Working Hard to Safeguard Paddling Assets for All Canadians

All about Whitewater

All about Whitewater
A Blog about River Preservation and the need to protect our free flowing whitewater resources

Thursday, January 12, 2012

BP Oil used to be Called Anglo Iranian Oil Company

from Jeff Hendrickson - https://membercentre.cbc.ca/ViewMember.aspx?u=7650633

January 12, 2012 cbc comment

Upstate NY Writer Here: From the "Democracy Now Website": "In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence orchestrated a coup d'etat that toppled the democratically elected government of Iran. The government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The aftershocks of the coup are still being felt.

In 1951 Prime Minister Mossadegh roused Britain's ire when he nationalized the oil industry. Mossadegh argued that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves which had been exclusively controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The company later became known as British Petroleum (BP).

After considering military action, Britain opted for a coup d'état. President Harry Truman rejected the idea, but when Dwight Eisenhower took over the White House, he ordered the CIA to embark on one of its first covert operations against a foreign government."

And here we are now, not many talk about 1951-1953 and what happened after we installed the Shah as Dictator of Iran but in a way the Iranians have grievance against us that has led, most likely, to today's problems. The U.S. just can't resist intefering with others and on and on and on it goes without true redress.


Merge this commment from another CBC reader:

The "Anglo - Soviet Invasion of Iran ( 1941 )"


Goal: steal Iranian oil, seize Iranian sovereignty in an illegal suprise attack to force it to kick out the German Embassy and force it out of Neutrality and into servicing Britain and the USSR.

"Operation AJAX" ( 1953 )"


Goal: steal Iranian oil again, because a pro-western, western educated, progressive anti-communist named Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq wants more of Iran's own oil wealth ( Iran's property ) going to --- Iranians !

Tactical Project AJAX was hatched by Kermit Rooseveldt, the CIA and MI-6...
they bombed popular religious leaders homes, etc and
handed out notices saying that Mossadeq had done it-
paid people to stage fake street protests-
This is called a " False Flag operation.
Result: Mossadeq imprisoned, the Shah gave the west what they wanted---until the 1979 Revolution.

Under the Shah, The Gestapo-esque SAVAK terrorized the people---trained by Israel and the CIA.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Bob MacDonald's Take on the Mayan Calender Hysteria

excerpt from this CBC article Bob MacDonald

The Maya civilization did not disappear. There are about six million Mayans living in Central America today. But they did experience a collapse of giant city states such as Tikal, which thrived during their classic period from AD 200-900.

Some of these cities were the size of Manhattan, adorned with huge pyramids, monuments to power and large populations. Trade routes ran up and down the coastlines, prosperity blossomed.

But as cities grew, resources in the surrounding land were depleted, forcing further travel for fuel and food, battles with other cities, and a long chain of events that lead to their demise.

Those who survived were the farmers living in the high country.

Sound familiar?

What will our civilization look like by that time if we continue on the current trend of gobbling up resources, depleting fisheries, turning food into biofuel for vehicles, battling for oil abroad, contaminating water to get oil and gas out of the ground at home, and placing short-term economic gains over long-term environmental protection?

Whats the Rush ?


(photo from CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/10/bc-northern-gateway-enbridge-kitimat.html

According to Jamie Keen of MiningWatch:

"without pipelines to move bitumen out of Alberta for processing, there will be no need to ramp up further production in the tar sands. The creation of pipelines is essential for the oil industry to expand its production before stricter environmental standards can be imposed on it by a new government which might adopt a “go slow” approach. This is why there has been such a rush on to move forward with pipeline construction."

So do the AVAAZ Poll please...


If enough people click the link below and answer the question:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012/?vl

Are there any other major issue areas Avaaz should be prioritizing in 2012?
they might do it?

- - - - -
Dear Avaazers,

Happy New Year!! It's going to be a big one.

Democracy is on the march across the world, and our community is at the heart of the struggle, but to win we're going to need to choose our course wisely. Click below to take the annual Avaaz all-member poll, and let's decide together where to focus our energies in 2012.

The poll takes a few minutes to complete, but the more of us take it, the wiser our course will be:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012/?vl

And if you don't have time to take the poll right now, we can all see the results as they come in here:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012_people_power/?bv11891

Monday, January 9, 2012

Concentrated Solar Power in the Desert thwarted by Dust and Haze

from CSP today

CSP Today: Are we likely to see more CSP plants built in the region, or does the poor DNI due to dust and haze make this unlikely? If so would future projects include thermal storage?

