Five environmental organizations are following through on a threat to sue Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the provincial government for defamation. In documents filed today, the groups allege Kenney deliberately twisted the findings of a public inquiry into their funding and whether they were conspiring to landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation about its environmental impacts. The inquiry, headed by Steve Allan, found the groups had done nothing wrong. But the groups allege [Read more]

The Department of Interior is spending $1.15 billion to cap abandoned oil and gas wells across the United States. There are over 3 million abandoned oil and gas wells in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And Interior officials say that wells have been exposing millions of people to air and water pollution for decades. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement Monday that the funding will help the country “confront the legacy pollution and long-standing [Read more]

EDMONTON - Premier Jason Kenney says he will travel to Washington to discuss issues including COVID-19 and pipelines with American leaders. Kenney says he wants to talk about cross-border supply chain issues, including a ban by both countries on entry by truckers not vaccinated against COVID-19. Kenney says the ban further aggravates supply bottlenecks and leads to higher prices for consumers. He says he will also lobby to increase access to the U.S. for Canadian oil through transborder [Read more]

EDMONTON - A group representing residential power consumers wants a seat at any discussions involving alleged illegal behaviour by one of Alberta's main power providers and is asking the regulator to release all information involving ATCO's actions. Jim Wachowich, lawyer for the Consumers' Coalition of Alberta, said ATCO is trying to "deflect attention" by keeping the matter out of the public. "This is a watershed event," said Wachowich. ATCO said it has already disclosed much [Read more]

CALGARY - Alberta's oilsands are operating with critical staff only as the highly contagious Omicron variant sweeps the country. It's unclear how many oilsands workers are currently sick with COVID-19. Oil Sands Community Alliance executive director Perry Berkenpas declined to give a number, though he says case counts aren't any worse than previous waves. Alberta's oilsands camps were the source of some of the country's largest outbreaks in the early days of the pandemic and again in [Read more]