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This past week has been beyond inspiring – a lot needs to change and people everywhere are making it happen. I was lucky enough to take part in and support a small slice of what’s been taking place.

Canadian premiers are meeting this week to discuss the so-called Canadian Energy Strategy – an effort by Canadian provinces and territories to come up with a united front on energy in Canada.

When oil prices crashed late last year, the high-cost and capital intensive tar sands sector took a hit. The industry had already been showing signs of weakness with underperforming stocks, project cancellations, and serious concerns about market access. But low oil prices have driven a whole new level of cost cutting and project delays.

Enbridge is side-stepping environmental regulations and corporate taxes in attempts to increase Canadian tar sands exports through the United States.

Our latest report presents new analysis that confirms that shipping tar sands bitumen by rail cannot possibly meet the tar sands industry’s reckless production growth plans. The report’s conclusions demonstrate that the U.S. Department of State’s analysis of rail’s ability to replace the Keystone XL pipeline failed to consider key data and evidence and drew conclusions that are both misleading and dangerous for the American public.

Big Oil has always been a bad, bad loser. And it is therefore no surprise that it has threatened to sue a small coastal city in Maine which on Monday night struck an historical blow against the industry by banning the export of tar sands from its harbour.