Canada

Last week's Canadian green light for a pipeline flow reversal may mean that oil sands crude will be travelling to New England. Some New Englanders think that's a bad idea.

One of the few journalists covering First Nation protests against fracking in New Brunswick -- and regularly arrested for doing so -- saw charges against him dropped for a third time in February. Now the Canadian Association of Journalists asks whether the RCMP are trying to intimidate journalists.

"OTTAWA — Canada’s energy producers received a rare boost in their efforts to expand the market for oil sands bitumen on Thursday when the country’s National Energy Board approved the reversal of a Canadian pipeline."

"The Canadian government is increasingly worried that the growing clout of aboriginal peoples’ rights could obstruct its aggressive resource development plans, documents reveal."

"When Yves Perreault looks out over the pristine waters of Desolation Sound, where his family annually harvests half a million oysters, he fears for the future of the ocean – and the industry that supplies Canada with half its shellfish."

"Ten million scallops that have died in the waters near Qualicum Beach due to rising ocean acidity are the latest victims in a series of marine die-offs that have plagued the West Coast for a decade."

"An aging Enbridge pipeline that runs across Ontario has had at least 35 spills — far more than reported to federal regulators — but many municipalities along its route have never been informed of the incidents, a CTV W5 investigation reveals."

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper was again rebuffed in his bid to press U.S. President Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline when he raised the issue during a North American leaders’ summit in Toluca, Mexico."

"Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s frustration with U.S. President Barack Obama’s failure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline may make this installment of the North America summit, known as the “Three Amigos,” the frostiest since the annual meetings began almost a decade ago."

"MEXICO CITY -- The annual migration to Mexico of millions of orange-and-black monarch butterflies is one of the nation's cherished rituals. But it could come to a virtual halt if the insect's natural habitat is not urgently salvaged."