mike de Jong announced plans to launch the study last November, noting that the first phase would begin in January, 2012. The FBC contract was announced on January 3. It is expected to be completed on March 31, 2012.

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

19

obama rejects keystone Oil sands pipeline to US market blocked The Obama administration on Wednesday denied a presidential permit for construction of the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, ruling that a proper environmental review could not be conducted before a 60-day deadline set by the U.S. Congress to rule on the controversial oilsands project.

But Calgary-based TransCanada Corp., the company behind the 2,700-kilometre pipeline, has been given the option of making a new application — and company officials confirmed they will propose an alternative route for Keystone XL that avoids environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. State Department said its decision was “predicated on the fact that the Department does not have sufficient time to obtain the information necessary to assess whether the project, in its current state, is in the national interest.”

It added, however, that “denial of the permit application does not preclude any subsequent permit application or applications for similar projects.”

TransCanada first applied more than three years ago for a permit to build Keystone XL, designed to transport 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil from northern Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Russ Girling, TransCanada’s CEO, said the company hopes the State Department will use existing information from previous environmental reviews to make a decision on the new Keystone XL permit in an “expedited manner.”

Girling said he believes a new pipeline permit can be approved in time to put Keystone XL into service by late 2014.

“This outcome is one of the scenarios we anticipated. While we are disappointed, TransCanada remains fully committed to the construction of Keystone XL,” Girling said.

TransCanada said it would complete a proposal for a new pipeline route by September or October.

But Kerri-Ann Jones, an assistant secretary of state, told reporters there was no guarantee of a speedy decision on a new Keystone XL proposal.

“If TransCanada comes in with a new application, it will trigger a completely new process,” Jones said in a conference call with reporters.

“We do have guidelines that would allow us to use information that is out there . . . but we would also have to look at this as a completely new application.”

The unfolding drama over Keystone XL’s fate follows weeks of political gamesmanship between the White House and Republicans in Congress.

In December, the GOP won passage of legislation that required U.S. President Barack Obama to make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days.

The Keystone XL provision, which was inserted into a broader tax relief bill, derailed plans by Obama to put off a final ruling on Keystone XL until early 2013 — after the next presidential election.

Obama, in a statement, blamed Republicans for killing the pipeline.

“The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipe-

line’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment,” Obama said.

“This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.”

The U.S. president called Prime Minister Stephen Harper to relay the news, telling him TransCanada was free to re-apply. Harper reacted “with profound disappointment,” his office said in a statement.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford said the U.S. ruling confirms the need for the province to focus on diversification of export markets for oilsands crude “with a clear aim” to the Asia-Pacific region.

“Today’s decision does not mean that America will consume one less barrel of oil,” Redford said. “What it means is this: America will continue to import oil from jurisdictions with much weaker environmental policies and who do not share the same values as Canadians and Americans.”

The Keystone XL pipeline would have crossed the U.S. states of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas, on the way to Texas refineries.

With the decision, Keystone XL appears set to become a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Republicans vowing to hammer Obama over the loss of jobs associated with construction.

GOP front-runner Mitt Romney called the decision “shocking” and said Obama demonstrated “a lack of seriousness about bringing down unemployment, restoring economic growth and achieving energy independence.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, campaigning Wednesday in South Carolina, called the pipeline denial “a stunningly stupid thing to do.”

He added: “Stupidity No. 1 — we need the jobs.”

Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver suggested environmental “radicals” had improperly influenced the decision.

“Let’s say their influence is greater during a presidential election year,” Oliver said, outside the House of Commons.

Oliver said he believed environmental issues and a lack of Canadian regulations were not a factor in the decision.

Congressional Republicans, too, expressed outrage at the denial of Keystone XL. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner accused Obama of bowing to pressure from the environmental wing of the Democratic party.

“The president is selling out American jobs for politics,” Boehner said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

“The president won’t stand up to his political base, not even in the name of creating American jobs. And now Canada is going to have to look to other nations, like China, to sell its oil reserves to.”

In December, the Obama administration had warned that the Keystone XL pipeline would be doomed if Congress insisted on forcing an accelerated timetable for a ruling.

Prior to the legislation’s passage, the State Department said 60 days was not enough time to complete an environmental review of a proposed new pipeline route that would avoid the ecologically

fragile Sand Hills region of Nebraska.

Last November, the State Department ordered TransCanada to find a new route so the pipeline would not cross the Sand Hills, following vocal protest from Nebraska landowners, environmentalists and state legislators.

TransCanada had agreed to work with officials in Nebraska and at the State Department on the new pipeline path — a decision that eliminated opposition from Nebraska legislators — but the company had not yet proposed the route.

Republicans maintain they are not to blame for Wednesday’s decision.

Boehner and others in the GOP say the original decision to delay the Keystone XL decision until 2013 was made out of fear approving the pipeline would alienate Obama’s supporters ahead of his reelection campaign.

“Is it not in the national interest to create tens of thousands of jobs here in America with private investment?” Boehner asked. “Is it not in the national interest to get energy resources from an ally like Canada as opposed to some countries in the Middle East?

The Obama administration’s decision to say no to Keystone XL was cheered by U.S. environmentalists, who had mounted a mass protest at the White House in November that many believe played a pivotal role in the State Department’s original delay.

Denial of the Keystone XL permit “represents a triumph of truth over Big Oil’s bullying tactics and its disinformation campaign with wildly exaggerated jobs claims,” said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“A decision on the pipeline proposal requires nothing less than a thorough and fair-minded analysis of its full effects on our environment and climate. But the schedule forced upon the Obama administration — a 60-day rush to judgment — left insufficient time to conduct that assessment. Pipeline proponents preordained this outcome.”

Under the 60-day deadline for a decision that was imposed by Congress, the Obama administration technically had until Feb. 21 to rule on Keystone XL. Republicans in the House of Representatives had started an online countdown clock to the deadline, and supporters of the pipeline recently launched a new wave of television ads in the U.S. pressing Obama to approve the pipeline.

When TransCanada makes its new application for Keystone XL, environmentalists said the company can expect to face the same opposition.

“If TransCanada reapplies, Keystone XL will still face the same valid public concerns and fierce opposition as the first time,” Beinecke said.

34110

sheldon alberts Postmedia News

20

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

profiles straight as an arrow The story of Robin Sipe and his turbine engine

Robin Sipe’s interest in aviation history and turbine engines, like this engine in S&S Turbines’ Fort St. John shop, led him to acquire an Orenda Iroquois engine that once powered an Avro Arrow aircraft. . james waterman photo

james waterman Pipeline News North Robin Sipe isn’t just a patriotic history buff with an interest in aviation and turbine engines. He is actually a small part of the tale of one of his favourite aspects of Canadian aerospace history – the ill-fated Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow that was developed by Ontario’s Avro Aircraft during the fifties.

The Arrow program was cancelled and the aircraft were destroyed in 1959. However, one of the Orenda Iroquois engines that were built to power the Arrow quickly found its way to Great Britain after the project’s demise, where it would stay until Sipe was able to bring it back to Canada about fifty years later.

Sipping coffee from an Avro Arrow mug in the Fort St. John home of his turbine engine maintenance company, S & S Turbines, Sipe told the story of how that famous engine came to be in his possession. That story began at the moment when the Arrow’s story came to an end.

At that time, Orenda’s parent company, British manufacturing firm Hawker Siddeley, took one of the Iroquois engines to Bristol Aerospace in Britain to test its capabilities during the development of a new British fighter jet, the TSR-2, which suffered a similar fate to the Arrow.

“The engine was tested in 1959 and 1960,” said Sipe.

“And it surpassed all of their expectations. Actually, that engine ran flawlessly.”

The Iroquois set performance records that wouldn’t be broken until the United States introduced the SR-71 Blackbird in the mid-sixties.

“It was truly a fantastic engine,” said Sipe, adding that

605650

it was subsequently taken to Cranfield University for study purposes after testing.

The Iroquois spent the next part of its life in Royal Air Force museums in Britain until Sipe was able to acquire it in the fall of 2010. The path toward that acquisition really began in 1978, when Sipe started a nearly twentyyear career with Westcoast Energy – now Spectra Energy – that eventually revolved around the turbine engines used to pump petroleum products through the pipelines.

