An Echo? – June 14, 2013
In Manitoba, the provincially owned electrical utility is planning a massive expansion of its hydroelectric operations, even though its profits from the sale of electric power have fallen dramatically, to the point that Manitoba ratepayers are actually subsidizing the sale of cheap power into the U.S. grid.

Hydro Must Serve Citizens, Not Government – June 12, 2013
I find Lane to be credible and not conflicted. He has had a distinguished career serving the people of Manitoba at the Workers Compensation Board, Manitoba Public Insurance, the University of Winnipeg, St. Amant Centre, and, lately, the Public Utilities Board. Lane criticized Hydro and the government for the high degree of risk Hydro's ratepayers will incur with the implementation of the utility's capital expenditure plans, some $33 billion to be spent over the next 20 years.

Graham Lane, Retired Chair, Manitoba Public Utilities Board – June 6, 2013
A Conversation on the Frontier with Graham Lane after his speech "Dam-nation: Rolling the Dice on Manitoba’s Future" on June 5, 2013 in Winnipeg.

Manitoba Hydro's Halcyon Days are Gone – June 6, 2013
Policy Note by Graham Lane, former Chair of the Manitoba Public Utilities Board which observes that changed economic and technological circumstances make a massive expansion of new dam and transmission capacity by Manitoba Hydro too risky to proceed.

Dam-nation: Rolling the Dice on Manitoba’s Future (Lane) – June 6, 2013
PowerPoint slides for Graham Lane Event.

Hydro’s $20-billion Gamble May Bankrupt Manitoba – June 5, 2013
Today, Graham Lane, the former Chair of the Manitoba Public Utilities Board, will give a special address to a sold-out audience assessing the expansion of Manitoba Hydro’s Hydro-electric Generation and Transmission Capacity.

Dam-Nation – June 5, 2013
This report explores the Manitoba governments’ plans to spend a (presently) forecast of $33-billion, based on borrowing tens of billions in order to finance a massive expansion of hydro-electric capacity in the province, incurring risky liabilities that may bankrupt Manitoba in a not too distant future.

Media Release - Rolling the Dice on Manitoba’s Future – June 5, 2013
This paper cautions the Manitoba government about its reckless plans to invest tens of billions of borrowed capital in order to build more hydro generating capacity into foreign markets that need electricity less and less. Such indiscriminate course of action could lead Manitoba to bankruptcy in a not-too-distant future.

Manitoba Hydro: Worst Transparency in Canada – May 31, 2013
Annual reports are an essential tool in the public’s ability to analyze companies performance. This charticle demonstrates the transparency of Canadian energy companies based on public access to their annual report data online.

How Rich Rockefellers Battle the People’s Pipeline – April 21, 2013
Americans concerned about gasoline prices were encouraged by the Pew Research Center’s new poll, whose headline blared, “Keystone XL Pipeline draws broad support.” A score box showed 63% supporting and only 23% opposing the pipeline that would transport oil from Canada’s vast Alberta oil sands deposits through the Plains states to Texas refineries.

Carbon Tax...Are Republicans Really That Stupid? – April 17, 2013
As much as I admire former Secretary of State George Shultz, and because I do, I was totally flummoxed by a recent Wall Street Journal article he co-authored with economist Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Incredulously, the two senior fellows at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution expressed support for a “revenue neutral” tax on carbon.

Can’t Afford to Squander Hydro – April 10, 2013
Opposition leader Brian Pallister deserves some credit for opposing an expensive Manitoba Hydro advertising campaign. Moreover, Manitoba should not squander its hydro resources on speculative projects.

America's New Energy Boom Is Bust for Foreign Suppliers – April 10, 2013
For the better part of a year, Canadian officials and executives watched from afar as a shale-oil boom exploded south of the border. But it wasn't until last fall that the full impact of the U.S. energy boom hit the provincial government here in the heart of Canada's oil patch. Around October, prices for Canadian bitumen—a heavy crude from the country's vast oil sands developments—tanked, walloping the economy of America's largest supplier of foreign oil, its biggest trading partner and one of its closest allies.

A Tale of Two Oil Spills – April 3, 2013
What's the difference between an oil spill from a pipeline and an oil spill from a train? Answer: A lesson in political opportunism. The media have played up Friday's discovery of an oil leak in an old Exxon XOM -0.38%Mobil pipeline near Mayflower, Arkansas. It isn't clear how much oil escaped from the 850-mile Pegasus pipeline, but Exxon says it responded with teams and equipment able to handle as much as 10,000 barrels and that by early Saturday it had stopped the flow and begun cleanup.

Important Questions for Obama Nominees – April 3, 2013
In his second inaugural address, President Obama pledged to address “the threat of climate change” because no one can avoid “the devastating impact of raging fires, crippling droughts and more powerful storms.” The President had said nothing about climate change during his reelection campaign –because that would have reminded millions of voters that he is committed to replacing hydrocarbons with expensive renewable energy and ensuring that electricity and gasoline prices skyrocket.

Pipeline or not, lots of Canadian crude oil is headed to the US – April 2, 2013
Environmentalists mistakenly think that blocking the Keystone pipeline will prevent crude oil, derived from Canada’s oil sands, from being extracted and from being conveyed into the US to be refined into gasoline, asphalt, and other products that are important to the transportation and manufacturing sectors. Their ultimate goal is to stop all development of the Canadian resource.

Eco-Imperialism Joins Vulture Environmentalism – March 25, 2013
Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s choice to replace Lisa Jackson at the Environmental Protection Agency, has been chastised for having lied to Congress, in claiming that EPA did not use “dangerous manmade climate change” to justify new 54.5 mpg standards for cars and light trucks. She’s also been implicated in the agency’s practice of using fake emails to hide questionable dealings and activities.

ICSC Media Release - “Earth Hour” Should be Replaced with 'Energy Hour' – March 22, 2013
Media Release from International Climate Science Coalition. (ICSC)

Looking For a Better Way to Sell the Keystone Pipeline – March 19, 2013
Governments and industry must change their marketing of the Keystone XL pipeline to address the single reason the project may not be approved—climate change.

Cheaper Energy is More Important Than Going Green – February 22, 2013
But instead of unrelenting increases, instead of a collapse in our capacity to generate energy and instead of fears that we will soon be in hock to Russian gas oligarchs, imagine a different story. Imagine the price of gas falling by two-thirds in less than a decade. Imagine electricity prices crashing by more than a quarter in less than a year. It sounds like a fantasy. Too good to be true.