Heavy oil project

My latest venture was to dive into another environmental story.

I heard a few clips on CTV Regina news about new heavy oil project that was starting up in Saskatchewan. The coverage was brief and most people seemed happy about it.

After living in Alberta for eight months, I wasn't convinced that all Saskatchewan residents welcomed the new project. Albertans are extremely skeptical and critical of oil projects, so I set out to see if that tone existed in Saskatchewan.

I spoke with Chris Bloomer who is with Petrobank. They are the oil company heading up the whole project. It's a new technology that basically extracts the oil that is left behind by other conventional methods. It's touted as being more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The project is near Kerrobert, which is 180km west of Saskatoon. I spoke to someone from the town who said the businesses appreciate the added traffic of people that come with the oil projects.

The leader of the Green Party, Laura Shasko, was less than accepting of the project. She said we need to face our addiction to consuming fuel, instead of using more "environmentally friendly" techniques to extract it.

Check out the full coverage in my article:

http://www.jschool.ca//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=205&Itemid=1

Election Coverage

I did not spend my election night at city hall. I didn't even have to chase a story. I was on the editorial team the week of the civic elections, therefore I was able to comfortably sit on my couch and post the results by 10 p.m.

I would not have had this luxury if it hadn't been for the internet results. They were uploaded minute by minute. At times, I knew more than the election commentators did. It was no great feat to gather the results from Moose Jaw or Saskatoon in a jiffy.

I can't say I got the full election experience. I know my other classmates had to chase down much more than I did.

Check out our election coverage. It was the best in the city!

http://www.jschool.ca//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=196&Itemid=1

What is up with this weather?

It's water cooler talk, but I've turned it into my latest Ink story because everyone is talking about it.

What is up with this weather?

We get record breaking highs, then record breaking lows. In a just a few weeks? What is affected other than my curiousity and frustration?

Turns out landscaping companies and potential clients are having a tough go this fall. The season is an opportunity for businesses and clients alike to lay sod and plant anything from shrubs to trees.

I spoke to a Lakeridge resident, Ryan Hoffmann. When I arrived at his house, his wife was so nervous about the interview, she excused herself and went to the basement! Ryan's been working on his yard for three years-- mostly because he is married with three small children. He's upset about the weather, especially because his children will have the mud to play on during the spring, instead of new lawn.

I also spoke to Dan Codd, the owner of a local landscaping company. He expressed his distress about the weather. They can't even dig into the soil because it's wet and nearly frozen. The shop closed down nearly a full month from what it did last year.

Being a student has its downfalls, and phone tag is one of them. I tried for a few days to contact the people in charge of the U of R grounds. Unfortunately in the race between deadline vs. phone tag, deadline won by a landslide.

Check out my article online at:
http://www.jschool.ca//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=185&Itemid=1

Wascana Research

Our student newspaper Ink is underway and I'm the environment reporter. While thinking of a story pitch last week, I was chatting with my best friend who is a third year limnology student. She was telling me about one of her professors and his enthusiasm.

I decided to meet with him after our conversation to see if he had any environment leads for me. Turns out my intuition paid off! Low and behold was a fantastic story to be told. Wascana Lake is being studied by limnologists to determine the effects of fertilizer on bodies of water. Urea is an organic compound, in a chemistry sense, and is used in nearly 90 per cent of the fertilizer around the world. The problem is that this organic compound may actually be causing the more harm than good. After a brief interview with Peter Leavitt and a successful pitch in class, I set off to Wascana Lake to speak with Matthew Bogard. He is the lead researcher in the Wascana Lake research.

Matt was literally just finishing the last clean-up of the practical research. Over numerous weeks this summer, he'd taken water samples. As he stood there with dirty jeans and t-shirt from all the cleaning, he couldn't stop grinning. He was off to the lab to start his lab work. Work he hopes will take him only till Christmas. Derek, a student who did a similar study last year was standing beside him and laughed. "More like Easter," Derek chimed. I'm going to chat with some others to get a better perspective on urea fertilizer. First copy due on Wednesday!

Check out my article online at http://www.jschool.ca//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=1