* Enbridge sees demand for Portland-Montreal reversalBy Jeffrey JonesCALGARY, Alberta, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Canada’s energy
regulator has asked Enbridge Inc to explain whether a
proposed pipeline reversal is part of a bigger plan to export
crude, a concern expressed by environmental groups seeking a
more thorough review of the project.The National Energy Board has asked Enbridge to provide
more details of its Line 9 Phase 1 project, the initial part of
a plan to reverse the flow of its Montreal to Sarnia, Ontario,
oil pipeline to allow Quebec and Atlantic Canadian refineries
access to western crude.The board, which must decide on the level of review the
project is subject to, made the requests at the end of an
extended public comment period that attracted nearly 100
submissions from landowners, environmentalists, aboriginal
groups and oil companies.In a letter, the NEB asked Enbridge to explain by Oct. 21
the relationship between Phase 1, future stages and a
previously proposed plan called Trailbreaker, which would have
moved oil sands-derived crude to the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard.The NEB also wants to know if any of the phases is
dependent on another, as well as the current status of the
Trailbreaker project, which Enbridge floated three years ago,
regulatory documents show.It noted that many of the comment letters suggested
possible linkages between Phrase 1 and Trailbreaker.The C$17 million ($16.7 million) first phase, which
includes a reversal of flow between Sarnia and Westover,
Ontario, has become the latest target for environmental groups
opposed to development of the Alberta oil sands and
infrastructure aimed at moving the crude to more markets.Enbridge wants the project vetted under a section of the
NEB Act allowing for a less intensive review, saying the first
phase has minimal land disturbance and no adverse environmental
or socioeconomic impact.Green groups, led by Environmental Defence, want the board
to deny the exemption from a full review, arguing that Phase 1
is just the beginning of a resurrection of Trailbreaker, which
would have included a full reversal of the 240,000 barrel a day
Line 9, as well as a pipeline that runs to Montreal from
Portland, Maine, allowing oil to be loaded onto tankers.”This is a good step,” said Gillian McEachern, climate and
energy program manager for Environmental Defence.”It’s forcing some more transparency and accountability
about what the goal of the project is - and the game changes if
you’re looking at the impacts of the entire project that was
Trailbreaker versus the pipeline reversal in Ontario.”In its letter, the NEB said it wants Enbridge to provide
additional details “regarding the purpose of the project as it
relates to business demands of shippers and refiners, including
how they would benefit.”Earlier this month, Enbridge Chief Executive Pat Daniel
told Reuters that his company is seeking a deal to reverse the
flow of the Portland pipeline due to demand for light crude
from the Bakken region among Philadelphia-area refineries.
@7 months ago with 53 notes
#Regulator #demands #details #on #Enbridge #line #reversal
On Tuesday, in a bid to resolve its debt crisis, the Pennsylvania capital’s City Council vote 4-3 to file for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy and hired a special lawyer to file documents with the court.The filing has stirred up a host of conflicting views and debate about the legality of the council’s move. Mayor Thompson has said she is “ashamed” of the council’s behavior.In Thursday’s court documents, the mayor asserted the bankruptcy petition was invalid and requested an immediate conference to address the matter and a hearing to dismiss the case.The mayor’s petition said pleadings to the court would be filed shortly.The Pennsylvania capital’s crisis has been a year in the making. The city of about 50,000 is hampered by $300 million in debt incurred from an expensive revamp of its incinerator and is struggling to fund key city services.Harrisburg is one of a handful of municipalities that has flirted with bankruptcy in the wake of the recession of 2008 that devastated budgets in state and local communities. Some say it could become a touchstone for whether other cities will follow this path to extract concessions from creditors and others.In an interview with Reuters Insider on Thursday, Mark Schwartz, an attorney for the city council, said the Chapter 9 filing was “absolutely” legal, rejecting charges from the mayor and the surrounding Dauphin County that the council did not have the authority to take such a step.City Controller Dan Miller concurred, telling Reuters Insider that the filing was the right move for the debt-strapped city.”What I really advocate for is to use the leverage of bankruptcy.” he said. “It would be great if we didn’t have to go into bankruptcy and as we know, Jefferson County, Alabama, never went into bankruptcy although they voted three times to enter bankruptcy and I would like us to do the same thing.”On Thursday, Charles Zwally, special council for Dauphin County, said the county was weighing its options.”We’re reviewing it now and we’re advising the county…We don’t believe that they are authorized to file,” he said.Bond insurer Assured Guaranty also questioned the legality of the filing.Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has said the city would be better off if it agreed to a rescue plan under the state’s Act 47 program for distressed cities which has seen Philadelphia and other cities through crises. His office opposes the bankruptcy.”The governor and the bond insurer and the creditors are all jostling for, they’re still pushing their lawsuits which basically should be stayed by this proceeding,” said Schwartz.At the root of Harrisburg’s troubles is a financing scheme used to fund a state-of-the-art renovation of its trash-burning plant that left the city deeply in debt.The incinerator is owned by the Harrisburg Authority, a separate municipal entity, but the city and Dauphin County guarantee much of that debt.In December 2010, with Harrisburg facing the prospect of bond defaults, deep service cuts, or worse, Pennsylvania officials put the city under its Act 47 law, which obliges faltering cities to implement plans to ward off Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filings.In July, the City Council rejected a state-approved rescue plan, which called on the city to renegotiate labor deals, cut jobs, and sell or lease the city’s major assets — its parking garages and the incinerator. In August, the council again rejected a similar plan.
