The Mounting Cost of Doing Nothing

 by Larry Powell

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A tractor located in a market garden east of Lumsden, Saskatchewan, sits in water in the Qu'Appelle Valley town northwest of Regina on April 17, 2011. Water-logged Prairie farmers and ranchers are to receive $448 million to help deal with devastating flood damage, Thursday Aug 4, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Roy Antal

Texas In Worst Ever Drought, Hottest Ever Heat Wave

Green/ThinkProgress - 08/4/11

Texas is now in its worst-ever one-year drought, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist…details here.

An underweight longhorn 

(Jay Janner/AP) Washington Post.

Cargill Meat Recall Heightens Fears Budgets Cuts Will Weaken Oversight, Threaten Public Health

Democracy Now 08/05/11

In one of the largest meat recalls in U.S. history, this week the food giant Cargill ordered the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey. Details here.

What’s Up With Conservative White Men and Climate Change Denial?

by Chris Mooney - DeSmogBlog

They come at you at public events, wanting to argue. They light up the switchboards whenever there’s a radio show about climate change. They commandeer your blog comments section. They have a seemingly insatiable desire to debate, sometimes quite aggressively.

Read more about this story.

Canadian Government Accused of 'Unprecedented' Tar Sands Lobbying

Guardian.co.UK  Aug 5 '11
Friends of the Earth Europe claims ministers have attempted to undermine European fuel legislation that would affect exports. Details here.

UN: Oil Spills Leave Widespread Ecological Damage in a Region of Nigeria's Crude-Rich Delta

By: Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press - 08/4/201

LAGOS, Nigeria - A region of Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta suffers widespread ecological damage as spilled oil seeps into its drinking water, destroys plants and remains in the ground for decades at a time, according to a United Nations report. Details here.

PinP Launches Formal Complaint About Former Ambassador & Tar Sands Bigwig, Derek Burney

by Larry Powell 

Below is a complaint I launched with the CBC Ombudsman, Kirk LaPoint (above).  

It arose from an interview on the CBC Radio program, The House. (Read "PLT" Takes Former Ambassador to Task for Bullshit Comments on the Keystone XL Pipeline") l.p.
=====
Kirk LaPoint, Ombudsman,
CBC.
Dear. Mr. LaPoint,

Please consider this a formal complaint about a program aired on "The House" on Sat. July 23rd, 2011.

In it, a former Canadian ambassador to the US, Derek Burney, strongly defended the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which is scheduled to carry tar sands oil from Alberta, to the Texas Gulf Coast. Burney accused environmentalists opposed to the project of being "emotional" and "violent," although he was never challenged to give examples of what he meant.

It turns out,(according to Wikipedia) Mr. Burney is on the board of Trans Canada Pipelines, builders of the project. This, however, was never revealed during the interview. I consider this not only a serious lack of proper disclosure by the CBC and Mr. Burney himself, but a contravention of CBC's statement of Missions and Values with regard to the following;

a) "..correct any mistake when necessary." (I drew this matter to the CBC's attention in an email to The House, but it was never aired.)

b) "treat individuals and organizations with openness and respect..we treat them even-handedly."  (There was no follow-up, disclosing Mr. Burney's vested interest in this matter.)

c) "On issues of controversy, to ensure that divergent views are reflected respectfully."  (There was no follow-up interview with any environmental organizations in response to his accusations.)

I would ask you to use your good offices to convince the CBC, since I have failed, to make a public statement on "The House," clarifying Mr. Burny's vested interest in this matter and offering the right of response to a major environmental organization which has been directly involved in this controversy.)

Many thanks for your consideration,
Yours truly,
Larry Powell
====

Please read the happy ending at; "The House" Apologizes Over an Interview on the Keystone Pipeline."