Canada Minister Sees Better Prospect of Change to EU Oil-Sands Law

OTTAWA - Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the possibility of changes to a proposed European Union law that seeks to treat Canadian oil-sands crude as dirtier than conventional fuel have improved, because the law would increase costs and threaten the competitiveness of European refineries at a time when the continent's economy is struggling.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, is considering singling out crude from Alberta's oil sands as being dirtier than other fuel types in a revision to its Fuel Quality Directive, or FQD, a law designed to lower carbon emissions from transportation fuels.

"We believe that the prospects for an improvement--for fundamental change here--are better than they were a year ago," Mr. Oliver told reporters on a conference call from the U.K., adding that "the issue of competitiveness, including in the refinery industry "are really very much top of mind."

He said Ottawa would consider taking action against the EU at the World Trade Organization as a "very last resort."

Canadian officials, who have long lobbied against the proposed law, say it discriminates against oil-sands crude and isn't based on science. The issue was re-ignited recently as Canada and the EU try to conclude a free-trade agreement that's been four years in the making. Officials from both side have repeatedly said the FQD and trade negotiations are being kept separate. A decision on the FQD is expected later this year.

Mr. Oliver said oil-sands opponents are unrealistic in lobbying for a world powered by alternative energy, and their message could "hurt the economy in a significant way." He said Canada wants its approach to climate change "to be based on reality" and will focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to invest in green energy and technology.

Meanwhile, Mr. Oliver said opponents of TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL pipeline are getting "desperate," as U.S. decision on the controversial project nears, hence "the shrillness of their arguments, the hyperbole and the exaggeration that we're hearing from some sources."

Mr. Oliver said the project would be "very positive" for Canada and the U.S, creating jobs on both sides and contribute to economic growth.

The Obama administration is expected to make a decision on Keystone later this year.

Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here

Better watch out: NORAD trademarks Santa operation

Font ResizeBy DAN ELLIOTT Associated PressAssociated PressPosted: 12/22/2012 09:56:06 AM MSTDecember 22, 2012 6:3 PM GMTUpdated: 12/22/2012 11:03:55 AM MST
DENVER—The U.S. military has clamped a trademark on its wildly popular NORAD Tracks Santa operation and licensed a private company to sell T-shirts and other goods—not to make money, officials insist, but to keep profiteers from cashing in.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, which stages the Santa-tracking event from its headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., obtained the trademark this year.

The Defense Department's Branding and Trademark Licensing Office—yes, Virginia, there is a Pentagon trademark office—advised the military to sell NORAD Tracks Santa merchandise to cement its ownership of the name, said Navy Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a NORAD spokesman.

"We had a vulnerability by not having a NORAD Tracks Santa trademark," Davis said. "The vulnerability was that anyone could come along and sell merchandise or somehow use it to make a profit."

NORAD signed the licensing agreement in November with U.S. Allegiance of Bend, Ore., which specializes in licensed souvenirs and has worked other deals with the military.

The company launched http://www.itrackedsanta.com on Dec. 1. The biggest seller so far is a customized letter from Santa, said Steve Crawford, president of U.S. Allegiance. Another favorite is a red T-shirt that says "I tracked Santa 2012."

To Crawford's surprise, many orders are coming in from overseas. He said he plans to expand the line of goods next year to include languages other than English.

"The globalized popularity of NORAD Tracks Santa is really amazing," he said.

Davis said the move to trademark the operation was unrelated to Google's decision to launch its own Santa tracker this year. NORAD and Google parted ways by mutual agreement after working together from 2007 to 2011, he said.

NORAD is a joint U.S.-Canada command responsible for defending the skies over both countries and monitoring potential threats from the sea.

The story of how it began tracking Santa has become part of Christmas lore: A Colorado Springs newspaper ad in 1955 invited kids to call Santa, but a typo in the phone number had them calling the Continental Air Defense Command or CONAD, NORAD's predecessor, also in Colorado Springs.

CONAD commanders played along, and over the years the operation grew into today's viral hit.

The program generates the kind of global buzz that conjures visions of sugar plums dancing in a marketer's head. Last year its volunteers answered 102,000 phone calls in 23 hours and its website attracted 18.9 million unique visitors from 220 countries and territories in December alone. It also was getting requests from the public for merchandise, Davis said.

NORAD will get about 6 percent of the sales revenue from the merchandise, Davis said. NORAD hasn't projected how much money that will be but it won't be substantial, he said. Through the first three weeks of December, sales netted less than $200, he said.

The money will be used for the program, which Davis said operates solely with volunteers and corporate sponsors and gets zero tax dollars.

———

Online:

NORAD Tracks Santa: http://ww.noradsanta.org

———

Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP

View the Original article

Energy From Shale: Making Lives Better

Here’s an interesting video set from the folks at Energy In Depth, showing how natural gas development in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale play has lifted the lives of three women and their families. Take a look:

The point underscored throughout: Real people, real lives, real economic empowerment. Three women and three families – their lives made better with the energy-from-shale revolution that has come to Pennsylvania, paying more than $1.8 billion in lease and bonus payments to landowners in 2008 alone and which now employs more than 229,000, almost 2 percent of the commonwealth’s population.

For more information, visit Energy From Shale.

View the original article here