8:13 P.M. A ‘ slick ‘ letter from Demian Newman …

MORBNOTE ; I’ve posted the bulk of the letter here. I enjoyed the bluntness of his ‘ query ‘ … 

Dear fellow Canadians ,

I’m writing this as an open letter to every Canadian who has protested the Canadian oil and gas industry. I’m writing this to ask – what if you win ? What if you succeed and completely shut down Canada’s oil and gas industry ? What happens next ?

Obviously , if you’ve ever marched , protested or argued against Canadian pipelines or Oilsands , you must believe that you are financially insulated from the hundreds of billions this industry puts into the Canadian economy. Or you are OK with the crushing blow to the Canadian economy , because your heartfelt belief is that the Canadian oil and gas industry is so environmentally bad for the planet.

These are the people I desperately want to have a conversation with.

I write this letter , not as a Calgarian , Albertan , or even as a Canadian. But I write this as a human being. A human being with two young children , and one who doesn’t go a day without being concerned about how we’re leaving this planet.

So , let’s say that all the anti-Canadian pipeline and oilsands campaigns finally crippled this industry , to a point it can’t rebound. Which feels like a real possibility these days. But what is not just a possibility , but a reality , is that Canadians without their own oil and gas industry would still consume the same amount of energy.

And as Canadians continue to consume 1.5 million barrels of oil per day , the amount we need to import from foreign countries would rise from the current 56 % , to 100 %. And as completely confused as I already am that we currently import 850,000+ barrels of oil per day , while having the 4th largest reserves in the world , I have absolutely no idea how anyone can think importing an additional 650,000 barrels a day is better for Canada or the environment ?

Let’s start with where it’s coming from , with Canada importing 61 % from the US , 12 % from Saudi Arabia , 6 % from Azerbaijan , 5 % from Norway and 4 % from Nigeria. I’m going to skip past each of these countries environmental , safety , employee and human rights track records , as there’s no point defacing them when Canada’s oil and gas industry is the world leader in all of these. And I’ll expand on this later , but I thought for arguments sake , we can pretend all these countries have the same standards as Canada.

How could it possibly be more environmentally positive to drill oil in the Middle East , pipeline it to their ports , tanker it 10,000+kms across the ocean , and then deliver it to Canada ? Remembering that we have it right here.

So , you’ve won , and there’s no more of what you believe is ‘ dirty oil ‘. And now we’re importing an additional 650,000 barrels a day into Canada. Let’s not forget , that the 5 % of the world’s oil production which Canada currently produces daily , would need to be replaced , or prices would inflate and everyone across the globe would have to pay more at the pumps. And more for the 1,000’s of items manufactured from oil.

But don’t worry about the extra cost , as no other country has an anti oil industry campaign against them , that has stopped or slowed them down like Canada has. And with technology getting better every day , Canada’s 5 % worldwide production amounts will be easily replaced.

And let’s go full circle to the Canadian’s protesting new Canadian pipeline projects. If we eliminate our own industry , and we’re importing 650,000 extra barrels of oil daily , we’ll have no other choice but to build new pipelines and facilities to bring this additional oil from the US pipelines and foreign tankers.

So , wouldn’t that be an ironic punch in the face. Where Canadians protesting Canadian owned and operated pipelines , end up shutting down all the investment it takes to move Canadian resources through Canadian pipelines. Just so we are forced to build pipelines and facilities to move more foreign oil into Canada.

And I mentioned that we’d pretend all countries have the same environmental requirements and standards when exploring and developing their natural resources. But it isn’t even close.

You can Google articles with examples of Canada’s environmental standards in this industry , versus any other country. But instead , do yourself a favor and ask someone who’s worked in Canada’s oilpatch , and around the world. Every one of them has countless stories of horrendous environmental issues abroad , which haven’t been allowed in Canada in 30+years ( or ever ).

