^ It is kinda complicated, and logic won't give the reasons. I think it's politics, and the associated regulations. And some contracts are entered into for a decade plus. Also, what was even stranger to me than the coal jurisdictional movement, is how it is shipped (often literally) between and around Canada and the U.S. and the routes. Again, politics and regulations, besides available infrastructure. It is similar to people here asking: how come Canada imports more oil than it consumes, and also exports more than it consumes? Wouldn't it be a lot simpler and easier and more secure (and cheaper!) to just keep it mostly "in house"? That is a lot simpler to answer and makes perfect sense, if you consider who owns the refineries, the pipelines, the oil, the transportation. There is nothing like selling stuff to yourself (indirectly), moving it around and charging a good markup to yourself for each stage. The government takes a chunk of each of that too, so they'll soon complain... LOL, I really do find it funny, wish I had a piece...

How keen are people in BC about coal mines? I bet not much, not nearly as keen as people in Alberta would probably be. I'm in Ontario, and I guess (been a while, so may have changed too) it was all-round cheaper to get clean coal from the U.S. via the Great Lakes than shipping it by rail from elsewhere in Canada. Plus didn't have to have as good scrubbers etc. to meet whatever regs there were. And ship "our" (Canada's) dirty coal to places that burn it anyway and are set up for it reg-wise (if any, grandfathered). And the contractor's brother-in-law owned a clean coal mine, and his uncle a few GL freighters, etc.


I have noticed the Nalgene-style bottles are very hard to find now around here. They sure cleared them out quickly. Wal-Mart had big bins of some Chinese #7 plastic containers on sale last week...advance notice??