Dr Olaf Goebel: We think there will be more CSP projects in the region. All CSP projects shall be built with thermal energy storage in order to meet the demand profile. CSP without storage cannot compete against PV.

Ron Paul's Eerily accurate predictions of the future circa 2002

Paul was Accurate in his predictions.




People need to pay attention to this man.


read /hear them

Energy Minister Lobs a Curvy Ball of BS.

The Minister's Own Words


"Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade. Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.

These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources. Finally, if all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further. They do this because they know it can work. It works because it helps them to achieve their ultimate objective: delay a project to the point it becomes economically unviable. "


Comment:

I wonder what color the sky is in this man's world? .. STOP HARPER!

Neil MacDonald Describes American Democracy: - brilliant

"people yelling from one side that Obama is a Kenyan/Muslim/socialist, and people jeering from the other that Republicans are fascists/troglodytes/religious nutcases.

It is the voting public that drives this level of discussion: they elect people to Congress based upon it, then tell pollsters of their disgust and contempt for Congress. Fire them all again, they say. That'll fix things"


Full Article

Canadian Rivers

Canadian Rivers
I speak for river users too!

The Queen is not amused!

The Queen is not amused!
http://www.ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca/

The Damned Dam - 2005 -

The Damned Dam - 2005 -
22nd Annual Kipaw Rally has modest turnout. - 23rd does better

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

Whitewater Ontario

Whitewater Ontario
Working Hard to Protect Canada's Paddling Resources

Whitewater Ontario - Mission Statement

It is Whitewater Ontario’s mission to support the whitewater paddling community through the promotion, development and growth of the sport in its various disciplines. We accomplish this through the development of events, resources, clubs, and programs for personal and athletic development, regardless of skill level or focus, to ensure a high standard of safety and competency; We advocate safe and environmentally responsible access and use of Ontario’s rivers. Whitewater Ontario is the sport governing body in the province, and represents provincial interests within the national body Whitewater Canada and the Canadian Canoe Association http://www.whitewaterontario.ca/page/mission.asp

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican
If Hydro Quebec is not actively pursuing Tabaret what is that bite out of Opemican for?

Kipawa Dam: After

Kipawa Dam: After
Laniel Dam at 2006 Rally

Where is the Kipawa

Where is the Kipawa
Kipawa flows into lake Temiskamingue, running from Kipawa Lake, under hwy 101 in Quebec

Kipawa Dam

Kipawa Dam
laniel dam at 2004 River Rally

Tabaret is a Bad Idea

About the Kipawa



The best thing paddlers can do to help the cause of the Kipawa:

1. attend the rally and bring others including non paddlers to attend and buy beer and have fun

2. write your MP /MNA and raise the issue and post your objections -1 letter = 200 who didn't write

3. Write Thierry Vandal the CEO of Hydro Quebec strongly opposing the 132 MW standard decrying the use of "diversion" as the most environmentally inappropriate method of power production

4. Write Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec protesting that either the algonquin or the tabaret project will eliminate all other values on the Kipawa River by turning it into a dry gulch.

5. See if you can get other allied groups interested by showing your own interest, ie the Sierra Defense Fund, Earthwild, MEC, and so on.

6. Demand further consultation

7. Currently we are at the point where we need to sway public opinion and raise awareness.

However, if all else fails, don't get mad, simply disrupt, foment, and protest . The Monkey Wrench Gang.

Have you read Edward Abbey?

Important Addresses
CEO,Hydro Québec, 75 boul René Levesque, Montreal, P.Q., H2Z 1A4Caille.andre@hydro.qc.ca



Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Two)

Les Amis de la Riviere Kipawa is poised to use an application to the Federal Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus to ensure the Minster does what he is supposed to do, protect the public's right to navigate the water control structure at Laniel, Quebec using the Navigable Waters Protection Act. (see http://www.kipawariver.ca/)

In the now gutted Navigable Waters Protection Act lay the means by which the Minister of Transport could keep the public right of passage down our great Canadian Heritage, our rivers and streams which are threatened especially by resource corporations and power brokers such as Hydro Quebec.

These powerful entities continue to petition that 'this' river or 'that' stream is not navigable and therefore not protectable.
I don't say that dams and bridges should not be built, only that if they are, historical navigation rights should be considered and preserved by making reasonable accommodations for recreational boaters.

