Canadian Environment Ministers Agree: Oil is an Infinite Resource
The breathtaking inanity of Canadian energy policy can be summed up no better than the statement expressing the shared beliefs of natural resources minister Joe Oliver and all of his provincial counterparts, except Ontario minister Brad Duguid: Alberta’s oil sands are a responsible and sustainable major supplier of energy to the world.
Logically, a sustainable resource is one that is renewable at the rate they are being harvested, or one that is infinite. I’m sure the energy ministers realize that the oil sands are not renewing themselves. I am forced to conclude, therefore, that the future of Canada’s energy policy at a time when climate change is the most important threat facing humanity has been irresponsibly placed in the hands of a group of business-backed morons who are so criminally stupid, so scientifically illiterate, and so incapable of basic elementary logic that they actually believe there is an infinite amount of oil somehow hiding under the northern prairie.
I would be more inclined to forgive them this slip as a mere bit of deceitful but typical political sophistry if not for the fact that everything else about this conference feels wrong. For instance, the press release I linked to claims that a full report from the ministers can be found on the conference website, called Canada as a Global Energy Leader. At least as of afternoon Wednesday, this is simply a lie. I looked. For another, the conference’s website inexplicably contains a tourism section promoting Banff and Fort McMurray. And finally, and most importantly, this “ministerial conference” was bought and paid for by the oil industry via the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the event’s “gold sponsor.”
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LMA
Criminally stupid, scientifically illiterate….and GREEDY!
Thank God that Ontario in standing up for renewables.
Sixth Estate
Well, that too, I suppose.
I am glad Ontario “stood up,” as you say, though it’s pretty sad when we’re reduced to thanking someone for not being blatantly idiotic.
Holly Stick
Look at this news item that Deep Climate noted:
“The federal government will slash funding to the environmental agency that evaluates potentially harmful policies and projects before they get the green light…”
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Black+green+jobs+Feds+prepare+environmental+agency/5133311/story.html
Sixth Estate
Holly – I believe that comes under the Kananaskis environmental policy “goal” of reducing red tape.
Which sounds like an own goal, from an environmental perspective, but oh well.
Matt West
At the two day federal provincial energy conference in July, Canada’s energy ministers agreed on the broad strokes of a plan to make Canada a dirty energy superpower. The plan is to squeeze as many petrodollars as they can out of the tar sands which some have described as the most environmentally destructive project on earth. To continue reading go to http://bit.ly/mYuolp
joe
Joe Oliver also recently publicly endorsed the Northern Gateway pipeline, which is being proposed to export this sustainable resource (!) to Asian markets:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/story_print.html?id=5127830&sponsor=
As the minister who will be ultimately signing off on the as-of-yet incomplete review process for the pipeline, Oliver has demonstrated that the approval is basically pre-determined.
Sad. And as LMA put it, “Criminally stupid, scientifically illiterate….and GREEDY!”
joe
While CAPP was the Gold sponsor, let’s not forget the others:
Silver:
- The Oil Sands Developer’s Group
- Nexen
- Transcanada
- Cenovus
Bronze:
- Devon
- Canadian Electricity Association
- Shell
- Enbridge
- Encana
- Canadian Petroleum Products Institute
- Canadian Energy Pipeline Association
No renewable energy sponsors (maybe because they don’t get the same level of subsidies!) . And looking at the program, I don’t see any discussions of renewable energy at a conference which proclaims to be about the future of energy in Canada.
Sixth Estate
Yes, thanks for the full list, joe.
LMA
There is fierce opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline from First Nations groups in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba, who claim that approval will violate their treaty rights as well as international accords. If the National Energy Board approves the pipeline, legal action against Enbridge may follow and maybe even an injunction to halt the project??? Here’s hoping.
Sixth Estate
A legal challenge is almost certain, LMA. What is uncertain, at least to me, is what will come out of it. But as soon as organized First Nations groups are involved, it’s a safe bet there will be some sort of court reference.
Holly Stick
Oh look, Bruce Carson and the National Energy Progr… er, Strategy:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/07/21/CarsonStrategy/
Alison
As of today, if you click the “2011 Energy Communique” link on the 2011 Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference webpage, it takes you to a Natural Resources Canada page which advises :
“The ministers also released the Canada as a Global Energy Leader paper and related Action Plan. These documents can be found at https://emmc2011.alberta.ca.”
… which if you click through directs you back to the Natural Resources Canada page.
Nice bunch of photos of smiling ministers sitting in the cabs of really big trucks though.