Irving Oil its own worst enemy in pushing for Energy East pi

[Oscar]

Irving Oil its own worst enemy in pushing for Energy East pipeline project

[ http://canadians.org/blog/irving-oil-it ... ne-project ]

June 14, 2016 - 9:02 am

Fredericton-based Council of Canadians campaigner Mark D'Arcy says Irving Oil is its own worst enemy.

The National Observer reports, "[Arthur Irving] controls Irving Oil Ltd., the dominant energy company on Canada’s east coast and New England. Aged 85, with a fortune valued at (US) $5.3-billion (and on Forbes’ list of richest billionaires in the world at #308), Arthur is often considered the most mercurial of [the founder of the Irving corporate empire Kenneth Colin (KC) Irving's] three boys. One book author referred to Arthur as 'so tightly wound, you fear he is going to explode' and that 'he seethes nervous energy'. ...As chairman and largest shareholder of Irving Oil, Arthur’s combative personality is underscored by his bitter falling out with Kenneth, his oldest son and the company’s former CEO – along with some of Kenneth’s successors."

The article continues, "Irving Oil’s environmental and corporate citizenry track record is also generating critics – just as the company is being thrust into the national limelight because of TransCanada Corp's Energy East project... Yet Mark D’Arcy, a campaigner with the Council of Canadians in Fredericton, says Irving Oil seems blithely unaware of mounting opposition to Energy East and the hurdles it faces to see the pipeline realized."

D'Arcy says, "I think they are their own worst enemy. They have to sit down and talk to indigenous people along the pipeline route and have to sit down and come up with an alternative plan for the rural communities that are impacted by water and air pollution. And they simply haven't done that. We're sick and tired of asking for true public meetings where the audience can ask questions of these large resource companies and we’ve been refused at every opportunity.”

The article also notes, "To pave the way for Energy East, the company wants to build another tank farm in Saint John to hold six to eight million gallons of oil (which is in addition to the tank farm they already own) and a $400-million deep-water marine terminal [that would berth 281 tankers a year]."

D'Arcy comments, “(Irving Oil) will own the marine terminal. They also own the land where the tank farm will be built.”

And the article highlights, "[Opponents of the Energy East pipeline] fear the consequences of oil spills in the Bay of Fundy – considered one of the most pristine natural habitats for marine life in the world."

Here, D'Arcy notes, “There is already a very large opposition to building a tank farm and marine terminal in the existing rural population."

To read the full feature article "Turmoil at Irving Oil", which highlights that the Energy East pipeline was the brainchild of Irving Oil, as well as concerns about the 376 tonnes of carcinogenic volatile organic compounds that were released by the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John in 2014, the vapor recovery equipment at the Irving Oil’s marine terminal that was shut 37 per cent of the time between December 2012 and March 2015 due to mechanical problems, that Irving Oil’s refinery has spewed an excessive amount of ash-like catalyst of sand and metal compounds into Saint John at least a dozen times since 2010, and that lung cancer rates in Saint John are 40 to 50 per cent higher than in Fredericton and Moncton, please click here:
[ http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06 ... irving-oil ]

For more on our campaign to stop the Energy East pipeline, click here:
[ http://canadians.org/energyeast ]

Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ http://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

Turmoil at Irving Oil

[ http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06 ... irving-oil ]

By Bruce Livesey in News | June 13th 2016

#3 of 3 articles from the Special Report: House of Irving
[ http://www.nationalobserver.com/special ... use-irving ]

Second in a six-part series on one of Canada's richest families: The House of Irvings.

The mansion of Canada’s second richest man – or fifth richest depending on the list you consult – sits atop a ridge overlooking Saint John, the largest city in New Brunswick. Located on Mount Pleasant Ave., the house is painted white with a green roof and topped by a cupola. If you stand at the foot of the drive, your view is partially blocked by a row of hedges.

Built for Kenneth Colin (KC) Irving, the founder of the Irving corporate empire, it’s now home to Arthur Irving, KC’s middle son, who controls Irving Oil Ltd., the dominant energy company on Canada’s east coast and New England. Aged 85, with a fortune valued at (US) $5.3-billion (and on Forbes’ list of richest billionaires in the world at #308), [ http://www.forbes.com/profile/arthur-irving/ ] Arthur is often considered the most mercurial of KC’s three boys. One book author referred to Arthur as “so tightly wound, you fear he is going to explode” and that “he seethes nervous energy.”

“Arthur Irving doesn't have a reputation as an easy man to work with,” remarks Mark Tunney, a former editor-in-chief of the Telegraph-Journal, Saint John's Irving-owned daily newspaper. “I'm not saying he's not a nice man – some people say he is. But on the business side he gets what he wants and he doesn't really let what people feel about him get in the way at all.”

