Drill, baby, drill,,oops!

And successive governments, (provincial and federal) (particularly the Alberta government) have poured money in this rat hole, all in the name of "economic development"! Something like 3/4 of ALL Canadian infrastructure dollars, are spend on Tar sands projects!

There is a very good book written about this folly, whose name escapes me at this point,, but if anyone is interested, a quick google search will find it. I posted a link on this forum a few months ago.

 

Jay,

At present I CANNOT cite my source. (Which is why I prefaced my statement with "something like"). I am currently traveling in the UK and don't have access to the volume I was thinking about. I will, however try to remember to revisit this when I return in just over a weeks time.

PS Here is a link to the book I was referring to, the dollar figures are in here if I recall properly http://www.borealbirds.org/nikiforukbook.shtml

PPS. As I am remembering this, it surely wasn't public infrastructure spending, but rather capital spending in total,,if I remember. Like I say, I will have to refer back. In any case, the tar sands represent a vast suck of money, both public and private, as well as a vast environmental disaster!

 

How about this once, we forget about trying to asses political blame, and instead focus on how not to do the BS kinda stuff going forward?

There is plenty of blame to go around and as Sage said, we all (unless we are carbon free!) share some of it. Let's take this opportunity to really begin to make the changes we need to make,, including the transparent carbon tax I have been calling for for years!

Just FYI, I am currently on a trip through Northern Scotland. People here are currently paying ~L 1.30 per litre for petrol! That is ~ $2.00 per LITRE or the rough equivalent (depending on the current exchange rate) of ~$8.00 per gallon! What you don't see here is any single occupant SUV's and pickup trucks commuting with white collar folks in them. What you do see, even in the remotest isles is reasonable bus service, both frequency and price.

The North American attitude towards fuel and it's pricing makes me sick!

If all you right wing supply siders out there want to see how the market works,, answer me why there are legions of small fuel efficient cars here that we don't see in N. America? Answer,, cheap fuel that doesn't cover it's environmental or social costs!

 

What I also see in Scotland is what appears to be (from an admittedly small sample) is a concerted effort to take control of their energy future. Wind turbine farms are quite common, especially on the Island and the North Coast. Many small communities have small scale community wind turbines. While the solar climate is not great you do see Pv solar, especially in remote locations to power signs and things.

But perhaps most impressive was a notice I read on the Isle of Lewis, the farthest NW of the Hebrides Island. The local government was paying for someone to knock on EVERY occupied door on the island, explain the benefits of weatherization and explain to residents what grant and loan programes are available to residents. The leadership realizes that it is cheaper in the long run to sponsor and fund energy conservation programes than it is to find and build new sources of power.

They also realize that efficiency is the key to their economic future going forward. That said, I am not oblivious to the fact that off shore, Scottish North Sea oil funds much of this, but the fact that they recognize the life cycle of the oil, and realize it finite quantity, and then realize that the money gleaned from royalties should go back to the people to better cope with what will inevitably be a more expensive energy future. (Regardless of CO2 impact, though they seem to get that way more than we do as well!).