LINKS April 4, 2011

BORDER

Border officials violated rules in forwarding photos [CP]

International search is on for missing Canadian couple [Spokesman-Review - WA]

Border guards to scan air, waterways, and shore [CTV]

US and Canadian officials celebrate longer hours at the Wild Horse Port [KFBB- Montana]

LABOUR/LABOR

Canadians decry Wisconsin anti-union labor law [presstv.ir]

MILITARY

War in Libya used to defend need for better fighters [Ottawa Citizen]

Canadians protected amid Qu-ran protests: Cannon [CBC]

ARCTIC

First-ever US Arctic investment summit [pr-usa.net]

TRADE

Stalking the savvy shopper [The Province - Vancouver]

Bills trying to raise their profile in Toronto [Globe and Mail]

ENERGY

No to a new tar sands pipeline [NY Times]

US media divided on proposed Keystone XL pipeline [Postmedia News]

Exxon test mega-load will roll Monday [Boise Weekly - Idaho]

Big rig opponents: Exxon comments validate fight [The Missoulian - Montana]

Environmentalists sue over mega-loads [The Independent Record - Helena, Montana]

Lawsuit tries to stop oil sands equipment from moving through Montana [Calgary Herald]

Liberal energy plan smacks of Trudeau: economist [Calgary Sun]

Leach: Liberals’ significant climate plan cloaked in silence [Globe and Mail]

Politicians need to see this: oil sands workers [Edmonton Journal]

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On Twitter at luizachsavage

Category: Today's Links

LINKS April 1, 2011

Updated 8:25 pm EST

BORDER

International weapons smuggling ring was based in Alberta: police [CP]

Canadian closes 3 border crossings [UPI]

Miller seeks 100 percent secure borders by 2016 [Detroit News]

Secure border act would tell DHS to prevent all illegal entries within 5 years [HSToday.com]

Canadian man arrested in Maine after bogus detonator threat made on bus [AP]

US Border patrol report [The Northern Light - WA]

Israeli traveler humiliated in Germany, Canada [ynetnews.com]

DIPLOMACY

High on the job: Ambassador Doer thrives on the adrenaline rush [Winnipeg Free Press]

Practical politics at work [Winnipeg Free Press]

TRADE

Harper talks trade, but is this just an outreach exercise? [Globe and Mail]

CRIME

Court documents link second polygamous leaders to cross-border marriages [CP]

MILITARY

No Canadian boots on the ground in Libya, Harper vows [Postmedia News]

Gates says other nations can arm Libyan rebels [NY Times]

NATO warns rebels against attacking civilians [NY Times]

Lawmakers batter Gates on Libya [Washington Post]

ENERGY

Enormous Kearl-bound oil sands shipments target of Montana lawsuit [CP]

100 US landowners tell Clinton Keystone XL pipeline too risky [NRDC.org]

Former State Dept. envoy backs Keystone pipeline [Reuters]

Republicans make ‘urgent case’ for TransCanada’s Keystone [Globe and Mail]

Republicans press Obama to approve oil sands pipeline [Postmedia News]

Republicans make ‘urgent case’ for Canadian oil [CP]

Pembina: tough but fair regulations would drive oil sands regulation [Petroleum Economist]

Indigenous activists fight building massive pipelines from tar sands through US [alternet.org]

Enbridge pushes for political support of oil sands pipeline [Globe and Mail]

Alberta oil sands ‘greening’ good news for Ontario [Edmonton Journal]

Layton would slash oilsands subsidies [CBC]

Okla Commissioners to discuss Cushing oil suppply [COKO TV - Oklahoma City]

The Koch brothers come to Canada to promote their oil sands interests [rabble.ca]

***

On Twitter at luizachsavage

 

Category: Today's Links

Obama wants to cut oil imports by one-third

March 30, 2011
By Luiza Ch. Savage

In his energy policy speech today, Obama is expected to focus

 

President Obama on Wednesday will call for a one-third cut in oil imports by 2020, part of a plan he says will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign petroleum.

Reports the Washington Post:

With rising gasoline prices at home and political turmoil throughout the Middle East, Obama will seek in a speech at Georgetown University to rally Americans — and bickering lawmakers — behind a program that draws about half of that import cut from energy savings and about half from greater energy production, according to Obama aides who briefed reporters Tuesday.

Many facets of his program will be familiar. The president will propose wider use of natural gas, including incentives to use it to fuel fleet vehicles such as city buses. He will back greater production of biofuels and will vow to establish at least four commercial-scale refineries producing cellulosic ethanol or advanced biofuels within the next two years. He also will pledge to establish higher fuel-efficiency standards for heavy trucks, just as he did for passenger vehicles early in his administration.

Obama will also urge oil companies to make greater use of the federal leases both onshore and offshore to prop up domestic oil output. The oil industry and GOP lawmakers have been loudly complaining about delays in the permitting of offshore drilling in recent months. But an irked administration, which had pledged tougher scrutiny of drilling applications after last year’s massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, fired back Tuesday with an Interior Department report that revived earlier debates about whether oil companies were exploiting the leases they already have.

 

On a conference call with reporters yesterday, White House officials were ambiguous about what this meant for imports from Canada and Mexico. They said, and I’m paraphrasing from my notes, “You’ll hear more in the speech, on the international goal is to secure access to reliable energy sources.” That doesn’t sound like a renunciation of Canadian energy to me. However, it sounded like the focus of the speech would be on domestic production,  domestic efficiency, and renewables.

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