Posted by Philip Stephen McEachern
on Feb 07, 2014
WINTER STORM
As we know, the Middle to Eastern Seaboard of the USA & Canada has been in a Polar Winter, and I have just got off the phone with a friend who lives in Montana. She said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high, and is still falling.
The temperature is dropping to 30 below zero, it has been down to -54 Celsius, and the north wind is increasing to near gale force. Her husband has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare.
She says if it gets much worse, she may have to let the drunken b------ in!
Attendance/Guest Speaker: 27 including Leon Zupan, Chief Operating Officer of Enbridge
Gift Cards: contact Rob Dunseith to purchase, commission pays for club projects
Fireside: email Darrel Ripley whether you can attend Saturday, February 8, 2:00 p m @ 2400, 10235 - 101 Street N W; all club members are invited to help train new members in the ways of Rotary International and Rotary Club of Edmonton West. Event Cancelled - to be re-scheduled.
PolioPlus: Fred advised that Rotary District 5370 responded to the challenge to raise funds for eradicating polio (challenge issued late 2013) in a very positive way. Donations of about $220,000 were matched by the Alberta Government to the amount of $175,000 and this total was further increased by matching grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation totalling about $1,200,000 sufficient to purchase over 2 million doses of the polio vacine. Well done to all who doanted.
Rotary International President: Ron Burton will visit Red Deer, Alberta on May 2. Rotarians from Rotay Districts 5370 & 5360 are invited to join and meet him. Advise Duane if you wish to attend. The event has been arranged by Monty Audenart, a member of Rotary Club of Red Deer East, former Rotary International Vice President and current trustee for Rotary International Foundation.
Al Holmes: Al is home; give him a call to wish him well.
Grandview Extended Care Centre: join the residents on March 4, 6:30p m, to listen to Tommy Banks play the grand piano. Note, when Jerome is performing his performances start at 2:00 p m
Pub Nite: Bob Lamoureux advised the venue is Newcastle Pub, date is March 8, call Bob or Ben Doz to confirm your attendance
Finemaster: Bill Buckham fined Jim Spalding for being the master finemaster; Art for being the newest member; Ingrid for being the youngest member; Steve for being too mature and not acting his age; Duane just because; Dave Turner for not paying fines all last fall. Then Doug Sollows volunteered a donation as he became a grandfather February 1 ( girl over 9 lbs) and Steve on the 68th wedding anniversary that he and Margaret celebrated last week.
50/50: Darrel Ripley and Bill Buckham did not match cards
Guest Speaker: Duane introduced Leon Zupan, C.O.O. of Enbridge, who is a graduate of the University of Alberta. Enbridge started as Interprovincial Pipeline Ltd. shortly after the Esso petroleum find in Leduc in 1947. Oil was initially sent to Regina refinery via rail but the system needed something better. An act of parliament created IPL. Leon's father worked for IPL.
The first all liquid line went from Edmonton via Regina to Superior, Wisconsin on the west end of Lake Superior. IPL created a tank farm there and, during the summer months, loaded ships to get the product to Sarnia. It took only 157 days to build 1100 miles of quality pipeline, 18 inch and 20 inch. Now, Enbridge has 22,700 KM of liquid pipeline delivering 2.2 million bpd, plus natural gas pipelines. A lot of the natural gas lineage is dedicated to removing natural gas from offshore fields. Often, the pressure of the water on the pipe is greater than the pressure inside the pipeline.
There are 7 newer pipelines that run parrellel to the original line. It is a complex system delivering various products. The scheduling system cost several million dollars. The aim is for the system to work with zero pipeline problems. They compete with Trans Canada Pipeline.
In natural gas transmission, they have 2 million customers. Customers expect 100% reliability for gas supply. Further, Enbridge has invested $3 billion in green energy (windmills) and has the largest solar farm in Canada. A new source is a geothermal plant in Oregon. These diverse investments are made to not only offset the firm's carbon footprint but to show their interest in environmental protection.
26 years ago, Enbridge occupied 1/2 a building in Edmonton. Now the 2729 Edmonton based employees occupy all or part of 6 buildings and run the supply terminal in east Edmonton along with the storage farm. The firm brings, annually, $180 million in employment income to the Edmonton region. They have doubled their size in Edmonton over the last 5 years and occupy 650,000 square feet of leased office space. Unfortunately, their corporate office is in Calgary but the firm is committed to Edmonton as the talent they need is in Edmonton and the education facilities here are excellent.
