Dirty oil Vs Ethical Oil
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talkpoliticsLots of First Nations leaders, Nobel Laureates and "B" list celebrities (Margot Kidder, Daryl Hannah, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, and Dave Thomas) Have been protested the proposed Keystone Pipeline that will take bitumen from Alberta oilsands down to Texas refineries.
President Obama with likely approve the project as it means jobs. Jobs building the pipeline and jobs refining the product. And jobs means money. And money means tax revenue and votes. And besides, oil is energy and America needs energy. He would be a fool to pass on this opportunity.
Oil is dirty. All oil. Oilsands oil from the Athabasca is perhaps dirtier. So what.
Well these protesters seem to think they have a point. A dire point. I can't fault them for making it. The pit near Fort Mack will eventually be the size of Iowa... maybe Nebraska. It's huge.
You see this "dirty" oil isn't drilled. It's mined (dug with backhoes and bulldozers). It's very shallow (only about 30-130 feet deep). Unlike drilling, it's very labour intensive, uses much diesel, and removes the landscape just to get at it. Not to mention the rest of the process, where it's separated from the dirt (sand) and put into a pipe over farm fields and wilderness that flows elsewhere to be refined into usable products such as petrol and plastic.
Surely we can do without dirty oil. Well of course. We could get oil from OPEC. Gee, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, etc. could all pick up the slack meeting the energy demands of USA. Heck, they could even "drill, baby, drill" in Alaskan wildlife reserves.
Now it would seem I'm parroting the ideas put forth by Ezra Levant and the Canadian government. I am. I think there is a valid point being made.
There is a reason Saudi government have filed suit injunction to stop Canadian Government sponsored television ads attacking Saudi record on Human/women rights. Perhaps it's not true. None of it. Perhaps Saudi women love to be treated like dogs. Perhaps all women do and we should make them all subservient to males everywhere. Perhaps Saudi women are really equal to men and contrary opinions are just propaganda. Perhaps.
Perhaps there is just no good clean ethical oil anywhere and we should really be putting our resources (r&d, finances, manpower)into alternative energy from algae, french fry grease, geothermal, solar, wind, hydro, etc.). Heck I'm thinking we could raise fatty pigs for the singular purpose of meeting our diesel demands. It's completely ethical to slaughter millions of farm animals, isn't it?
Obviously there's no perfect solution. You have to weigh all the options for yourself. Perhaps this is how Greenpeace came to praise China's efforts to address climate change
President Obama with likely approve the project as it means jobs. Jobs building the pipeline and jobs refining the product. And jobs means money. And money means tax revenue and votes. And besides, oil is energy and America needs energy. He would be a fool to pass on this opportunity.
Oil is dirty. All oil. Oilsands oil from the Athabasca is perhaps dirtier. So what.
Well these protesters seem to think they have a point. A dire point. I can't fault them for making it. The pit near Fort Mack will eventually be the size of Iowa... maybe Nebraska. It's huge.
You see this "dirty" oil isn't drilled. It's mined (dug with backhoes and bulldozers). It's very shallow (only about 30-130 feet deep). Unlike drilling, it's very labour intensive, uses much diesel, and removes the landscape just to get at it. Not to mention the rest of the process, where it's separated from the dirt (sand) and put into a pipe over farm fields and wilderness that flows elsewhere to be refined into usable products such as petrol and plastic.
Surely we can do without dirty oil. Well of course. We could get oil from OPEC. Gee, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, etc. could all pick up the slack meeting the energy demands of USA. Heck, they could even "drill, baby, drill" in Alaskan wildlife reserves.
Now it would seem I'm parroting the ideas put forth by Ezra Levant and the Canadian government. I am. I think there is a valid point being made.
There is a reason Saudi government have filed suit injunction to stop Canadian Government sponsored television ads attacking Saudi record on Human/women rights. Perhaps it's not true. None of it. Perhaps Saudi women love to be treated like dogs. Perhaps all women do and we should make them all subservient to males everywhere. Perhaps Saudi women are really equal to men and contrary opinions are just propaganda. Perhaps.
Perhaps there is just no good clean ethical oil anywhere and we should really be putting our resources (r&d, finances, manpower)into alternative energy from algae, french fry grease, geothermal, solar, wind, hydro, etc.). Heck I'm thinking we could raise fatty pigs for the singular purpose of meeting our diesel demands. It's completely ethical to slaughter millions of farm animals, isn't it?
Obviously there's no perfect solution. You have to weigh all the options for yourself. Perhaps this is how Greenpeace came to praise China's efforts to address climate change
