While I understand Daniel Veniez's recent Huffiington Post blog calling for a reasonable discussion on the fate of the Alberta tar sands, there are some massive oily holes in his argument along with a few bursting pipes.
On the surface, a call for reason sounds good, but it comes at a great cost to the environment where irreparable damage is being inflicted everyday. Unreasonable things are happening in Canada's North and it is not talk that is going to solve these massive problems.
As early as last week a massive pipe burst in Northern Alberta dumped close to a million gallons of oil into the wildnerness and surrounding waterways. The Calgary-based company operating the pipeline, Pace, did not even know about the pipe burst, but was informed by an airplane pilot who spotted the oil leak.
"We have a considerable amount of oil on the ground," said Darin Barter representing the Energy Resources Conversation Board.
In April 2011, 28,000-gallons of oil spilled from the Plains Midstream Rainbow pipeline 100 km north of Peace River.
July 2010, over 800,000 gallons of oil were dumped into Michigan's Kalamazoo River from a ruptured pipeline owned by tar sands giant Encana.
Here's what that looked like:
(Photo courtesy of Greenpeace)
Then of course there is the premanent environmental damage being caused by the mere existence of the tar sands. While I could bore you with facts about the impacts on fresh water and the climate, images in this slideshow speak volumes more:
(Photo courtesy of Greenpeace)
(Photo courtesy of Greenpeace)
There's nothing reasonable about what is happening in my homeland and our country's once pristine wilderness. I applaud Veniez for weighing in on this important issue, but there is a dark and desperate side to the tar sands that must be considered when looking for solutions to this nightmare.
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Daniel J. Graeber: Curtain Closing on Canadian Crude
We need real consequences, real oversight, real regulations for these companies, because they can't be trusted to oversee and police themselves. I despair for our current political climate where we give these people subsidies to polute alberta and make some people (primarily in calgary) very very rich while the average taxpayer ends up footing the bill for the negative economic and environmental imapact.
Prime Minister Harper's premillenian Christian beliefs allow him to know that God will have rescued the faithful from the Earth in the Rapture before that happens, or any resources like Potash just run out, so if you're a Bible-believing Christian who knows Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, go to town on the tar sands.
Otherwise, if you care what happens in 10, definitely 20 years down the line (sooner if you have low-lying or storm-endangered property), you'll want to be opposing tar sands exploitation, and any accomodation to increased petrochemical usage. Petrochemicals have to be replaced for energy, and we need more research done immediately on renewables. Investment in this is the way to produce good, new jobs--it's working in China.
Oil seeping out of a warm south facing hill. - Check
Oil seeping into a river from a warm south facing river bank. - Check
Oily sheen along river bank from seeps. - Check
All of these things are normal up there. This is a first world country and these companies are not small. If we don't have iron clad regulations that will ensure that these sites get cleaned up then we should get some. Perhaps even having the province take responsibility for cleanup and having the companies pay in advance.... the only problem with this approach is it means the company doesn't have as much incentive to find less messy ways of doing things.
Oh and people.. it is OIL sands, not TAR sands. Anyone who calls them "TAR sands" simply reveals their ignorance.
For Greenpeace , the means justifies the end and deception and deceit were acceptable tools in the box, especially if it resulted in more filthy lucre.
There are reams more if you want to search them here: http://photo.greenpeace.org/ -- try the search term "alberta tar sands."