“A lot of people don’t realize what turbines are used for,” said Sipe. “All of the big inch pipeline around here – generally, any pipeline 18 inch and larger in the entire Peace River country – use turbine engines to move the natural gas. A lot of people don’t realize that. They think that natural gas just moves down the pipeline by itself.

– Robin Sipe, Owner That’s not true. There’s a lot of frictional loss in pipelines and you have to have engines to move that gas along down the pipe.”

Sipe explained that Spectra Energy has turbine engines pumping the natural gas at intervals of approximately every 100 kilometres along the pipeline. He accepted a position supervising the company’s turbine overhaul facility in Charlie Lake in 1991, continuing to do the job until 1997, when he finally broke out on his own.

It was during that period that he learned of an opportunity to acquire an Orenda Iroquois engine that had been part of the Arrow program.

“I was attending a turbine conference in Ontario, California in 1996,” he said. “And one of the fellows overheard me talking about various turbine engines pumping natural gas. So, he introduced himself during a break. And he says, ‘I understand that you work for Spectra Energy.’ And he said, ‘What turbine engines do you use?’ And I mentioned the various [General Electric] models and Rolls Royce models. And he says, ‘Well, we have Rolls Royce engines in the [United Kingdom] that we’d be interested in selling for parts.’ And he wanted to know if Spectra Energy would be interested in looking at these parts. Two months later, I made the trip to the U.K. to look at these Rolls Royce parts. We made a deal. We

purchased some of them to support Spectra Energy’s Rolls Royce turbines pumping natural gas.”

“We had a couple extra days before I flew back to Canada,” Sipe continued, “and he wanted to know if I wanted to go to Duxford Air Museum, which is just outside of London. A fantastic aircraft museum.”

The museum had a display on the TSR-2 aircraft.

“And he commented about how that program was canceled and it was a loss to the British aerospace industry,” said Sipe. “And I commented that we had a similar program in Canada called the Avro Arrow and the Orenda Iroquois engines. And this fellow, he says, ‘I know where there’s an Iroquois engine.’”

Sipe had strong doubts about that claim, but the other man explained that he had seen the engine as a student at Cranfield University and was quite certain that it still existed. He investigated the matter and discovered that it was being held in a Royal Air Force storage facility.

Additionally, the Royal Air Force was willing to return the engine to Canada if there was a valid proposal to acquire it. The only complication was that they were unable to sell the engine because it was a museum piece held in public trust. They could only accept a trade.

“I submitted half a dozen different proposals, different turbine engines and different things, and they weren’t interested in any of that,” said Sipe.

Eventually, the Royal Air Force discovered that there was an airframe for an old Handley Page Hampden aircraft – a model used for training purpose during World War II – that was sitting in Victoria.

“And they were currently trying to restore a Hampden in the U.K.,” said Sipe. “And [they] were missing some airframe parts.”

The airframe in Victoria had exactly what they needed to finish the project.

“They said, ‘You purchase that airframe and send it to the U.K., we will trade you for that Orenda Iroquois.’ So, I did that. I went and I purchased the aircraft,” said Sipe.

“I also purchased a 40-foot sea container,” he continued.

The airframe was dismantled, loaded into the container and shipped to Britain. When the container returned to Canada, it contained an Orenda Iroquois engine.

It was already in Canada when Sipe received a phone call from Canadian Heritage.

“They said, ‘We understand that you purchased an aircraft and are wanting to ship it to the U.K.,’” he recalled.

“And I said, ‘No, that’s not entirely correct.’ I said, ‘I purchased it and I already shipped it.’ And they said, ‘Oh, you could be in big trouble for that. Because, in Canada, anything of historical significance, before it leaves Canada, you have to fill out an application. Even if you own it, you have to fill out an applicaof S&S Turbines tion to remove that material from Canada.’

“And I said, ‘Well, it’s already gone. Sorry.’ And so she was quite upset. And she said, ‘Well, if you don’t mind me asking, did you sell it or did you trade it?’ And I said, ‘I traded it.’ ‘What did you trade it for?’ I said, ‘I traded it for an Orenda Iroquois.’

“There was a long pause on the phone. And I said, ‘You know what that is?’ And she said, ‘Oh, yes.’ She said, ‘You made a good trade. But in the future don’t ship anything outside of Canada without first filling out the application form.’ And so I went ahead and did it, and I begged for forgiveness afterwards.”

Sipe is now in the process of restoring the old engine, quite certain that he can get it to run again. For him, the project isn’t just about restoring the engine, however.

“Current generations of people don’t realize the potential that we had, the potential that we still could have today,” he said. “Canadians, we tend to be a self-doubting lot, and we don’t realize the greatness that we can achieve if we simply put our minds to it.”

“I don’t bemoan the loss of the Avro Arrow or the Orenda Iroquois,” Sipe continued. “But what I would like to do is restore some of that former glory. And that is my plan, to take that engine and to reassemble it. And, one day, that engine will run again. I have the resources available

“All of the big inch pipeline around here use turbine engines to move the natural gas.”

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

21

Sipe uses this cutaway of a turbine engine to show clients the problems they are having with their equipment. james waterman photo

to me to reassemble that engine. And one day that engine will run again.”

“Just to hear one of those Orenda Iroquois engines run,” he concluded. “Because it was a fantastic engine. Even by today’s standards, it was a very powerful engine, and very impressive in its own right.”

The recent discovery of an ejection seat the same as those used in the Avro Arrow in Britain has re-ignited talk about one of the aircraft escaping Canada, but Sipe isn’t among those who believe that could be true.

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” he said.

“Of the Mark 1 Arrow airframes, only five were produced. And there are clear pictures shown of those aircraft being cut up and disassembled on the flight line.

When the program was cancelled in February, 1959, the government ordered that the aircraft be scrapped, the blueprints be scrapped, tooling and everything. And there’s an extensive photographic library of that scrap process.”

According to Sipe, one of the Mark 2 Arrows – serial number 206 – was just days away from taxi trials, but still far from ready for flight trials.

“So, the Mark 2 Arrows,” he said, “there’s no way they would have flown without several months of additional preparation. Serial number 207 and 208 and so on, they were literally months away from being ready for flight trials.

And there are clear pictures of them being cut up. So, I have no doubt in my mind that none of the Mark 2 Arrows survived scrapping. There’s clear pictures and clear evidence of them being scrapped.”

The only mystery that remains for Sipe is the fate of Mark 1 Arrow with the serial number 202, which had been moved into its own hangar for repair after suffering a collapse of the landing gear.

“There’s a picture of it being pushed out onto the flight line after project cancellation in February, 1959,” said Sipe.

“But in all subsequent pictures, that aircraft was no longer in the pictures. It disappears. And I say there’s clear pictures of the Mark 1 Arrows being cut up on the flight line. That’s of four airframes – serial number 201, 203, 204, 205. 202 is not in those pictures. So, in my mind, there’s only one mystery. And that is where did 202 go.”

However, Sipe considers that a small mystery because the Mark 1 Arrows were

only test aircraft with minimal fuel capacities.

“It wasn’t physically possible, in my mind, for them to fly an Avro Arrow to the U.K.,” he said. “It would have to have taken a series of short hops. Malton to Toronto. Toronto maybe to Gander, Newfoundland. Gander – it didn’t have enough range to go anywhere else.”

Reykjavik, Iceland was a possible destination, but Sipe doesn’t believe the Arrow could have made it that far.

“It didn’t have the range,” he explained.

“They simply would have run out of fuel.

There’s nowhere they could have flown it.

If an Avro Arrow went anywhere, it would have went into the United States. Plus, it’s a very big aircraft. People don’t realize how big an Avro Arrow is. No matter where it would have went, it’s a very hard aircraft to hide for this amount of time.

And why would anybody do that. No, in my mind, the Arrows were all scrapped.

A tragedy, yes. But due to the political and economic climate of the time, it was understandable why the program was canceled.”

The appearance of the ejection seat – which instigated an eBay bidding war – isn’t a great mystery for Sipe either.

“The ejection seats were built by Martin Baker,” he said. “And there’s nothing unique about an Avro Arrow ejection seat.

It’s the same as any other Martin Baker ejection seat built in that time period.

When Avro was building the airframes, they simply went to Martin Baker and said, ‘We need some ejection seats.’

Now, it was the same seat as used in a Buccaneer or a Phantom or a Starfighter or anything else. There’s nothing unusual about an Avro Arrow ejection seat.”