Across the street from Arthur’s compound is a small park, also owned by the Irvings, where a statue of KC stands grimly peering at his former residence. The statue was originally supposed to be erected behind the head offices of Irving Oil – the Golden Ball building in downtown Saint John – before city hall vetoed that plan.

KC was known as someone who did not suffer fools gladly, and by all accounts Arthur is a chip off of the old block. “When angered… Arthur has been known to cow subordinates, lose his temper during business negotiations and loudly berate critics,” wrote John DeMont in his 1991 book “Citizens Irving.” As chairman and largest shareholder of Irving Oil, Arthur’s combative personality is underscored by his bitter falling out with Kenneth, his oldest son and the company’s former CEO – along with some of Kenneth’s
successors.

Irving Oil’s environmental and corporate citizenry track record is also generating critics – just as the company is being thrust into the national limelight because of TransCanada Corp's Energy East project, the proposed $15.7-billion pipeline that would travel 4,600 kilometres from Alberta to Saint John, [ http://www.energyeastpipeline.com/ ] carrying 1.1 million barrels a day, the continent's longest if built. Some of this oil would be refined at the Irving’s refinery – the largest in Canada with a capacity of
320,000 barrels a day – before being exported to world markets. [ http://irvingoil.com/operations_and_par ... /refining/ ]

Yet Mark D’Arcy, a campaigner with the Council of Canadians in Fredericton, says Irving Oil seems blithely unaware of mounting opposition to Energy East and the hurdles it faces to see the pipeline realized. “I think they are their own worst enemy,” he remarks. “They have to sit down and talk to indigenous people along the pipeline route and have to sit down and come up with an alternative plan for the rural communities that are impacted by water and air pollution. And they simply haven't done that. We're sick and tired of asking for true public meetings where the audience can ask questions of these large resource companies and we’ve been refused at every opportunity.”

Energy East the brainchild of Irving Oil

In the long quest to get Energy East built, Arthur Irving and Irving Oil have played a central role.

It all began in 2011 when U.S. President Barack Obama informed then-prime minister Stephen Harper the Keystone XL pipeline, also proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp, was on hold. That's when Alberta’s oil patch realized it needed a pipeline to tidewater that was not dependent on American approval. With pipelines to the west coast bogged down in problems, the industry began looking eastward.

By then, Mike Ashar, a former Suncor executive, was CEO of Irving Oil and a proponent of building a pipeline to New Brunswick. “Energy East was conceived as a desperate, I would say, Hail Mary pass when it began to become clear that Keystone XL was not going through,” says Adam Scott, a senior campaigner with Oil Change International, a Washington, DC-based environmental organization.

For Irving Oil, Energy East would guarantee a long-term source of bitumen for its refinery while turning Saint John into a global energy hub. After all, as plans for the pipeline currently stand, once the crude arrives in Saint John from Alberta, up to 280 tankers would steam into the port city every year to export it to markets. “The bigger opportunity is the potential for other investments here in Saint John to refine that oil,” notes Blaine Higgs, a former senior executive with Irving Oil and former finance minister in David Alward's provincial government.

To pave the way for Energy East, the company wants to build another tank farm in Saint John to hold six to eight million gallons of oil (which is in addition to the tank farm they already own) and a $400-million deep-water marine terminal. “(Irving Oil) will own the marine terminal,” says D’Arcy. “They also own the land where the tank farm will be built.”

Despite these grandiose dreams, the pipeline risks morphing into a hot political grenade in the debate over Canada’s commitment to slowing down climate change. After all, one estimate suggests the pipeline would allow expansion of Alberta's tar sands’ production by up to 40 per cent, [ http://canadians.org/media/energy-east- ... -residents
] and would transport one-third more barrels of oil per day than Keystone XL was supposed to. Hence, for opponents of the tar sands - Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions – stopping the pipeline is now an imperative. Already, 1,900 groups and individuals have applied for standing at the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings over Energy East.

However, Irving Oil, in a statement, says "we acknowledge the questions and concerns raised by a variety of stakeholders. New Brunswick is our home, and it’s the home of many of our employees and their families – no one cares more about our environment than those of us who live here."

Meanwhile, Scott feels that Irving Oil is ignoring the climate change concerns the pipeline is whipping up. “Like many companies in the oil industry they are not acknowledging the scale of the challenge or taking action to deal with (climate change),” he maintains. And on environmental issues in general, Scott observes: “I think more troubling, they don't have great record of transparency or accountability.”

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[ http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06 ... irving-oil ]