It is the Minister of Transport, in exercising the right to allow or disallow work on or over a navigable waterway is what keeps boats and recreational boaters plying our waterways.

To many recent cases launched in the Federal Court concerning the Navigable Waters Protection Act, most recently the case of the Humber Environment Group of Cornerbrook Newfoundland versus the Cornerbrook Pulp and Paper Company indicates that the important oversight is not being faithfully performed. Have we really come to the point now where we must say "such and such a stream is one foot deep, possessing so many cubic feet per second flow and so on?" The answer to this is... YES!

The honourable Mr. Justice John A. O'Keefe, ruled that it had not been shown that the river was navigable. How convenient was that to the Minister? But either the Minister of Transport acts to protect our rivers and streams as a public right or he does not and that means rivers and streams currently enjoyed by kayakers and canoists.

Enough of the cheating, and double-talk. Canadians! our rivers and streams are our own, lets urge the Minister of Transport and the our government to protect them.

Peter Karwacki

Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Three)

10 Reasons WhyTabaret is a Bad Idea1) Tabaret is too big. The station is designed to useevery drop of water available in the Kipawawatershed, but will run at only 44 percent capacity.We believe the Tabaret station is designed to usewater diverted from the Dumoine River into theKipawa watershed in the future. 2) The Tabaret project will eliminate the aquaticecosystem of the Kipawa River.The Tabaret project plan involves the diversion of a16-km section of the Kipawa River from its naturalstreambed into a new man-made outflow from LakeKipawa. 3) Tabaret will leave a large industrial footprint on thelandscape that will impact existing tourismoperations and eliminate future tourism potential. 4) The Tabaret project is an aggressive single-purposedevelopment, designed to maximize powergeneration at the expense of all other uses. 5) River-diversion, such as the Tabaret project, takinglarge amounts of water out of a river’s naturalstreambed and moving it to another place, is verydestructive to the natural environment. 6) The Kipawa River has been designated a protectedgreenspace in the region with severe limitations ondevelopment. This designation recognizes theecological, historical and natural heritage value ofthe river and the importance of protecting it.Tabaret will eliminate that value. 7) If necessary, there are other, smarter and morereasonable options for producing hydro power onthe Kipawa watershed. It is possible to build a lowimpactgenerating station on the Kipawa river, andmanage it as a “run-of-the-river” station, makinguse of natural flows while maintaining other values,with minimal impact on the environment. 8) The Kipawa watershed is a rich natural resource forthe Temiscaming Region, resonably close to largeurban areas, with huge untapped potential fortourism and recreation development in the future.Tabaret will severely reduce this potential. 9) Tabaret provides zero long-term economic benefitfor the region through employment. The plan is forthe station to be completely automated andremotely operated. 10) The Kipawa River is 12,000 years old. The riverwas here thousands of years before any peoplecame to the region. The Tabaret project will change all that.

Problems on a local River?

  • There is more to do as well but you have to do your research and above all, don't give up.
  • IN the meantime prepared a document itemizing the history of navigation of this spot and its recreational value. Use the Kipawa river history of navigation as a guide: see www.kipawariver.ca
  • Under the Ministry of Environment guidelines you have a set period of time to petition the change under the environmental bill of rights, you may have limited time to take this action. But it involves going to court for a judicial review of the decision.
  • 4. contact the ministry of natural resources officials and do the same thing.
  • 3. contact the ministry of the environment and determine if they approved the project
  • 2. determine if the dam was a legal dam, approved under the navigable waters protection act.
  • 1. research the decision and timing of it to determine if an environmental assessment was done.

Minden Ontario

Minden Ontario
Gull River Water control at Horseshoe lake

A History of Navigation on the Kipawa River

Prior to the environmental assessment there was no signage at the Laniel Dam

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!
Send $25 and a stamped self addressed envelop for the Tshirt, and for the bumper sticker, a stamped and self addressed envelope with $5.00 for the bumper sticker to Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa, 80 Ontario St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1K 1K9 or click the link To purchase a Les Amis "T" contact Doug with the following information: Number of shirts:Sizes: Ship to Address: Method of Payment: cash, cheque and paypal, Shipto address:

Bumper Stickers Now Available

Bumper Stickers Now Available
Get your bumper sticker and show your support for the Kipawa Legal Fund ! - send $5.00 in a Stamped, self addressed envelope to: Peter Karwacki Box 39111, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 7X0