The serial number on the ejection seat matches the seat that was installed in the Arrow with the serial number 206, the same aircraft that was just about to begin taxi trials when the program was brought to its abrupt end.

“Because there’s pyrotechnics in those seats,” said Sipe, “when you scrap an aircraft, that’s the first thing that’s going to be taken out, is those ejection seats.

You don’t want them going off and killing somebody. So, that’s the first thing they do is they pull out the weapons systems, the radars, the ejection seats, this kind of stuff. So, the seat would have been taking out of RL-206 immediately.

“And I suspect, again, that the parent company of Avro Aerospace was associ-

ated with the company in the U.K. that was developing the TSR-2. So, they said, ‘Look, there’s these brand new ejection seats. They’re not going anywhere. Can we borrow them?’ Just like the Orenda Iroquois.”

Sipe left Spectra in 1997 to start his own business, which consisted of selling turbine parts from his basement at the time.

“That’s simple,” Sipe said when asked why he made the move from Spectra to his own business. “It’s money. I enjoyed my job at Spectra Energy. It was a fantastic job. The six years that I supervised their turbine overhaul facility, it really was a fantastic job. And I had an excellent boss at the time. He allowed me free rein to modify those turbine engines as I saw fit.

“I was given a mandate back in 1992.

They said make our turbine engines run reliably, make them run cost efficiently, and we don’t care how you do that.

But go ahead and do that. So, it was a fantastic job where we could research the construction of these turbine engines and develop ways to improve the operating cycle, improve the reliability, improve the efficiency. It didn’t take too long for me to realize that I could be doing this for other companies as well as Spectra Energy.

So, at that time I decided to form my company and offer these same services to other pipeline companies as well.”

In the last fourteen years, his business has grown from that modest beginning to a family of companies. continued pg 24

The Vertical Advantage Looking for a NEW Building Solution?

• Oil & Gas • Mining • Manufacturing • Equipment & Bulk Material Storage • Warehousing • Aggressive Promotion on ALL Stock Buildings “42x56, 55x100, 72x108, 72x120, and other sizes available” We have a limited number of stock buildings, until they are gone. Call NOW for a quotation. Excellent Building Lease plan also available !

Call Patrick Toll Free at 1.888.868.2658 ! w w w. ve r t i c a l b u i l d i n g s. co m

34107

22

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

environment force of protection A tribal park is established to shield the forest from further development

james waterman Pipeline News North Just northeast of Fort St. John, British Columbia, there is swath of boreal forest straddling the border between that province and Alberta that is rich with both cultural and ecological treasures.

The Doig River First Nations who live on that land aim to keep it that way.

Attempting to protect the area from further natural resource development, the band declared the creation of a tribal park encompassing a significant portion of their territory on September 27, 2011.

The park – known as K’ih Tsaa?dze in the language of the Dane-zaa people of the region – has already been infiltrated by a natural gas industry actively producing tight gas from the prolific Montney formation.

The area surrounding the Doig River First Nations community is already dotted with 8500 natural gas wells and the associated access roads, pipelines and borrow pits. Recently, a segment of their territory that had been one of the traditional campsites used by hunters and trappers for generations was clear-cut without their knowledge or consent.

“The goal is to protect it more,” said band councilor Gerry Attachie, a Doig River First Nations elder, discussing the purpose of the tribal park.

Considering the loss or degradation of culturally important sites that has already occurred, Attachie and his community are anxious about the future of other traditionally significant spaces. Still existing campsites are spots that continuously feature the rustic wooden frames of their homes away from home and the structures they use for drying and smoking moose meat. They are gathering places where community members have always met to roast their prey over flaming white spruce boughs and enjoy a simple meal together. They are central to their lifestyle and their livelihood.

“With 8500 wells, that’s a lot of impact on the land base,” said Jane Calvert, the Lands Director for the Doig River First Nations. “And working in the land office, for the last about four years now, I’ve had community members come to me and

say that they’re having a really difficult time getting animals to fill their freezer and to feed them. Whether it be moose or other animals. And we’re seeing trends in some areas where it’s really difficult.

“So, if our members aren’t able to hunt in certain areas, a place like the tribal park becomes even more important, because then we know it’s protected, then you should have that wildlife there available to them.”

Gravesites have been disturbed by agriculture and other land uses, including the grave belonging to one of Attachie’s uncles.

“Some time, in the early days, there was some white people [who told us] white people will be coming here,” said Attachie. “There’ll be a lot of farmers. So, if you ever bury your people, try to bury them in the hill.”

The idea was to avoid having farmers accidentally destroy gravesites.

“From that day, they take the higher places to bury one another,” Attachie added.

The highest point of elevation in the new tribal park is among the most sacred sites for the Doig River First Nations, as it is the point from which they can get a glimpse of a trio of rocks in the region that form a triangle.

“They say they communicate,” Attachie said of the rocks.

An access road passes over that point, a place of ancient mystery, known for its berries, medicinal plants and violent thunderstorms, a spot where few dare to tread after dark.

One campsite that has been lost to logging is where Alveena Acko, a member of the young generation of Doig River First Nations people, first snared a rabbit during an excursion with her father when she was just seven years old.

“I’m glad that we’re establishing the tribal park because it means that they won’t put any more wellsites in near where we camp and where we used to camp,” she said. “Because there’s already places … that now we can’t camp there anymore, because it’s too close to wellsites.”

One such camp isn’t far from a wellsite with signs warning of hydrogen sulphide

(H2S), the component of sour gas that can be so dangerous to human health.

“Can’t camp there anymore,” Acko added.

However, the cultural significance of the region for the Doig River First Nations is only part of the value of the area included in the tribal park. It is also an ecologically important and interesting site, as suggested by its very name, which translates to “old spruce” in English.

“The upland spruce, particularly in the eastern edge of it, those forests have likely never been burnt,” explained Herb Hammond, a Forest Ecologist with Silva Ecosystem Consultants who was contracted by the band to assess the ecology of the tribal park. “There are definitely spruce trees in those ecosystems that would exceed 300 years of age. And I haven’t aged lots of them, but I have aged enough to see that.”

“It wouldn’t shock me if you did some dendrochronology work in there to find some that were over 400 [years old],” he added, noting that that hasn’t yet been documented officially.

The conclusion drawn from that study is that there have been very few stand replacing fires in the region.

“The Doig River people – the elders – have stories that affirm that,” said Hammond. “They basically refer to that forest as the forest that hasn’t burned. And so there’s some collaboration between indigenous knowledge there and scientific observation.”

Independent environmental consultant Valerie Huff saw the old growth spruce about five years ago as a Master’s student at the Univeristy of Victoria, when she visited Doig River to collect native grasses, her area of expertise. She was astounded by the scene that she encountered that day.

“Normally, in the boreal forest, in a white spruce forest, the trees are really close together [and] there’s not much on the ground because the trees are close,” Huff recalled. “This was much more structured like an old growth forest.”

“Anywhere you turned, there were different berries,” she continued. “There was the two different species of blackberry. Grouseberry. There was raspberries.”

Natural gas development is already occurring within the boundaries of K’ih tsaa?dze Tribal Park. The Doig River First Nations hope the park will stop future industry activity in the culturally and ecologically significant region. james waterman photo

Huff also found a moss that usually grows on rotting aspen or cottonwood logs and has traditionally been used by First Nations people to produce a blue dye.

“So, it’s a culturally important plant, but you hardly ever find it,” she said. “And there were amazing grasses.”

During her visit to Doig River, Huff was also part of a remarkable discovery that has added considerably to the ecological understanding of the tribal park territory.

As she was trekking through the forest, she stumbled onto an upland site primarily consisting of cottonwood, but also home to the eastern species of balsam fir that wasn’t previously known to occur in B.C. “They were small and they were just different,” Huff said of the conifers. “And I’m not a tree expert, but I tune into differences in plants. And it was like there was just something different about these firs.”

Being from Toronto originally, she was certain that they were balsam fir, which is common in Ontario.

“Not normally found in that part of the boreal forest,” Hammond said of the eastern balsam fir found at the site. “I haven’t actually identified it there, but it has been identified by Richard Hebda, who works for the [Royal BC Museum]. There’s a certified taxonomical identification from [him].”