So , let’s look at what Canada’s environmental standards are for this industry. And by that , I mean you should go look it up. Don’t take my word for it , but find some reputable publications and factual documents , and not someone’s rambling blog.

Look it up , and please let me know if I’m wrong. Because as much as I needed to write this letter , to get a few things off my chest , I also wrote it as I believe everyone needs to do better at having a conversation about climate change , the environment and our responsibility to all do better.

So , I welcome the opposing opinion , as I don’t know why this topic has become a name calling divisive shouting match , where no one will listen to the other side.

But while I have you here , I did want to throw out a couple specific projects , and how protesting them doesn’t make any environmental sense to me. One is Energy East , and the other is BC LNG. The first one is dead , but my fingers are crossed that it can be revived. The second is still approved , for now.

If you look at a map of Canadian pipelines , there is no major pipeline going from Alberta to the east coast of Canada. This means that almost every drop of gas in every vehicle east of Winnipeg is from refined foreign oil. The amount of oil that would’ve travelled on the Energy East pipeline is almost the same amount of oil that we import from Saudi Arabia every day ( roughly 100,000 barrels a day ).

But what if we didn’t protest Energy East , and instead told the Premier of Quebec that he cannot block a national pipeline. Eastern Canadians would’ve paid ( at a minimum ) $10-$15 less per barrel than they are currently paying for Canadian oil versus foreign oil. But there was also the billions ( not millions , but billions ) in revenue that each province would receive from this pipeline running oil through their province.

And I know we’re focusing on the environment , and not the financial benefits of Canada’s oil and gas industry. But , the trick with clean energy and technology , is that it takes money to develop and get to market. So I could be wrong , but I’m almost certain that not one oil company would’ve been upset if Quebec hadn’t killed this pipeline , but instead , took their multi billions a year in revenue from it , and invested all of it into new clean energy technology.

Another thing I encourage you to Google , is the amount of new clean energy technology that has been developed by , and for , Canada’s oil and gas industry.

So , Energy East would’ve taken the amount of Canadian oil , which they are already buying from foreign countries , while generating a ton of money for Canada/Canadians. And then that money could’ve been invested into renewable green energy development. But , Climate Change is a world wide problem , not just a Canadian one. So , as crazy as this might sound , I do believe that BC building facilities to ship Canadian liquid natural gas ( LNG ) to the world , could have an incredibly positive carbon emissions net benefit.

Currently , China alone has over 700 super coal plants. Just one of them emitting almost as much CO2 as the entire Canadian Oilsands ( this is easy to look up ). So , what if we could help China get their energy from Natural Gas instead of Coal , as it’s WAY better for the environment. ( Side note – also look up Natural Gas and its carbon footprint , as I find very few people realize that it has been unfairly lumped in as a dirty fossil fuel ) …

MORBNOTE II ; There’s three or four more paragraphs … Where he is just rambling about wanting to know  … For the good of his children …

Who , after all , will have to live with whatever we decide today and leave for them , and all our children , to live with and prosper on in their future …

 

 

6:14 A.M. A seasonal tie-in from Stilton’s Place …

In what should come as a shock to absolutely no one in these gender-confused times , a new poll has revealed that 27% of respondents would prefer Santa Claus to be female or gender neutral.

Mind you , the poll revealed additional results besides those suggesting that kids should go to bed on Christmas Eve while waiting to hear the clop , clop , clop of Bruce Jenner’s track shoes landing on the roof.

Some respondents want Santa to have dreadlocks , to wear skinny jeans , get tattoos , and drive a convertible – suggesting not only gender confusion , but a significant mid-life crisis.

According to one respondent , ” I just feel like a white , old man giving presents is kind of creepy “. No doubt because in this person’s mind, an endless supply of presents should actually be given away to all by a faceless , genderless government.

Which is , of course , largely funded by old white men who don’t even get the option of deciding whether their funds will go to the naughty or the nice.

Source: Stilton’s Place