Monthly Archives: March 2014

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Covert mission: Plutonium source might be Canada

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Covert mission: Plutonium source might be Canada

BY IAN MACLEOD, reposted from the OTTAWA CITIZEN, Mar 30, 2014

Questions being asked about mystery cargo

The nuclear fuel carrier Pacific Egret slipped into the harbour at Charleston, South Carolina, on March 19 and unloaded a top-secret cargo at the port’s Naval Weapons Station.

Fitted with naval guns, cannons and extensive hidden means of repelling a terrorist assault, the three-year-old British vessel was purpose-built to transport plutonium, highly enriched uranium (HEU) and mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel on the high seas.

Its previous publicly reported position had been exiting the Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar almost two weeks earlier on March 7, carrying a delicate nuclear cargo loaded at the La Spezia naval base in northern Italy.

As the vessel entered the North Atlantic that day, its tracking image vanished from an online marine traffic monitoring system. The ship the size of a football field became all but invisible to unauthorized eyes.

Questions are now being raised about whether the sensitive cargo included recycled plutonium that originated here in Canada.

The clandestine business of transporting shiploads of fissile nuclear materials between nations rarely comes into public view. An eight-kilogram piece of plutonium-239 the size of a grapefruit could obliterate much of Ottawa in seconds — as it did to Nagasaki in August 1945. It’s aptly named after the ancient Greek god of the underworld. MORE

Activism, Ecocide, Ecocide ALert, Fascism/Corporatism, Politics, Preventing Ecocide, solutions

New U.N. Report: Climate Change Risks Destabilizing Human Society

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman Rajendra Pachauri and IPCC Secretary Renate Christ in Yokohama, Japan, on March 25, 2014. Photo by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

In a new U.N. report released on Monday morning (Japan time) scientists come to a stark conclusion: Unless the world changes course immediately and dramatically, the fundamental systems that support human civilization are at risk.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s new report—which is seven years in the making—draws on “widespread” evidence of “substantial” climate change impacts “on all continents and across the oceans.” For the first time, the IPCC has scientifically linked the changing climate with the destabilization of nation states. It is also increasingly confident of serious effects on food crops, water supplies, and human health, plus global species loss.

This is a follow-up to a similarly major report issued last September, which concluded the scientific evidence for climate change was “unequivocal,” with human activity “extremely likely” to be the dominant cause. If September’s report answered the question of “what’s happening to the climate and why?”, this one tackled the more practical “So, what does it mean for us?”

Unless we change our path, the simple answer is: Climate change could put our future into question. MORE

 

 

By reposted from Slate, Mar 30, 2014

Activism, Fascism/Corporatism, Politics

Complaint against RCMP and CSIS spying moves to the next level

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Photo of Idle No More protest by Isabeau Doucet

By Jenny Uechi, reposted from the Vancouver Observer, Mar 28, 2014

Two complaints filed by the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service are moving to the next level of investigation, according to a news release. The complaints filed last month allege that the RCMP and CSIS acted unconstitutionally in spying on and monitoring the peaceful activities of community groups and First Nations opposed to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project.

News about the spying came to light when The Vancouver Observer obtained documents via Freedom of Information showing that the RCMP and CSIS were monitoring environmental and citizen groups including Leadnow and ForestEthics, as well as Idle No More activists….

“It’s clear that the RCMP complaints commission is taking this spying complaint very seriously, by investigating the complaint itself rather than leaving the job to the RCMP,” said Josh Paterson, Executive Director of the BCCLA. MORE

Politics

Andrew Coyne: Fair Elections Act proof the Conservatives are no normal government

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Pierre Poilievre seems to be genuinely uninterested in other people's opinion on the Fair Elections Act.
Pierre Poilievre seems to be genuinely uninterested in other people’s opinion on the Fair Elections Act Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

by Andrew Coyne, reposted from The National Post, Mar 28, 2014

In normal times, under a normal government, the Fair Elections Act would have been withdrawn by now, or at least be in serious trouble. The past few weeks have seen the bill denounced as a threat to democracy by the chief electoral officer, the former chief electoral officer, several provincial elections officials, academic experts domestic and foreign, and newspaper editorials across the country.

Thursday they were joined by Harry Neufeld, the former chief electoral officer of British Columbia and the author of an inquiry into irregularities in the 2011 election. Mr. Neufeld’s report has been much quoted by the minister responsible, Pierre Poilievre, in particular to support his contention that the bill’s ban on “vouching” — allowing one voter to affirm another’s eligibility to vote in a riding, in cases where the usual documentation is lacking — was needed to prevent voter fraud. MORE

Activism, Politics, Preventing Ecocide

Feds try to ‘demotivate, demoralize’ opposition against controversial elections overhaul bill, says Leadnow’s Biggar

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Elizabeth Plank, executive social editor, PolicyMic; Ian Capstick, president of MediaStyle; Anastasia Khoo, marketing director Human Rights Campaign; and Jamie Biggar, executive director of Leadnow, pictured on Sunday, March 30, 2014, at the Broadbent Institute’s Progress Summit in Ottawa. They were talking about how to win hearts, minds, and clicks in campaigns. The Hill Times photograph by Chris Plecash

By CHRIS PLECASH reposted from The Hill Times, Mar 30, 2014

The federal government sees the public isn’t interested or engaged in its controversial elections overhaul bill and is using that to “demotivate and demoralize” political opponents, says Jamie Biggar, executive director of Leadnow.