“Balsam occurs just over the border in Alberta and I had suspected that it probably occurs in B.C. as well,” said Hebda, who hasn’t yet visited the origin of the samples that he has identified as eastern balsam fir.

“It’s the first confirmed specimen of it [in B.C.],” he continued. “Now there is a little challenge in that there’s another plant that’s sort of in between the eastern balsam fir, which is the one that was identified for that site, and the subalpine fir, which occurs all over our mountains. …

But the characteristics I saw in the plant all seemed to fit the true balsam fir of the east.”

Hebda identified the tree by comparison to samples kept in the herbarium at the Royal BC Museum as well as taxonomical keys used to identify tree species. He remarked that this was an interesting case because it is a rare example of a B.C. forest being colonized by a plant whose origin is east of its eastern border, not west.

“It suggests that the location where it grows is special in the sense that it has a different history,” he said, adding that the tree is a “good indicator of the true boreal forest.”

The old growth spruce and eastern balsam fir are just two elements of the “fine-grained mosaic” that Hammond found when he first journeyed into K’ih Tsaa?dze at the request of the Doig River First Nations and witnessed firsthand its “productive soils, large trees for boreal ecosystems, and very interesting mixtures of trees.”

“White spruce, aspen and balsam poplar, and lodgepole pine,” said Hammond, describing that mixture of trees.

“And while the lodgepole pine has been

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

23

Doig River First Nations elders and lands department staff wander through the spruce forest at one of the traditional campsites within K’ih tsaa?dze Tribal Park. james waterman photo

affected by the mountain pine beetle, because those forests have that mixture, there’s very few places where you see large areas or large tracts of dead trees. … And that mixture makes those forests much more resilient than some of the lodgepole pine forests in the sub-boreal and boreal parts of B.C. that have suffered from the mountain pine beetle.”

Judging by Hammond’s assessment of the mountain pine beetle problem that the province is facing, protecting that resilient forest structure that exists in the tribal park could be key to mitigating the impact of the epidemic.

“The mountain pine beetle is not a disaster,” he said. “It is an ecological occurrence [that has happened] before. But it has happened so extensively across northern B.C. and central B.C. [this time] because of two primary reasons. One, global warming, which we can put at the feet of ourselves in terms of responsibility. And also the wholesale clear-cutting of much of those landscapes, which removed the old growth forests that contained the insects – carnivorous beetles – that ate mountain pine beetles.”

Hammond was also struck by the combination of upland forests and the variety of wetlands that range from ordinary bogs, fens and swamps to grasslands and forested bogs. He actually noted that traveling through about half of the park requires rubber boots or even hip waders to do so comfortably.

“All you need is maybe a metre difference in elevation to have well drained soils and go from black spruce and tamarack … in the wetland systems to big, upland white spruce and aspen forest,” Hammond continued.

“Those [upland] islands interspersed with all of those wet forests create

incredibly rich wildlife habitat from small mammals like marten and fisher to big mammals like moose and grizzly bears to the whole sequence of songbirds and raptors.”

Additionally, those ecological conditions create a fascinating landscape for a wild grass enthusiast like Huff.

“Even where there had been pipelines or seismic lines put through [the region], the ease that the native grasses seemed to be establishing on the disturbed sites was impressive,” she said, noting that the area is home to many “quite remarkable” species.

“There was enough of a seed bank nearby,” Huff continued, explaining why the plants were able to colonize disturbed sites so quickly. “And part of that is because, I think, the openness of the understory allowed it to persist in a way that a natural succession even on a really hard disturbance would work.”

Hammond obviously believes that his ecological assessment of K’ih Tsaa?dze should be taken seriously be the natural resource sector and the government, largely because of his track record.

“I have worked across Canada in the boreal forest over the past fifteen years as well as spending a reasonable amount of time in Siberia,” he said.

“So, I’ve seen a lot of the boreal forest. And when I look at the forest in K’ih Tsaa?dze, I almost think I’m in a southern forest as opposed to a boreal forest. The size of the trees and the productivity.

Then that productivity coupled with that fine-grained mosaic [with] the wetland complexes and the high level of biological diversity that they bring with them, make the forest – K’ih Tsaa?dze – a very unique feature in the boreal forest. And I think it’s been little studied. And I think

with more study, I think that uniqueness would likely be confirmed in spades. And it’s the kind of place that you wonder whether there are species of plants or lichens or animals using that system that are quite atypical of the boreal forest.”

His experience could also help the Doig River First Nations realize their ultimate goal, which is repeating the success that has been enjoyed by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation of Tofino, B.C. since they declared Meares Island a tribal park in 1984 to protect its wilderness from natural resource development.

The results are promising so far.

Calvert noted the provincial Ministry of Energy and Mines had deferred land tenure sales within the park territory for the moment. Oil and gas companies have told her that they have no intention of pressuring the ministry to change that course.

Hammond remarked that he hopes to continue to work with the Doig River First Nations on practical research focusing on the ecology of the park and developing management system to maintain its ecological integrity.

“There has been a significant amount of forest management or clear-cutting that has affected a lot of that landscape,” said Hammond. “But the most imminent threat to it is oil and gas development.

And in particular the incredibly low standard of roads and density of roads that are constructed by the oil and gas people. I have been doing this for 35 years. And I’ve done it all over. Looked at forests and planned forests all over B.C. and other parts of Canada and the world. And the poorest quality roads as a network that I’ve ever seen are found in that area.”

“Roads bring with them a whole new

set of problems,” Hammond continued.

“They’re not only vectors for things like mountain pine beetle and some diseases that move along those roads, but they’re also vectors for human beings, and we’re not exactly the kindest, gentlest species on the landscape.”

Still, Attachie and Calvert both emphasized that the Doig River First Nations aren’t wholly opposed to natural resource industries. It is actually intertwined with their recent history.

Oil was discovered at Boundary Lake in the middle of the 20th Century when that was the site of their main camp. The band moved north to Doig River at that time, not suspecting that the region would eventually be so hectic with natural gas industry activity. That activity has had negative effects for the land and their community, but it has also brought positives.

“Doig was the first band that signed a long term agreement with a company called Canadian Hunter years ago,” said Attachie. “And after Canadian Hunter sold to Burlington [Resources], we just continued to work with Burlington. Burlington then sold it to ConocoPhillips. Today, we still sit down with ConocoPhillips to communicate.”

Doig River First Nations also has a company called Alamo that does a lot of work in the oil patch as well as a logging company called Doig River Timber that harvests poplar for the OSP plant in Fort St. John.

“And where we pick a spot, we check it out really good,” said Attachie. “Then we don’t log the whole works. We save some. We cut a patch here and there, like that. And we check it out. If there’s a bear den or maybe a historical site, then we don’t bother. We keep away from it.”

33551

24

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

community

fort st. john is the middle of Everywhere

cont’d from pg 21 “S&S Turbines, which concentrates on General Electric turbine engines for electric generation, gas compression and military aircraft,” said Sipe. “We have Applied Combustion Technologies, which is our test cell at the [Fort St. John] Airport. That’s where we test run all the engines. We have Maddex Turbines, which supports the Rolls Royce products, Solar, all the non-GE products. We have Jet City Turbines, which supports private aircraft, private collections, and older warbirds.”

The company even has a new extension for which they are building a shop in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to service turbine engines throughout the Middle East.

They also have a casting facility in Vancouver where they manufacture turbine components.

“Not only do we service turbine engines,” he continued, “but we also do a lot of research and development for improving the efficiency of the turbines, making them run more efficiently, more reliably, more power.”

Reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide are also a focus of their research and development efforts.

Sipe credits that willingness to do the necessary research as the key reason that he has been able to grow that initially small venture into such a large and successful enterprise.

“You have to know your customers,” he explained.

“You research the product that they’re operating. And in the case of the big inch pipeline, they’re all operating these turbine engines. And they’re all aircraft engines.

Again, people don’t realize that a lot of these turbines pumping gas are all converted turbine engines.

“So, you need to research and find out exactly what model of aircraft engine these engines are derived from.

And then you find sources of these aircraft engines and parts. And in the case of Spectra Energy, the engines that they operate on their pipelines are all derived from military aircraft. And most of those military aircraft are now retired and no longer in active service. There’s lots of these retired aircraft engines sitting in storage as military surplus, as government surplus.

