I'm not sure how much people know about the oil sands in Canada. In recent years it has been a significant news story because of its impact on the economy, the environment and even Canadian federalism. An article in the Globe & Mail titled "The greening of the oil sands" . What's the big deal?
I find it so absurd to think that this industry can be environmentally friendly. They fought Kyoto all the way. Even if it is a useless treaty at least it is a starting point. It is particularly annoying in this article that industry, which usually objects to any government regulation, now needs government to take the lead. That's what Kyoto was for!!!!!!!!
The environmental damage caused by oil sands production is unparalleled. Massive amounts of water are used. Combined with the fact that so much energy is needed to extract it and process it I doubt the value in the extraction anyway. I find it particularly amusing that the article notes that the equivalent of 20% of the gasoline in Canada could be produced by it. Big deal, our gas is still more expensive than the USA. What happened to all the great refineries and value added products that were to be made in Canada creating jobs and making us so much money we could all retire at 35?
I'm getting tired of hearing that doing things the same old way will make us all better off. I don't pretend to have all the solutions but I believe that making some changes and thinking "outside the box" might be a start.
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