Asked what could be done to mobilize the public against Bill C-23, Mr. Biggar suggested that Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre (Nepean-Carleton, Ont.) recently “lied” when he said that only academics and journalists, but not the general public, oppose the legislation.

Mr. Biggar made the comments on Sunday at the Broadbent Institute’s inaugural Progress Summit in Ottawa.

“First, I think it’s really important to say Polievre, is to a certain degree, lying… The reason that he’s lying is that he wants to demotivate and demoralize opposition—that’s the point. There’s this big cacophony that’s coming at [him], so he’s pretending he’s not hearing it,” said Mr. Biggar, who accused Mr. Poilievre of ignoring public opposition “in hopes that it will just go away.”

Opponents of Bill C-23, dubbed the ‘Fair Elections Act’ by the Conservative government, has been widely criticized not only by opposition parties, but by Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand, former B.C. chief electoral officer Harry Neufeld, dozens of academics, and editorial boards across the country.

 MORE

Ecocide ALert, Politics, Preventing Ecocide

White House plan targets methane emissions in energy production, waste management

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Excess natural gas is burned off at oil well sites, east of Williston, N.D., in the heart of the Bakken oil region. Fracking has also boosted domestic natural gas production.JIM GEHRZ/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

By The Associated Press , reposted from TribLive.com, Mar 29, 2014

WASHINGTON — The White House announced a wide-ranging plan on Friday aimed at cutting methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, landfills and other sources, part of President Obama’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

The White House plan, which could lead to several regulations on energy production and waste management, addresses concerns about increased methane emissions resulting from an ongoing boom in drilling for oil and natural gas.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas released by landfills, cattle and leaks from oil and gas production. It is 21 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the most abundant global warming gas, although it doesn’t stay in the air as long. Methane emissions make up about 9 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to government estimates.

Experts say methane leaks can be controlled by fixes such as better gaskets, maintenance and monitoring. Such fixes are also thought to be cost-effective, since the industry ends up with more product to sell.

In the booming Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, huge amounts of methane and other gases are burned off, or flared, during oil production, wasting millions of dollars and contributing to air pollution.

The White House said the Environmental Protection Agency will study how methane is released during oil and gas drilling and decide by the end of the year whether to develop regulations for methane emissions. If imposed, the regulations would be completed by the end of 2016, just before Obama leaves office. MORE

Cultural Ecocide, Fascism/Corporatism, Politics, Preventing Ecocide

RCMP descend on Heiltsuk First Nation

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by Larry Pynn, reposted from the WC Native News, Mar 29, 2014

The federal government has chosen a remote stretch of B.C. coastline to square off against aboriginals in a fight over an imminent commercial roe-herring fishery.

Federal fisheries minister Gail Shea is being blamed for an escalating conflict over a forthcoming commercial gillnet fishery that has resulted in RCMP descending on B.C.’s central coast to guard against potential interference by Heiltsuk natives.

The Heiltsuk have issued a statement saying, “We will exercise our authority to stop any commercial herring activity in our territories. We will protect our aboriginal rights to the fullest extent possible should commercial fishers not abide by the ban.”

In an interview Thursday, Heiltsuk councillor Reg Moody said he appreciates that the police have a job to do and that no one wants to see anyone get hurt. But natives are also committed to protecting herring stocks in their traditional waters

“It’s real,” he said of the prospect for confrontation. “If a gillnetter is going to put his net in the water, it’s gonna be easy for me to drop a tree in the water in its place. We could make it difficult … put trees in the areas where they plan to fish.”

Moody placed the responsibility for events squarely on the minister’s shoulders. “Our position has always been that we’re not unreasonable, but there has to be some fundamental changes made. It could have been avoided. We could work collectively.”

Shea, a P.E.I. MP, declined The Vancouver Sun’s request for an interview.

Federal fisheries spokesman Tom Robbins insisted that “the herring fishery is a legitimate fishery backed by solid fisheries science” and aboriginals have been consulted.

“We stand strongly against violence on the water,” Robbins said. “The department is monitoring the situation and will take appropriate enforcement action if there are any Fisheries Act violations.”

There are 50 participants licensed to fish for roe in the central coast gillnet fishery, he added. Due to pooling up, only about 20 vessels, including punts and packers, are expected to participate.

Ian McAllister of the environmental group Pacific Wild estimated more than 20 RCMP and up to six patrol vessels are now based in Shearwater on Denny Island near Bella Bella. “If you add up the daily police presence, overtime, boat fuel, planes going back and forth, it’s just ridiculous.” MORE