“That’s how I’ve built my business, doing a lot of research to what the customers are running, finding these surplus military aircraft engines, purchasing them, removing the parts and refurbishing them, and selling them back to the customers, like Spectra Energy.”

Sipe believes that Fort St. John has been the perfect location to grow that business, too, and not just because the oil and gas industry accounts for approximately 70 per cent of his gross annual revenue.

“Our customer base isn’t necessarily situated anywhere,” he said. “We’re truly an international company.

We pull engines out of South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Canada, the United States. And I get asked that all the time: ‘What are you doing in Fort St. John? In the middle of nowhere?’ And my response is: ‘No, we’re in the middle of everywhere. You’re in the middle of nowhere.’

“Truly, Fort St. John is in the middle of everywhere.

Because it’s here in the middle of the oil and gas industry. And Fort St. John is a very unique town in that in five minutes drive, literally, I can access any number of industrial supply shops. We have fantastic shops here.

Weir [Canada] is one of the biggest and most productive machine facilities in the world.

“We have all of these industrial supply companies. Hydraulics. Fittings companies. Hose shops. Fort St. John is truly unique in that, in the industry we’re in.

“In the oil and gas industry, we have access to virtually

everything we need. If there’s some little part that we need and we don’t have here in Fort St. John, we can access it from Edmonton or Calgary, and have it delivered within 24 hours. You can’t do that anywhere else in the world.”

“If you live in Houston, Texas,” Sipe continued, “right in the middle of the American oil and gas industry, it’s not as accessible as it is here. So, Fort St. John is a great place to run a turbine business such as this. The other factor is we run our test cell at the Fort St. John Airport, which allows us a lot of latitude in running our turbine engines. Our competitors aren’t allowed nearly the same latitude to test run their engines.”

Fort St. John’s remote, northern locale is also an advantage, according to Sipe.

“Everything here gets distilled,” said Sipe.

“If you could pick the oil and gas industry that is here – this whole Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin – [and] you moved it 800 miles south, Fort St. John wouldn’t be 22,000 people,” he continued. “It would be 220,000 people. It would be 2 million people.

“Being up here in the north has clear advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is everything becomes very distilled here. There’s very few superfluous businesses here that aren’t necessary to the survival of the community or the survival of the industry. If you were to literally pick this area up and move it 800 miles south, 1000 miles south, where the weather is more agreeable, we would have five, six, maybe ten times the population that we do. And then you would have all of these extra – what I call superfluous – businesses.

“Being here, it amplifies exactly what is needed to get the job done. So, you end up with a distillation process where you end up with the very best people doing the best job possible with what they have.”

Dawson Co-op Petroleum

CALL ASHLEY TODAY TO SEE HOW WE CAN BEST SERVE YOUR BUSINESS:

250-782-3106 24 HOUR CARDLOCK - CONVENIENCE STORE - DELIVERY - TANK RENTALS EASY ACCESS @ 801 ADAMS RD DAWSON CREEK

29854

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

25

education is rewarding staff writer Pipeline News North Six students at Northern Lights College are the beneficiaries of $1,000 in financial awards provided by Encana Corporation for their commitment to education.

“Encana is pleased with the ‘Encana Aboriginal Student Awards’ that are designated to six Aboriginal students from across Encana’s operating areas in Northeastern BC,” said Jeff Beale, Encana Aboriginal Relations Advisor.

“It is great to see Aboriginal students building lifelong skills and trades with our regional education partner, Northern Lights College. Historically, students trained in the north typically remain in the area and contribute to strengthen our industry and their home communities.”

The prizes were allocated on the basis of a onepage essay detailing career aspirations and their need for the award.

The beneficiaries are: Danielle Badine (top left), who is studying Applied Business Technology at the Fort St. John campus received her award from Mr. Jeff Beale.

Germaine Hardy (middle left) who is learning to be a Health Care Assistant at the Dawson Creek campus, also was also given her award by Mr. Beale.

At the Fort Nelson campus, Hillary Deneron (bottom left) who is studying Applied Business Technology, received her cheque from NLC Aboriginal Coordinator Gerri McDonald.

Mr Beale handed out an award to Shelly MacElheron (top right) who is a Cosmetology student studying at the Dawson Creek Campus.

Lori Rathbone (middle right), who studies at the Fort St. John campus is learning to be a Health Care Assistant. She received her award from Mr. Beale.

Johnathan Chowace (bottom right) is studying Power Engineering and Gas Processing at the Fort St. John campus. He received his award from NLC Vice President Academic and Research Peter Nunoda.

Renewable fuel requirements amended james waterman Pipeline News North The British Columbia government announced amendments to the renewable and low carbon fuel requirements portion of the province’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act on December 14, 2011.

Clean Technology Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Energy and Mines John Yap made the announcement, noting that the amendment will delay a requirement that will be placed on fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels they sell. Consequently, suppliers will only be required to report carbon intensity of their fuels until June 20, 2013.

“The requirement is being delayed in order to allow the necessary time to amend the Act and Regulation to make it work more effectively,” said a Ministry of Energy and Mines spokesperson.

The province is still targeting a ten per cent reduction in carbon intensity for fuels sold in B.C. by 2020.

34108

26

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

special feature

special interests

An American answer to a Canadian question cont’d from pg 11 to oppose the Gateway pipeline and to oppose the development of Canada’s oil sands.”

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, International Program Director with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is based in the U.S., counters that accusation with the fact that there are foreign interests on the other side of the debate as well.

“It’s interesting when you actually look at who has signed up to go to the community hearings,” she said. “Of the over 4000 people that have signed up, I think there’s a little over 20 that are foreign nationals.

I don’t know that they’ll actually all go to the community hearings. And when you look at the oil companies that are intervenors in the process, most of them are foreign oil companies.”

Marshall is accustomed to hearing that argument.

“The majority of oil sands companies are Canadian,” she replied. “And all oil sands companies operating in Canada pay Canadian taxes, they employ thousands of Canadians coast to coast, they contribute billions of dollars to our economy here. They are part of this decision.”

Ultimately, the environmental groups just appear to be irritated by the implication that they receive their agendas along with the foreign funding, as well as the suggestion that their concerns can just be dismissed as a result.

“They are,” said Marshall. “They’re taking money from foreign interests to fight against the development of Canada’s energy and to fight the pipeline.”

“They can say whatever they want,” she continued. “It’s right there in the grants. The money that they’re getting comes with strings attached. It is for these specific purposes. And the questions I would be posing to these environ-

mental [non-governmental organizations] is why do you need foreign interests to pay your bills? And do you honestly believe that foreign interests know what’s better for Canadians than Canadian people do?

“And if you speak for Canadians, why don’t you rely on Canadians to fund your work and your advocacy. Why do you have to take foreign interests’ money to do so. I think I’d like a little bit more transparency as well. I mean, the other questions I’d say is how often do you communicate with your foreign donors and do they tell you what to do? Do they dictate all the terms of your campaign?

I think these are all questions we need to start asking that haven’t been asked before.”

“That’s the egregiousness of the argument,” said Gillian McEachern, Deputy Campaign Director for Environmental Defense Canada, one of the organization identified on the “our decision” website.

“Environmental Defense has been around for a couple of decades now,” she continued.

“We’ve taken on major environmental issues of the day from the time we’ve began. We’ve obviously evolved in what issues we take on depending on what’s happening around us. But we’ve fought to make sure that the Canadian environment and that Canadian health is being protected. And we’ve pushed government of different levels and of all political stripes all along on these issues.

“Canadians are concerned about issues like water quality, the air that they breathe, and whether they’re putting toxic chemicals on their face when they wear their make-up. And they’re concerned about climate change. And so those are the type of issues that we work on.”

“Her research is information that is publicly available by organizations like

Vivian Krause believes that American foundations are funding the opposition to the Northern Gateway project to create the market for renewable energy..

Hayden Krause photo

us that are charities,” McEachern added, referring to the work done by Krause.

“We’re transparent with it. It’s something that has been on our website for years.

We’ve received, at times, donations from American foundations to work on a range of different issues. So, it’s nothing new.

“So, it’s been interesting to see it portrayed as a scandal or a revelation when charities at least have had to disclose that all along. I’d note that Ethical Oil doesn’t disclose their funding source in any type of annual report. So, it’s there.

