iPolitics By iPolitics. Published on May 12, 2021 11:12am Enbridge offices (Mack Male via Flickr)
The Lead
Wednesday is a critical day for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. May 12 marks 180 days since Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer “gave notice that the state was terminating a 1953 easement for the pipeline,” which carries oil to refineries in Ontario through Wisconsin and Michigan. Whitmer said Line 5 “poses an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill,” the National Observer reports.
Alternative modes of transport for the crude Line 5 currently transports are not favourable, according to Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan.
Using 18-wheelers, boats, and railway cars to transport oil would be “messy, polluting, and expensive,” O’Regan told CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Tuesday. “That’s a contingency plan that I don’t want to have to bank on.”
Canadian National makes competing $30 billion bid for Kansas City Southern
Canadian National Railway said it made a superior $30 billion offer to buy Kansas City Southern and wrest the American railroad away from its smaller rival Canadian Pacific, potentially setting up a bidding war for the Missouri-based railway.
After Canadian Pacific agreed to acquire Kansas City Southern for about $25 billion in March, Canadian National said April 20 it is making a better cash-and-stock bid that would, in part, secure its dominant Canada-to-US Gulf Coast crude-by-rail route.
Canadian National already holds the top rail system linking Edmonton to the USGC, but Canadian Pacific would have rivaled its larger Canadian competitor with the acquisition of Kansas City Southern.
Net Zero: Renewable-energy capacity rose by 45% in 2020: report By iPolitics. Published on May 11, 2021 12:33pm
The Lead
According to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy capacity grew at a rate of 45 per cent in 2020. This value represents the fastest rate of growth for the renewable energy sector in two decades, the Globe and Mail reports.
“A massive expansion of clean electricity is essential to giving the world a chance of achieving its net-zero goals,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “Governments need to build on this promising momentum through policies that encourage greater investment in solar and wind, in the additional grid infrastructure they will require, and in other key renewable technologies such as hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal.”
Net Zero: Cyberattack shuts down 9,000-km pipeline system in U.S. By iPolitics. Published on May 10, 2021 12:49pm
The Lead
Colonial Pipeline Co. announced Friday that it was shutting down its 8,850-km pipeline system because of a cyberattack, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The pipeline transports approximately 2.5 million barrels of gasoline and other fuels a day. The likely culprit is a group called DarkSide, “known for deploying ransomware and extorting victims,” according to Reuters.
While some smaller lines were opened on Sunday, the Georgia-based pipeline company declined to say when the main pipelines would become operational again, writes the New York Times.
3 Monthly Dividend Stocks to Snag in the Energy Sector
The price of WTI Crude and Western Canadian Select (WCS) have gained solid momentum over the past month. Goldman Sachs has projected that oil prices will continue to rise into the spring and summer, benefiting from a resurgent North American economy. Investors on the hunt for income should look to add monthly dividend stocks in the energy sector.
Pembina Pipeline (TSX:PPL)(NYSE:PBA) is a Calgary-based company that provides transportation and midstream services for the energy sector. Its shares have climbed 24% in 2021 as of mid-afternoon trading on April 30. Pembina last paid out a monthly dividend of $0.21 per share. That represents a tasty 6.6% yield.