Thursday, December 16, 2010

Oil Sands A Cleanish Bill Of Health!

Move over Ontario, Alberta is taking the reins and galloping towards economic independence, the rest of Canada is welcome to come along with us! Saskatchewan has already joined us. BC, oh who knows about BC from one day to the next? We already have huge numbers of our Atlantic cousins working here, with room for more, that leaves Quebec. If Quebec would look outside their province towards other provinces, they might actually see some kindred souls. Alberta wants less federal government interference, so does Quebec. Alberta wants provincial jurisdictions respected so does Quebec.

Instead of co-operation between provinces we are seeing Quebec and Ontario attack Alberta's oil sands on the international stage. Well here is some in your face material for Alberta to use right back....oh wait, we are not that immature, we wouldn't do that to our fellow Canadians.  Why do Liberal provinces think they can attack Alberta without consequences? 

Are the oil sands the most environmentally destructive project on Earth, as critics suggest?
While the belief that the Canadian oil sands represent the greatest environmental threat in the world “pervades” the Internet, the report found that it’s based more on photos of “ugly” surface-mining operations than on real scientific evidence. In fact, the Society says, the oil sands aren’t even the most environmentally harmful industry in Canada. The oil sands rank fourth in air pollutants in Canada, fifth for toxic emissions of mercury, sixth for cadmium, ninth for lead, as well as for four carcinogenic compounds. Oil sands production would have to quintuple for the industry to become the biggest industrial polluters in Canada, let alone the world.
 Soooo, the oil sands aren't the most environmentally harmful industry in Canada? Who would be number 1? 

According to the RSC, the “sands” are not dangerously polluting the air, nor are they fouling the Athabasca River drainage basin or causing elevated levels of cancer and other diseases among the area’s First Nations people — all claims environmental activists have made repeatedly.
The oil sands are not “dirty oil.” Climate activists at the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen dubbed the development “the world’s most destructive project.” But the seven Royal Society scientists who spent 14 months studying what is known, scientifically, about the extraction of oil from Alberta’s mammoth bitumen deposits say the truth is far removed from the activists’ hype. “Based on our review of the publicly accessible evidence, a claim of such global magnitude is not accurate.” They point out that Quebec’s James Bay hydro project has destroyed 15 times as much boreal forest and that Canada’s coal-fired power plants give off more than five times as much CO2 annually as the oil sands mines.
Do you hear that Quebec? The James Bay hydro project is not as environmentally friendly as you want us all to believe. I wonder how loud the howls would be from Quebec if Alberta went on an international stage and slagged Quebec like they have done to us twice now?

2 comments:

Kadam said...

It is an absolute shame that Alberta is getting slagged over the Oil Sands. But you are right, using facts about the Belle Province would accomplish nothing.

They are more worried about provisions protecting culture in a agreement with the E.U. and having some preamble include UNESCO than anything productive.

Like Ontario, Quebec is full of smoke and mirrors instead of any real environmental policy.

JR said...

According to Norman Spector, Jean Charest, the slimy little worm, has a new-found affection for the oil sands:

"... here’s the more important reason for the shift in Mr. Charest’s position ...:

A few days ago, the French-based oil company, Total, purchased Calgary’s UTS Energy for nearly $1.5-billion — $830-million over its last offer in a pursuit extending over nineteen months. With the acquisition comes a 20-per-cent interest in the Fort Hills project, a huge oil-sands property that will cost $8-billion to $10-billion to develop.

On the board of Total sits Paul Desmarais, Jr.

The family’s Power Corporation — in partnership with Belgian investor Albert Frère — owns 4 per cent of Total through Groupe Bruxelles-Lambert.

Mr. Lavoie — who writes for a Desmarais-owned newspaper — would not be quick to point this out. But that’s the kind of power that can make Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and now the Premier of Quebec go all gooey on Alberta’s oil sands...."