“We work with American foundations that are concerned about addressing climate change. Climate change itself is global. And we work on cross-border issues related to the tar sands, like the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Our government has invested a lot of time and money, as has the oil industry, in trying to interfere in the U.S. process around Keystone XL. But they’re not bringing that up now when they talk about the fact that environmental groups are receiving, basically, a minor amount of

money.”

Krause’s fear is that the funding is skewing the debate by only going to one side of the argument and that the voices of those who don’t receive any funding are getting lost in the fight between big oil and big environment.

“It’s distorting the debate,” said Krause.

“Because people with one particular point of view, they are practically given a loudspeaker, because they have so much money, they can hire professional staff, they can pay for advertisements and billboards and demonstrations, they can pay their people to travel around, they can pay people full time to mobilize the media, whereas the other people, who often are from smaller towns, they don’t have access to that.

“That’s my concern, is that what’s happening is this foreign money is creating an unfair disadvantage for some Canadians over others. And when it comes to a big decision like a pipeline or a mine, every Canadian has a right to have a say.

And no group or individual should have secret foreign money that gives them an unfair advantage over others. That would be my biggest concern.”

“My other big concern, of course, is that American foundations are on track to spend half a billion dollars in our country over the next ten years,” she continued.

“And I disagree with that. Because there are other countries in the world where that half a billion could go a long way. And, of course, having worked in those kind of places – I worked in the slums of Guatemala for six years – I can tell you, I’ve seen firsthand that there is a desperate need in the world for environmental problems and expertise and resources to address them.

“That’s where American billion dollar foundations should be spending their money, not in Canada.”

transparent gas New online fraccing chemical registry launched matthew bains Pipeline News North Concerned citizens will now be able to view the chemicals used in the natural gas production practice known as hydraulic fracturing through a new online database, a first in the country.

The online registry, which can be viewed at www. fracfocus.ca, includes a database of the ingredients used to support natural gas extraction, as well as content about the regulations and safety procedures governing industry activity.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, companies will be required to disclose the ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing fluid by uploading that data to the registry within 30 days of finishing completion operations – the point in time when a well is able to produce gas.

Fraccing is a practice that involves the injection of highly-pressurized fluids down a wellbore in order to create fractures in rock formations in order to release natural gas and other hydrocarbons. Chemical additives are used to control liquid viscosity, pressure and friction, and some of those additives are known

carcinogens and neurotoxins.

The new registry follows up on a promise made by Premier Christy Clark during the B.C. Oil and Gas Conference in Fort Nelson last September to increase transparency regarding fraccing and the chemicals used in the process.

However, the registry is not a full disclosure of the ingredients used in fraccing. Companies can still apply for an exemption under the Hazardous Material Information Review Act if the supplier considers the content or concentration of chemicals used to be proprietary information.

For any ingredient that is subject to a claim for exemption, a registry number must still be provided to the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission, as well as the generic name of the ingredient, where possible.

The registry is a first step in the right direction, but not enough to address all the concerns of residents regarding hydraulic fracturing, said Brian Derfler, president of the Peace Environment and Safety Trustees Society (PESTS), a grassroots industry watchdog group based in Farmington.

Derfler said while the registry provides valuable information, that information is useless to the average rural resident unless the risks posed by the chemical additives are clearly and transparently communicated.

He said there also should be a way to hold companies accountable for any potential contamination of water, soil or air from those chemicals, and suggested companies should be required to add chemical markers to their fracturing fluids to ensure any contamination can be traced back to a specific company.

He said his suggestion has not been received with enthusiasm from the industry representatives he has talked to.

“It’s fine to know what they are using when they frac, for sure, but how do you which company it was and where it comes from?” asked Derfler. “We have no baseline studies, so we can’t prove that (chemical) wasn’t already there.”

The new registry coincides with the launch of industry health risk assessment by the provincial government that will begin with a public consultation period concluding at the end of March.

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

community here be angels

27

Hospital foundation has successful campaign brianne zwambag Pipeline News North The 2011 “Be an Angel” Campaign, which is run by the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation, went out with a bang with over $300,000 dollars raised in just over one month of fundraising.

The final figure comes as a surprise to the Foundation which had set a goal of $200,000 for this year’s campaign.

“We had set the goal of $200,000 for the Be An Angel Campaign and to surpass that by $100,000, we were absolutely surprised,” said Ashley Bentley, Executive Director of the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation.

“It’s an absolutely amazing community we live in.”

The final push to get over the $300,000 mark included three $10,000 donations from corporate donors Encana, Spectra Energy and Arc Resources.

“The people that have donated to the Angel campaign since the beginning are absolutely surprised about it too and they’re very happy. It’s a very exciting thing to raise the most we’ve ever raised for the angel campaign,” said Bentley.

The 15th annual “Be an Angel” campaign ran this year during the month of November and included an invitation to give, a three-day radiothon, the Angel Gala and help from local donors and financial institutions.

The “Be an Angel” campaign fundraising has brought the larger “Lend Your Hand” campaign total to $1,000,744.63.

This figure is just under $200,000 short of their final goal of $1.2 million.

“We’re about 83 per cent there. We’re just about there – we’re just over the peak.”

The foundation is hoping to raise the remaining funds prior to the new hospital opening this upcoming summer.

The $1.2 million will be used to purchase needed medical equipment for the new hospital including a digital mammography machine, seven wireless fetal heart rate monitors, seven specialized treatment chairs for the kidney dialysis department and 55 vital signs monitors to go on each available bed.

The equipment to be purchased is not included in the provincial budget of $25 million given to Northern Health for the new hospital.

The mammography machine will be a major upgrade for the 2000 patients who

receive a scan every year and will allow the hospital to be more efficient in screening for breast cancer.

“Currently, our hospital has an analog one and in the simplest form, it’s like going from a 35mm camera to a digital camera,” said Bentley.

“It’s diagnosing breast cancer in men and women. They say that one in nine women will be diagnosed and one in ten will die from it.”

The wireless fetal heart rate monitors are an exciting piece of equipment that will help the hospital process the high number of births that happen in Fort St John.

The 55 vital machines that they are aiming to purchase will ensure that every bed in the new hospital has a vital machine, a vast improvement over the one that is shared for every four beds in the current hospital. Bentley said this will improve patient care.

“There are a lot of studies out there that confirm that the less time nurses have to spend searching for equipment, the better outcome for patients,” said Bentley.

The last pieces of equipment that they are aiming to purchase with fundraising dollars is seven treatment chairs for dialysis patients.

“These patients are in the chairs for up to 12 hours per week, and it’s a life-saving thing. If you’re on dialysis, you cannot live without going through this process.

So we want to make sure they’re comfortable,” said Bentley.

Bentley pointed out that having equipment like this is important for improving healthcare and ensuring people can stay in the community to receive the medical care they need instead of having to go to larger centers.

After the “Be an Angel” campaign wraps up, Bentley said that fundraising tends to slow down and they’ll be working hard over the next five months to complete their fundraising.

“We’re really optimistic that we can hopefully achieve our goal,” said Bentley.

There is also another radiothon scheduled in May with Astral Media.

“The generosity in this community is amazing and we’re so thankful for it,” said Bentley.

“It really shows that the hospital is one place that everyone benefits from; even if they’re not using it now, they could have an emergency and the hospital will always be there for them.”

Dean Gordon, from Arc Resources, presents Fort St. John Hospital Foundation executive director Ashley Bentley a cheque for $10,000. submitted photo

Jeff Beal, from Encana, presents Fort St. John Hospital Foundation a cheque for $10,000.

submitted photo

Rod Locke, from Spectra, presents Fort St. John Hospital Foundation executive director Ashley Bentley with a cheque for $10,000. submitted photo

34109

28

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

careers Living the rig life

Job portal brings attention to service rigs james waterman Pipeline News North

Aiming to bring the service rigs out the shadow of their drilling rig cousins, the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) launched a new jobs and careers website devoted to the service rig sector during the second week of November.

“We wanted to certainly differentiate our service rig contractors and the opportunities with service rigs from the drilling side of the business,” said Nancy Malone, Vice President of Operations with CAODC. “There’s always been a misconception that a rig is a rig.

And in this case it certainly isn’t.

Service rigs have a different responsibility and focus in their business. And there’s different qualifications for the guys going to work on a service rig. And so

we wanted to shine the light on service rig career opportunities.”

The site is largely geared toward those people who are new to the industry, providing information about job and career opportunities, positions on the service rigs, and a typical day in the life for a service rig crew.

