Christina Joan "Christy" Clark, a Liberal, is the Premier of British Columbia, Canada's western-most Province and one whose economy rests on the bedrock of natural resources.  On January 24, Premier Clark gave the keynote address at the BC Natural Resource Forum.

In that speech, she described her province as the resource center of Canada and an energy powerhouse for the world.  "Global demand for energy," she noted, "is expected to double over the next 20 years."  It was also a speech in which she laid out a bit of history and posed a stark question.  Here is some of that history:

And this was the question:

Today's quote was her answer.

Before we leave Premier Clark's speech to the BC Resource Forum, we should note as well her focus on the environment.  "Just as we owe it to our children to create new opportunities for them," she said, "we owe to them a legacy of clean air, of clean water and unspoiled landscapes.  There is no contradiction there."

Ms. Christy did not talk about coal per se in her address to the BC Resource Forum.  She did talk about mining, however, and the "more than 30,000 people [2012] ... employed in mining, mineral exploration, and related sectors."  Coal, particularly metallurgical coal, is a big part of that.  Among other things, it accounts for nearly 40 percent of the exports from the Port of Vancouver.

And, of course, she did not talk about petitions and political developments that lay in the future.  We will mention one of those because it relates to coal shipments to Asia from both Canada and the United States.   In mid-May, Premier Clark and members of her government were the addressees on an open letter from 51 "leaders of Christian, Jewish, Unitarian, Quaker, and Sikh traditions," urging them to "reconsider [i.e., cancel] the recently approved permit" for port improvements to facilitate the export of U.S. thermal coal through British Columbia.  We don't know where that is going, but, as noted, the necessary approvals have already been granted.

Here in Oregon, we are still waiting to see how the state authorities will respond to Ambre Energy's application to build a train-to-barge facility for coal near Boardman, Oregon, on the Columbia River.  This is the Morrow Pacific Project.  There was to have been a decision on it last week, but then on Saturday, May 31, The Daily News of Longview, Washington, brought us this headline: "Oregon again postpones decision on Ambre Energy Morrow Pacific project."  The article went on to explain that "This is the eighth delay of the project."

True, Oregon's governor, John Kitzhaber, had said he wanted an early decision.  But he also said, even more emphatically, that he does not want coal exports from (through) Oregon.  Given his credo, it stretches credulity to think this project is going to happen.  But that's because, cynics that we are, we see links between the priorities of politicians and the decisions of bureaucrats.