One of the photos below shows an oil sands operation under normal conditions; one shows an oil sands operation on fire.
Can you tell which one is which?
The recent explosion on the Alberta Oil Sands has put the potential evils of oil back in the spotlight. However, Canadians are invited to believe that in fact our oil is “ethical.” How did our oil reach these lofty moral heights?
I did a bit of researching and came up with an interesting timeline:
1. The Athabasca Oil Sands Expand
In north-eastern Alberta, certain areas around the Athabasca River have extremely large deposits of bitumen, which is a very heavy crude oil. Once upon a time aboriginal people (Cree and Dene) used this to line their canoes. However, since oil became so important in our global economy, the oil sands have been seen as a potential source of serious income. Various companies have been trying to take advantage of this opportunity since 1967. However, it is only since oil prices began to soar in 2003 that production has expanded massively – with accompanying environmental damage, which has caused many Canadians to become troubled.
2. Oil Sands Reputation Begins to Stink
The oil sands quickly became known as “dirty oil” because extracting it produces a lot of greenhouse gases, which inflicts a lot of damage on ecosystems. (Although apparently if you look at the oil sands from high enough in the air, everything looks fine and dandy).
The dirty oil allegations (which are strongly supported by some environmentalists in the USA) may threaten the building of the Keystone pipeline, which would transport bitumen to the US Gulf Coast market, thus making an awful lot of money for a select handful of people. Unsurprisingly, the Harper government wants to make sure that these allegations do not stop this lucrative plan from forging ahead.
Some people in Omaha REALLY don’t want our oil –
no matter how “ethical” it is.
3. Right Wing Apologist Steps up for the Oil Sands
While the oil sands do seem to be dirty oil, some people have been eager to point out that other people’s oil is even dirtier! Conservative author Ezra Levant wrote a book called Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands (2010). Levant argues that our dirty oil is at least produced in a country that respects human rights, pays fair wages, and is environmentally responsible. Therefore, it’s much more ethical than the comparatively filthy oil produced by counties that can boast none of the above, and which instead prefer to ride roughshod over politically correct garbage like human rights and the environment. Levant cites examples such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia – interesting, as Saudi Arabia is the only country with larger oil deposits than Alberta.
4. Peter Kent Jumps on the Spin Wagon of “Ethical” Oil Sands
This past week, our new Environment Minister, Peter Kent, echoed Levant’s argument, declaring that the US should rather buy oil from Canada, as our oil is ethical, whereas the unethical oil pedlars will only use their oil income to fund terrorists.
5. Prime Minister Harper Jumps on the “Ethical” Oil Bandwagon
Harper quickly echoed Kent, voicing his intent to explain to the world how ethically superior Canadian oil really is. It seems that our oil is ethical because we are ethical:
“… the reality for the United States, which is the biggest consumer of our petroleum products, is that Canada is a very ethical society and a safe source for the United States in comparison to other sources of energy.”
I am thrilled to hear that being ethical is so contagious that it can even infect oil. I hope the infection spreads!
Would YOU buy a used bike from this man?
6. Keep Your Eyes on that Card (that “Ethical Oil” Card)!
I buy Ethical Bean Coffee, so I do get the argument. It’s not entirely without merit. But the problem is the motivation for the argument. The intent seems to be a smoke and mirrors kind of thing, designed to distract us from the bald reality that both the federal and the Albertan authorities are failing to put in sufficiently tough regulations to protect the environment; in fact, Ottawa has been painted as an absentee oil-sands overseer. Ed Whittingham, executive director of the Pembina Institute, says:
“It’s a rhetorical device; it’s bait and switch. It’s designed to make us forget about the negative environmental impacts we have in Canada because you are comparing to a completely lower standard in other countries.”
Sierra Club of Canada executive director John Bennett nails it:
“The fact that the Saudis or Nigerians or others are worse in human rights and environment is not relevant. We can’t do anything about that; we can deal with our oil sands and we are not.”
Word.
If I had my way we’d scrap all our cars and use less oil anyway. But that ain’t gonna happen anytime soon; in the interim, if Canada wants to take the moral high ground and pretend to have “ethical oil,” let’s do so because we are doing our level best to minimize environmental damage, not because we as a country aren’t nearly as awful as some other countries.
Well, Ezra Levant is a Calgary motorist who enjoys making a spectacle of himself and there is a Vancouver connection. Vancouver motorists are now burning tarsand oil in their cars so every Vancouver motorist is a little bit Ezra! Other than the tarsands, Ezra is one of the greatest achievement of motorists. Ezra is practically Motorist of the Year.
There is a Victoria connection too. Ezra’s oil company executive friends in Alberta take the money and run to Victoria after they have trashed Alberta and turned it into a toxic wasteland. I swear that when I lived in Fairfield (fancy Victoria neighborhood) a third of my neighbors were from Calgary. They should change the name of Victoria to Calgary-by-the-Sea.
Interesting to hear about Ezra’s west coast connections! Depressing to hear that the tarsand oil is making its way here, though. Yet another reason not to drive …
Speaking of petro dollars in BC much of the development in the Courtenay/Comox area has been financed by Albertans buying second homes/retiring early.
Ten years ago or so Albertans discovered relatively low property values in the area and outright bought much of the place-that’s around the time Westjet started direct flights Calgary/Comox-now Air Canada does that route too.
It’s a lovely area but I wouldn’t be caught dead on a bike unless it was a quiet country road-too many large trucks roaring around @ breakneck speeds.
That’s too bad. When I was looking at moving to BC, Courtenay was an area I was seriously looking at moving to.
Actually for the longest period it was the only area I had any interest in moving to.
I recall reading somewhere that Courtenay had the second most amount of commuter cyclists (behind Victoria). I know there were quite a few debates when I was looking into the area.
People do nothing but talk about how great Alberta oil is because it isn’t from the middle east.
The defence of oil and absolute apathy towards the environment in general is the main reason I stopped supporting the Conservatives.
It’s actually quite funny (in a sad way). When I supported the Con’s they were disliked by most Canadians. Now their popularity is high and I can’t stand them.
Look at the slap on the wrists the oil companies get when they do cause enviro. damage. A few hundred thousand to a couple of million is nothing to them.
Although I haven’t seen the movie yet, is that picture a clip from Brokeback Mountain? It surely can’t be the leader of this country!
Um no, it cannot be a clip from Brokeback Mountain, because I understand all the cowboys in that movie were extremely good-looking.
Although the topmost photo is the photo of the explosion, there are intentional gas flares that look that bad! I interned in the summer of 2003 at a federal aerospace research lab, and one of the research programs was in combustion efficiency of gas flares used in oil production so got to learn a bit about this. Not so much in Canada, but some of the flares in other countries will have that much black smoke due to such lax regulation. I think we do a lot of things cleaner than if some other country had the tar sands, but still isn’t pretty.
I agree that we are definitely NOT the worst country around. But the big picture is that it’s ALL destroying our environment, to support our lazy and extravagantly privileged lifestyles. I was reading somewhere that to create our modern lifestyles in ancient times would have required having dozens of slaves – to carry us around, wash our clothes, etc. Still, there’s no way out for us now – our whole world now centres around the internal combustion engine and mass producing factories … I seriously believe we will just keep on the way we are going until the climate and ecosystems all collapse, and most of the vegetation and people die. Then civilization will re-start, if enough of us survive … but we will be back to a “primitive” way of life. Wow, that was depressing 🙁