“We’re trying to keep it relevant to those that are already in [the industry] and those who want to get in,” said Malone.

“But the lion share of the content is for those folks who are new to the business. And to educate them on what the rigs are, what the opportunities are.”

Malone singled out a section called The Career Path as one of the most interesting features of the site because people tend to have the misconception that work on the rig doesn’t lead to other career opportunities.

“You come out, work on there, make some money, and then

move on to a different type of career,” she explained.

“And, really, rig experience is a very important foundation for anyone who wants to build a career in the oil patch. And that sort of applies in both the drilling and the service rigs.

“But for service rigs, the experience is really invaluable. If they want to move on higher into management or into different positions within a service rig company … field experience really is the key factor in a person’s long term success in the patch.”

CAODC has designed the site so that it can also help connect people to the communities where the service crews work, not just the jobs.

“And that’s a really important point,” said Malone.

“A drilling rig worker can literally live anywhere in [western] Canada, because their place of work is their rig, and that rig can

travel across western Canada.

Service rigs, though, tend to work out of smaller communities, and they work within a region.

Malone noted that is a key message considering the labour shortage in the oil and gas industry service sector and the competition for workers between the service rigs and the drilling rigs.

“We want them to know, if you’re not interested in working away from home for long shift work like the drilling rigs are, that there’s similar but different work where you can typically return home at night,” he said.

“There is more travel now as the rigs start to kind of get a farther reach. But, typically, you’re working in a region. You’re home most nights.”

The initiative has received strong support from CAODC’s member companies, according to Malone. She also remarked that CAODC will be tracking

hits to the site and listening to feedback from its users to gauge its success.

“And we would hear that through our members,” Malone added, discussing feedback from users.

“Typically, when our members do an interview … they ask, ‘How did you hear about this?’

And we hope to hear that they’ve [said], ‘I found you on the website.’ In terms of level of success, I think it’s a little hard to measure. Because it’s a pretty broad message that it’s not just drilling rigs, it’s the whole oil patch, and this is one of the interesting avenues to get in.

“Our first success factor is we have launched it and everyone we’ve heard from has very positive feedback for us. And next level will be to track those hits.

And maybe in the future we can start looking at what we can do to drive more interest to it.”

JANUARY 2012

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

29

The Fort St. John campus of Northern Lights College. Programs run at the facility quickly saw enrollment return to normal after the economic downturn. james waterman photo

smart students Renewed interest in the trades

james waterman Pipeline News North The trades and apprenticeship programs at Northern Lights College (NLC) are starting to return to normal after suffering through the economic downturn, according to Jeff Lekstrom, Dean of Trades and Apprenticeship at NLC. “Our programs shrunk accordingly with the downturn in the economy,” said Lekstrom. “Not as much as a lot of other institutes in British Columbia. We were very fortunate because we’re in an area of pretty stable or robust [economic activity]. So, our programs didn’t shrink as much by any means. We’re seeing them start to come back up now in the last year. We’ve seen programs that traditionally were a little bit slower, we’ve seen a lot of interest in those programs now.”

This year, enrollment has returned to pre-recession levels for most of the programs and the number of applications received for next year is promising. Lekstrom explained that that is partly a result of the nature of the programs offered and how they are scheduled.

“We run on utilization rates and enrollment trends and things like that,” he said.

“Our schedule for trades, apprenticeship and technology, we schedule two years in advance. If a person comes into one of our programs, like a foundation program or entry level program or a level one apprenticeship program, then they can look at our schedule and say, ‘Okay, well, I want to go to level two here and I want to go to level three here.’ So that they can be working with their employer, they can then have the time arranged and scheduled in, and then we’ve got them on our list to come into school.”

This January the plans are already in place for the next two years.

“All of the programs that we do are multidisciplinary,” Lekstrom continued. “Like you could work in the oil and gas industry, you could work in the mining, in the forestry, in the construction, in a multitude of different industries. We have a couple that are basically specific to the oil and gas. [That] would be the oil and gas field operations program and, somewhat, the power engineering program, because we have a gas process side to that program.

But even in power engineering you can do a multitude of different occupations.”

Not surprisingly, power engineering is among the most popular programs, along with oil and gas field operations, heavy

duty mechanics, electrical instrumentation and carpentry.

“The programs that aren’t real strong,” said Lekstrom, “there’s only a few of them, and that’s in relationship to what’s actually happening in industry at this time.

Next year, that might be a turnaround, and those programs might be very strong again. Because it kind of cycles. What I’ve found over the last number of years being up here, it’s quite cyclical in what programs are at their peak and what programs are not at their peak.”

Lekstrom noted that interest in certain programs isn’t dictated by specific projects that come along, such as the Pacific Trail Pipeline or the Northern Gateway Pipeline.

“Today’s students are very intelligent,” he said. “Very, very intelligent. They’re looking at the employment trends of what’s going to be needed. They’re looking at the statistics and everything, much more so than when I was first coming out. I knew what I wanted to do and I was happy doing that. But now they’re picking out where the jobs are going to be and they’re looking into the future. If you’re looking at welding – welding is one of the higher ranked occupations right now as far as needs and employment trends.”

That tendency shown by incoming students has translated into high completion rates and career success beyond school.

“The people that come to us are focused,” said Lekstrom. “They know, if they come to us be an electrician, that’s their goal. Very few of them are dropping out after that. So, if we see a class of 16 in an intake come through for electrical, let’s say, we’re going to see 16 of those people coming back for level 2, 3 and, hopefully, level 4.”

As a result, many of the students who leave the school are able to establish their career fairly quickly.

“The people that are coming to us, they’ll find work in the field,” he added.

“Now maybe it’s not exactly the electrical [field] – I’m just using electrical as an example – but there’s electrical suppliers, there’s wholesalers, there’s sales. I mean, because you take a trade, you can do a multitude of different things. We have a good success rate of people coming back and saying, ‘I took your program.

Here’s what it’s done for me. Here’s how it helped.’ I can tell you that we’ve got a real high success rate and real high satisfaction rate for our students.”

NLC has been able to expand its

trades and apprenticeship programs to the Fort Nelson campus, partly due to the support from industry that has allowed the school to develop and grow their courses and facilities.

“What we have in Fort Nelson right now,” said Lekstrom, “we’re running a power engineering program that has 16 students in it. They’re in their last three months of that program. It’s been a 14 month program. And it’s mirrored exactly what we’re doing in Fort St. John. As a 32433

matter of fact, they come down before Christmas to do their firing time in Fort St. John.

“We’ve run an oil and gas field operations program up there previous. We’ve run welding programs there as well. And we’re just looking at some other programs up there in collaboration with the Fort Nelson First Nations as well. So, we’ve moved a number of programs back and forth. And we’ve worked with what industry is looking for up there.”

30

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012

careers new site for people who need people Simplicity is key in new oil patch job site james waterman Pipeline News North It is no secret to those who work in western Canada’s oil patch that the oil and gas industry is facing a labour shortage.

Brendan McGuinness, a Dawson Creek, British Columbia native who has been working in the pipeline industry for over a decade, experienced that shortage firsthand when he was doing some recruiting in Grande Prairie, Alberta. That experience gave him the idea to start an oil and gas industry jobs website that he hopes will become “a Facebook for the oildfield.”

That site is oilforce.com.

“There’s always a need for finding guys and there’s always a need for people finding work,” said McGuinness, explaining how the venture began.

“And I just made up brochures, went around, and then started getting calls,” he continued. “So, after that, I was looking at websites, and just realized the lack of simplicity in them. Most of them are pretty all over the place.”

McGuinness felt simplicity was key for an oil patch jobs site. So, he found a web designer and began working with that – and the goal of connecting job seekers with employers – in mind.

The website launched at the end of October and already had over 1000 users and over 200,000 pages viewed by the end of the year.

“We have roughly 100 companies already posting jobs,” he said.

Users can build profiles on a system that helps them create their resumes.

“You can basically build a resume in five minutes,” said McGuinness, noting that many people don’t know how to write a resume.

He considers the site a success as soon a company has found a new employee through the system.

“Because I know it works,” he said.

“And, actually, I’ve got a funny story.

Because I have a profile on the system.

Because I go on there and test stuff all the time. And I had a call from a service rig company yesterday to offer me a job.

