Oct. 1 kicked off with a series of stories by the Toronto Star, Global News and National Observer, targeted on the Saskatchewan oilpatch. The stories were part of a much larger project, backed financially by the (CMP).
CMP鈥檚 website notes, 鈥淭he tremendous concentration of power and influence we see in the fossil fuel industry today places sharp limits on our democracy.
鈥淎nd as oil, gas and coal corporations pursue their relatively narrow, short-term profit goals, crafting effective responses to the climate crisis becomes more difficult.
鈥淭he Corporate Mapping Project shines a bright light on the fossil fuel industry by investigating the ways corporate power is organized and exercised.鈥�
Really balanced, no doubt.
Its lead-off pieces came out around Oct. 1, targeting Saskatchewan, and in particular, . Subsequent stories later in the month targeted petrochemical production areas in Ontario, the other end of the pipeline. Expect more to come.
That Saskatchewan was targeted for this project can be directly attributed to the impetus provided by . Her Facebook paged noted on Oct. 1, 鈥淎 heartfelt thank you to Patti Sonntag for taking up my pitch, to Trish Elliott for spending the last eight months of her life on this project and to the many students across the country who worked so hard on this project. Thanks also to Robb Cribb, the National Observer and the Corporate Mapping Project for making this happen. No communities should be expected to live under these conditions.鈥�
Sonntag is listed as the series producer, and as a Michener Fellow, based at Concordia University. Eaton鈥檚 editorial, published in the National Observeras part of the same series, was entitled, 鈥溾��
The University of Regina School of Journalism student film which is part of the project, 鈥溾�� lends heavily from items in Eaton鈥檚 2016 book, .
It also should be noted that Eaton鈥檚 partner, Simon Enoch, , is on the steering committee for the Corporate Mapping Project.
The Corporate Mapping Project lists as the universities of Regina, Waterloo, Northern British Columbia, Simon Fraser, Lethbridge and Victoria. It also lists the , , , and , Canada鈥檚 largest public sector union.
Apparently more than 30 students and 50 reporters in total took part in this project. But when we asked Sonntag on Facebook if any had taken the day-long H2S Alive course, she replied, 鈥淢ost of our sources took it and live it every day.鈥�
In other words, no one did. Perhaps that鈥檚 why a series, in which one headline breathlessly declared, 鈥�,鈥� implies that no one knew about H2S until these journalists figured it out, even though the industry has been dealing with this for decades. H2S training was our front page photo on our very first edition in 2008.
It鈥檚 commonplace, when taking an , to have the instructor ask how many times have people there recertified the course (required every three years). Generally you鈥檒l have several hands go up for five, six, seven or even more times. Pipeline Newsrecertified the course for the fifth time this past spring.
But to read the series of stories that came out in early October, you would think we just found out about it now because the National Observer, Toronto Starand Global News discovered it. Never mind provincial initiatives like Directive S-10 to reduce venting and flaring, which came out several years ago. We didn鈥檛 know until they 鈥渃ornered鈥� it.
When you see statements like, "Where were the public danger warnings?" in the stories, one wonders if they have every noticed the warning signs at the gate of any sour well or facility. Or if any of these people have ever been to such a site, beyond the gate?
The shows a sign saying in capital letters, 鈥淣O TRESPASSING, DANGER H2S POISONOUS GAS. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. NO SMOKING.鈥�
Apparently that isn't a public danger warning.
So there, we in Saskatchewan have now basked in the balance of anti-oil journalism. Expect more to come, likely from more elements from Eaton鈥檚 book. Her Facebook page includes a photo of her standing on a pipeline right-of-way in Regina, protesting pipelines, as well as聽 numerous other pictures of her protesting everything from pipelines to boycotting Israel.
Since the Corporate Mapping Project has taken up Eaton鈥檚 suggestions, we should know what to expect.
Correction: Dr. Eaton informed us that Simon Enoch is her partner, not husband. The original version said he was her husband. Additionally, the initial version of this editorial stated, "Her Facebook page used to have a photo of her standing on a pipeline right-of-way in Regina, protesting pipelines, but it has since disappeared, along with the numerous other pictures of her protesting everything from pipelines to boycotting Israel.and said she had not removed the photos."
That was incorrect. The photo of her standing on a pipeline right of way, protesting the Energy East pipeline, is indeed still online, as are photos of her protesting several other causes. We regret this error and any confusion it may have caused.聽
