5-15-16 PLEASE DON'T "Go South, Young Man, Go South"

5-15-16 PLEASE DON’T “Go South, Young Man, Go South”

Calgary Herald, by Kyle Bakx. TransCanada finds warmer welcome in Mexico for pipeline business.The tropical heat of Mexico is a welcome break for Canadian snowbirds looking to escape a freezing winter. For Russ Girling, the country is also providing a getaway from all the punches and kicks he’s taken trying to build pipelines in Canada and the United States.

At home, the CEO of TransCanada spends billions of dollars, waits several years, and still doesn’t know when the company can install new pipes in the ground.

Meanwhile, the environmental opposition is such that even Girling’s own mother has called him in recent years to ask “Russ, are you going to blow up the planet?”

Commentary by Dave Harbour (Reference left column story). Presidential Candidate Donald Trump wants to reclaim jobs that have moved from the US to Mexico and other countries. While we would much rather have the D in office than the H, we would offer him (i.e. both, actually) this advice. Instead of focusing so much on “making Mexico pay so much that US created jobs return to the US”, adopt the more successful policy of, “making tax and regulatory policy and ‘free’ markets so attractive in the U.S. that companies both here and abroad would rather relocate and flourish in the U.S.”. The same might be said of socialist Canada: “Instead of allowing enviro activists to pressure you to kill every single pipeline/oil sands project, why not make oil & gas investment in Canada more attractive than investment in Mexican or U.S. infrastructure, where possible. And, for heaven’s sake, when TransCanada or anyone else seeks approval for a Keystone XL project that benefits both countries, politicians should have their heads examined for not jumping on that bandwagon with both feet. For, as we have found, economic windows of opportunity open and close and when they close investors may well decide to vote with their money for other more attractive country champions…like Mexico and China. Acting positively to attract international trade creates real domestic jobs and economic development; acting negatively cannot help but radiate hostility whose ramifications can be much more destructive than “good intentions” anticipated. -dh

About the Author: wpnorthern

Dave Harbour, publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines, is a former Chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, a Commissioner Emeritus of NARUC, NARUC's Official Representative to IOGCC and Vice Chairman of NARUC's Gas Committee. He served as Gas Committee Chairman of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners. He also served as commissioner of the Anchorage Bicentennial Commission and the Anchorage Heritage Land Bank Commission. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree: English, at Colorado State University, a Master of Science Degree: Communications-Journalism at Murray State University and graduated from Utility Regulatory School for Commissioners at Michigan State University. He served as a Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at Alaska Pacific University, taught bank marketing classes at the University of Alaska and was an English teacher at Los Alamos High School. Harbour served in ranks of Private - Captain during a 4-year assignment with the Army in Korea, Idaho, Georgia and Fort Meade and received the Meritorious Service Medal among other commendations. Harbour is also a past Chairman of the Alaska Council on Economic Education, the Alaska Oil & Gas Association Government Affairs Committee, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Export Council of Alaska and the Department of Commerce's District Export Council. He is a past President of the Alaska Press Club, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska and Common Sense for Alaska. Harbour was instrumental in founding the American Bald Eagle Research Institute (UAS), the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Downtown Anchorage Business Partnership, and Arctic Power. He also served as CEO of several small Alaska organizations, including the Anchorage Parking Authority and Action Security, Inc. Harbour is also Chairman Emeritus of the Alaska Oil & Gas Congress. Harbour's wife, Nancy, is a professional, performing arts administrator and his three boys, Todd, Benjamin and William work in the fields of environmental management, energy marketing and medicine.