So, that’s how I know it works.

“Because the people are finding

Working with industry to help eliminate work-related incidents and injuries Established by industry for industry, Enform helps companies achieve their safety goals through professional training, audit services and expert resources.

Our vision is no work-related incidents or injuries in the upstream oil and gas industry.

Contact Enform today for more information.

Email bc@enform.ca Fort St. John 250.785.6009 Toll-free 1.855.436.3676 www.enformbc.ca

Dawson Creek native Brendan McGuinness launched oilforce.com, an oil and gas industry website, hoping it will become a Facebook for the oil patch. photo courtesy brendan McGuinness

people and finding people that they’re interested in hiring through the site.

And so they called me and I said, ‘Well, thanks for your call, but I’m going to have to decline because I actually own the website that you found me on.’ And then they kind of laughed. But it gave me a good opportunity to ask them how they liked the way that the site works and they had nothing but good things to say. So, I was pretty happy about that.”

It isn’t just western Canada that is taking notice. The site has seen resumes and job postings from across the globe, which could open the eyes of job seekers to the international opportunities that are available.

“The fourth day [after] we launched, I had a company from Poland post jobs on the site for Asia, Europe, and I think there was a couple for Africa, too,” said McGuinness. “So, we’re starting to get a few companies internationally. I’ve seen resumes from as far as Abu Dhabi to Texas. Almost everywhere in the world we’ve got resumes from now.”

“Right now, it’s mostly jobs in Canada,” he added. “But our hopes are to build this thing up to be like a Facebook for the oilfield. The more people that are on there, the better. Because then it’s easier for everybody to connect. We see growth every day. Because we can look at stats from the site and we get at least a few hundred visitors a day. So, it’s growing daily.”

“It’s got the capabilities to have a million people on there.”

The site allows companies to recruit through a database so that they aren’t limited to those candidates who apply for posted position. It also features categories ranging from labourers to office jobs to chief executive officers.

“My goal is just to have a diverse [group] of people on there so that it’s easy for companies, no matter what they’re looking for, they can find,” said McGuinness.

“People always just think like oil and gas industry’s out there, out in the cold,

getting dirty, working hard,” he continued.

“Well, there’s a lot of support staff that goes behind the scenes on all of everything that we do. And I pipelined for fourteen years in the field. So, I’ve been at all ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between myself. I actually work full-time for a pipeline company right now. I do business development and sales. So, I’m still right in the middle of the oil and gas industry.”

The next step for McGuinness is building phone app that will make it easier for people to use the system from any location.

“When you log into your profile, you’ll have an option to just click ‘available’ and what it will do is the system will automatically send your profile to every company that matches the criteria in your profile,” he explained.

“It’s pretty neat, too, because companies, when they post jobs, they click on all the criteria that they’re looking for.

Now when a person’s browsing through jobs, beside each job with either be a red x or a green check mark. If there’s a red x, it means that you can’t apply for that job, because the company has decided that they only want qualified people to apply. It makes it so that companies don’t waste their time getting resumes that don’t even qualify for the jobs they’re posting. So, it’s a pretty smart system.”

The system will also alert companies of new applications for their job postings via emails that include the name of the applicant and the position for which they have applied.

“And then you just simply click on a link and it goes right to that person’s resume,” said McGuinness. “There’s lots of features that we try to incorporate for what we thought would be ease of use.

So, simplifying the hiring process and not wasting people’s time looking at resumes they don’t need to see. And the format was always the same. Because if you get a stack of resumes on your desk, every resume looks different. This way you look at the same thing.”

JANUARY 2012

rth

Vol.

a and

olumbi

ish C

n Brit

er North

stry

Indu d Gas

il an

ta's O

Alber

No

july

2011 29 •

Northern British Columbia and Alberta’s Oil and Gas Industry ee • Fr

Full Page 6 col x 206 ag (9.88” x 14.71”)

,325 st: 20 7 • dI sue

1 Is

h

reat

: galb issue ndy in thisoVatIVe ra’s councIlb.c.

print & online exposure

n o mIer p - In ng es t weldi - pre coo com in the rta st s Van those albe late luding aqua ge, inc pIng • the ea Colle he s • sha Lights t ern m North Fro nts at It de Is stu •V s for award

r new ring fou sponso terman. da is Cana mes Wa tion of Photo by Ja socia . ces As k campus rvi Se m Cree troleu wson The Pe at the Da program

Quarter Page vertical only 3 col x 102 ag (4.86” x 7.28”)

half Page horizontal 6 col x 102 ag (9.88” x 7.28”)

half Page vertical 3 col x 206 ag (4.86” x 14.71”)

Banner 6 col x 42 ag (9.88” x 3”) – 1/2 Banner (---) 3 col x 42 ag (4.86” x 3”)

“Pipeliner” 2 col x 32 ag (3.18” x 2.28”)

31

h t r o N

adVertisinG rates 2012 (colour included)

back Page - $2000 inside back - $1500 inside Front - $1500 centre spread - $3000 Full Page - $1200 half Page - $750 Quarter Page - $450 Front banner - $600 banner (limited number) - $450 half banner - $300 Pipeliner - $150

j.com

up-fs

d-gro

.inlan www

PIPELINE NEWS NORTH •

discounts: 1 year - 15%, 6 months - 10%

locations that suit your business needs • distributed to the community in general through these fine publications, alaska highway news, dawson creek daily and Fort nelson news.

• distribution by mail and direct drop-off to oil & Gas companies,and related businesses and organizations, in the following communities: British ColumBia – arras, baldonnel, cecil lake, charlie lake, chetWynd, clayhurst, daWson creeK, Farmington, Fort nelson, Fort st. John, Goodlow, Groundbirch, hudson’s hoPe, Moberley lake, Pink Mountain, Pouce coupe, Progress, rolla, rose Prairie, sunset Prairie, taylor, tomslake, tuMbler ridGe, and Wonowon. alBerta – baytree, bear canyon, beaVerlodGe, berwyn, bezanson, bonanza, clairMont, eaglesham, FairVieW, Falher, Girouxville, Grande Prairie, Grimshaw, Grovedale, hiGh Prairie, hines creek, hythe, laGlace, ManninG, Mclennan, Peace riVer, rycroft, seXsMith, silver Valley, spirit river, ValleyVieW, Wembley, and Worsley, Zama city.

33252

ISSUE #

33251

PUBLICATION DATE Last Friday of each month

(unless otherwise indicated)

BOOkING DEADLINE Thursday two weeks prior to publication (unless otherwise indicated)

AD COPY & RUNShEET DEADLINE Friday two weeks prior to publication (unless otherwise indicated)

h t r o N

AD APPROVAL DEADLINE Tuesday week prior to publication

TO PRESS DEADLINE Thursday Noon week prior to publication

(unless otherwise indicated)

(unless otherwise indicated)

1

27 JAN 2012

12 JAN 2012

13 JAN 2012

17 JAN 2012

19 JAN 2012

2

24 FEB 2012

09 FEB 2012

10 FEB 2012

14 FEB 2012

16 FEB 2012

3

30 MAR 2012

15 MAR 2012

16 MAR 2012

20 MAR 2012

22 MAR 2012

4

27 APR 2012

12 APR 2012

13 APR 2012

17 APR 2012

19 APR 2012

5

31 MAY 2012 (thurs)

16 MAY 2012

17 MAY 2012

21 MAY 2012

23 MAY 2012

6

29 JUN 2012

14 JUN 2012

15 JUN 2012

19 JUN 2012

21 JUN 2012

7

27 JUL 2012

12 JUL 2012

13 JUL 2012

17 JUL 2012

19 JUL 2012

8

31 AUG 2012

16 AUG 2012

17 AUG 2012

21 AUG 2012

23 AUG 2012

9

28 SEP 2012

13 SEP 2012

14 SEP 2012

18 SEP 2012

20 SEP 2012

10

26 OCT 2012

11 OCT 2012

12 OCT 2012

16 OCT 2012

18 OCT 2012

11

30 NOV 2012

15 NOV 2012

16 NOV 2012

20 NOV 2012

22 NOV 2012

12

28 DEC 2012

13 DEC 2012

14 DEC 2012

19 DEC 2012*

21 DEC 2012*

* NOTE: December issue to press 21st due to holidays

32

• PIPELINE NEWS NORTH

JANUARY 2012