@7 months ago with 141 notes
#Harrisburg #mayor #petitions #against #bankruptcy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who won overwhelming cabinet approval for the lopsided exchange at a special night-time session, has been under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home. He said the soldier would be reunited with his family “in the coming days.”Palestinians in the Gaza Strip greeted the agreement, brokered by Egypt and a German mediator, with celebratory gunfire. Hamas confirmed that it only remained to conclude technical arrangements for the trade.The breakthrough pact, after many false dawns in years of secret efforts to free Shalit since he was captured in 2006, has no direct bearing on Middle East peace negotiations.But it was likely to improve the climate for international efforts to restart peace talks. On the sidelines of the agreed swap, the United States said it was hopeful Israel and the Palestinians would hold a preliminary meeting to revive the negotiations on October 23 in Jordan.Prospects for peacemaking have been clouded by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s request for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state and by Israeli settlement expansion, which Abbas has said must stop if negotiations are to begin again.A source involved in the talks said the long-elusive pact had been mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel’s ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Israel would release 1,027 prisoners in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later. Twenty-seven women are among those due to be freed.WHO WILL BE FREED?It was not immediately clear how many of the prisoners had been jailed for attacks that caused Israeli casualties. Under Israeli law, opponents of their release have at least 48 hours to appeal to courts to keep them behind bars.Yoram Cohen, head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service told reporters 110 of the prisoners slated for release in the first stage would return home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Another 131 would go to the Gaza Strip, where they reside. Six Israeli Arabs were also on the list.Cohen said 203 prisoners from the West Bank would be exiled to the Gaza Strip or abroad. The move appeared to be an attempt by Israel to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the territory, controlled by Abbas’s Palestinian Authority.Two of the most famous Palestinian militants serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of the swap, Cohen said.He said he believed Hamas had softened its demands in the hope of winning favor with Egypt while unrest rocks Syria, a main ally of the group.Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic leader of Abbas’s Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel’s tourism minister in 2001, will not be freed.While Shalit’s parents have publicly campaigned for his freedom, relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks have lobbied Netanyahu not to give in to Hamas by releasing prisoners with blood on their hands.”Murderers are going free and we feel for their victims’ families … but Gilad is coming home,” said a woman in the tumult of a crowd who sang and danced at a protest tent that Shalit’s family erected months ago near Netanyahu’s residence.There 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are regarded as heroes of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.”We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners,” Meshaal said in a televised address from Damascus.Israeli television quoted Netanyahu as telling Shalit’s parents that, ever since he took office three years ago, “I’ve been waiting for the chance to make this telephone call” to inform them of the deal.Shalit’s family had accused him of not doing enough to secure his release.Announcing to his cabinet, and television cameras, that a deal had been signed earlier in the day, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.”I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time, when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don’t know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future,” he said.”It’s possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home.”In Gaza the families of men jailed for life by Israel waited to see if their names would be on the list. [nLE7LB3ZA]Israel has carried out several lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, notably in 1985 when hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for several soldiers captured by a guerrilla group in Lebanon. [nL5E7LB3S8]The ordeal of Shalit, a fresh-faced corporal, transfixed Israel after the tank gunner was captured by militants who tunneled their way out of Gaza and then forced him back over the border.He was 19 at the time and had begun his mandatory three-year army service nearly a year earlier.Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009, looking pale and thin.He received no visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite many appeals.
@7 months ago
#Israel #and #Hamas #agree #prisoner #swap #to #free #Shalit
