'Let's get it built.'
BBC (5/26/20) reports: "A top Canadian official has said this is a "great time" to build a pipeline because coronavirus-related restrictions ban large public protests. Alberta's Energy Minister Sonya Savage said people needed jobs and 'ideological protests' would not be 'tolerated' by ordinary Canadians. She was referring to the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, opposed by indigenous groups and environmentalists. It runs from Edmonton in Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia. Construction started in December and the project, an expansion of a 67-year-old pipeline, is expected to triple the current capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 per day. 'Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can't have protests of more than 15 people,' Ms Savage said on a podcast of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, when asked about the project. 'Let's get it built.' 'People are not going to have tolerance and patience for protests that get in the way of people working,' she said. 'People need jobs, and those types of ideological protests that get in the way are not going to be tolerated by ordinary Canadians.'"
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Now let's get this one on the road too!
Bloomberg (5/22/20) reports: "The plan for a large proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay has changed to include a two-lane, 82-mile access road along the northern shore of Lake Iliamna, alarming environmental opponents who say they weren’t informed of the change until late in the permitting process. David Hobbie, chief of the regulatory division for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Alaska district, told reporters on Friday that all alternatives have already been evaluated and put out for public comment. Thus, the new plan, which also includes a natural gas pipeline, won’t go out for more public comment, Hobbie said. The owners of the planned Pebble Mine had included the road as a possible alternative in earlier filings with the government. Tom Collier, chief executive officer of the Pebble Partnership, said he didn’t consider it to be a new plan. But some of the opponents of the Pebble Mine say they were never told about the changed plans, and therefore never got a chance to comment on them. They said the move could prompt litigation...The plan hasn’t been approved yet. The Corps has said it will issue an environmental impact statement by the middle of the year, with a final decision to follow shortly thereafter. The Army Corps of Engineers is the lead federal agency involved in permitting for the mine."
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"Climate change poses an existential threat to our future — and time is running out to address it. We have to get Donald Trump out of the White House and tackle the challenge head-on."
– Joe Biden,
former inner-city lifeguard
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