Currently, work in process projects are valued at $28 billion but will soon increase to $36 billion. They target to be on time, on budget. Possible new projects include the Line 9 Reversal to run liquid product to Montreal then to the Maritimes; also, Northern Gateway (with the federal government approval, they expect to proceed). They have $4.3 billion in projects underway in the oil sands area of Alberta. The corporate culture has meant positive impacts to the Edmonton community including doantions of $11,000,000 in the last decade. Societies receiving the donations include the United Way, University of Alberta, McEwan University, Edmonton Symphony, Alberta Ballet, Art Gallery of Alberta. The firm supports employee volunteerism by making a donation to the employee's choice of not for profit by making a direct donation after 40 hours of employee involvment. The volunteerism partnership in the United Way is a prime example.
Leon is president of the Alberta Chamber of Resources; and was thanked for his presentation by Rob Dunseith.
Meeting: chair, Duane; music, Jerome, grace, Butch Balch for Celebration of Chinese New Year & Robbie Burns Day
Attendance/Guests: 33 including Butch Balch, piper; Daniel Malloy, executive director of ARTA; Ken Usher, guest of Bill Buckham; Tim Der, guest of Danny
Grand Entrance: the haggis (spicier than in the past, thus dubbed Mexican Haggis) was piped in by Butch with Brian doing the physical transport. Jim Johnston addressed the haggis and vented the pudding sack.
Cambodia: Darryll White was welcomed back from his 3 week evaluation of our water dugout project which is under construction. When it is completed, it will service the water needs for 30 families (unfiltered unfortunately). Darryll also gave 70 bicycles to local children who cannot get to school without this type of transport.
Al Holmes: Al fell and broke a bone in his lower spine; please visit him in Sturgeon Hospital. Get well soon, Al.
New Member: Art Lachance was introduced by Bill Buckham on behalf of Al Holmes. Art grew up in Vimy, Alberta, attended university in Ottawa and University of Alberta; is married with 2 children and 5 grand children. As a financial adviser, Art has helped many people achieve the funds to enable retirement and has a history of volunteering for the Italian community.
No Finemaster
50/50: Chris and Brian did not match cards; $160 carried over
Libations: 2 brands of Scotch were supplied as toast for Robbie Burns (one a mild flavour, the other a more peaty flavour). Moatai was suppled to toast the Chinese New Year. Fred gave us the benefit of his time in China to advise that Moatai is made from sorghum and is the Chinese equivalent to Scotch. It had a sweet smell but, at 52% alcohol by volume, it gave a strong, spicy aftertaste.
Doug MacDougall on Robbie Burns: Doug continued in the vein of providing data on well known Scottish Canadians by talking about Sam Steele and General A. McNaughton. Sam's grandparents came from the Islay region of Scotland. In 1866, Sam joined the military and in 1873 he was the third officer to join the North West Mounted Police. In the period of his command he fought the forces of Chief Big Bear, losing the first battle and winning the second at Loon Lake. Fort Steele, near Cranbrook, and Mount Steele, on the west coast, are named after him. General McNaughton was born in 1887, served in World War One and became head of the Canadian Artillery Corp. He used the premises of physics to more accurately gauge the effectiveness of the landing of the artillery shells reletive to the target area than the British. This helped the Canadian forces to be more effective at Vimy Ridge. He became head of the Canadian Army but then joined and ran the National Research Council between the wars. He again served in the World War Two theatre, made sure that the British did not distribute the Canadian troops among the British corps and eventually brought the Canadian contingent to corp strength. Before the end of the war, he returned to Canada to become Minister of National Defence under Prime Minister MacKenzie King.
Doug then talked about Robbie Burns as the most charismatic poet who wrote many poems of which 2 could be considered as Scottish National Anthems. Burns thought highly of William Wallace, rebel leader of the Scottish forces in civil war action (recorded in the movie Braveheart). Robbie Burns might have been an alcoholic but was not as bad as his first biographer depicted. Doug read verses from many of Burns poems.
