— Fear not good people, for CAPP, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, is not merely an faceless entity with profit-driven ambitions — its selfless work is all in the name of the Almighty. In a recent interview, Janet Annesly, CAPP's vice-president of communications, told Oilweek Magazine:

"I'm motivated with the people I work with; the people I work with are so incredibly passionate about the work they do. I was told when I came to CAPP in October that I was doing God's work now. And there's certainly that kind of feeling around CAPP that we're doing the right thing, that we're advocating for the right things, and we really want the best vision for Canada's oil and gas industry."

That sentiment echos one uttered by none other than Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. The same Goldman Sachs charged with defrauding investors for selling subprime mortgages securities it was betting would, and did, fail.

So... yeah... good luck with that.

— After several calls over the past decade to list grizzly bears as a threatened species, the Alberta government announced it would do just that. "The government is very serious here about making sure we preserve grizzly bears as part of the landscape in the province of Alberta," Mel Knight, sustainable resource development minister Mel Knight told reporter today.

The decision comes a week after the release of a report written by several conservation groups warning increased industrial activity, road networks for resource industries, motorized recreation and general development threaten Alberta's grizzly bear population.

Knight announced plans to expand the province's BearSmart program, coordinate research and limit access to selected roads in grizzly bear habitat, and funnel about $1 million towards grizzly bear recovery.

Conservationists applaude the move, saying the initiatives will go a long way in restoring the bear's presence in the province. Current population estimates peg the number of grizzlies at 760. A healthier number would be 2,000, says Sarah Elmegli, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

"We're just really appreciative the government made this decision and they made it based on world-class scientific knowledge," says Elmegli. "They have really demonstrated a really solid committment to recovering Alberta's grizzly bear population today — and that's just fantastic news."

— Meanwhile, a Calgary council committee nixed a proposed backyard chicken coop pilot project on Wednesday. Aldermen voted 5-2 to scrap the idea fearing the chickens would create too much noise, odours and be a potential health risks.

The city is giving owners 30 days to get rid of their birds or face fines up to $200. However, some Calgarians who already have chickens say they aren't giving up their chickens, or the fight.

"We were surprised that the pilot project did not get approved," says Tony Prashad, chair of the Calgary Food Council, who is raising six chickens in his backyard. "The whole reason I got chickens was that I have three young kids and I want to teach them about where our food comes from."

Earlier this month, the city of Vancouver approved people keeping up to four hens, while limiting the size and location of the coops and banning any from being built on high rises, in front yards or balconies.

According to Prashad, more than 800 Calgarians registered for the pilot project and the number of CLUCK chapters has grown to 15 across the country. "Most of the people that are against it right now are proposing that it is basiclly a trend," he says. "It's not a trend; it's a reality and these are things more and more people are endeavoring to educate themselves in."