I have never been one to diminish the chutzpah of folks trying to protect their special interests by embellishing the truth. I’m actually reading a particularly compelling – often horrifying – book right now called Merchants of Doubt. There are all sorts of obfuscation, misinformation, disinformation, lies, and other forms of wrong dealing documented in the book, including much of the sordid saga of climate change denialism. (I will certainly review the book here before long.)
For now, let me just applaud the efforts of the good folks of the government of Alberta Province and their partners in the tar sands industry for a particularly robust effort at sanitizing one of the most despicable practices ever perpetrated by the oil companies – and that’s saying a lot. I have written here on a number of occasions about the Alberta tar sands and how they despoil the forests of Canada, wreak havoc on the health of the indigenous people of the region, suck massive amounts of energy and produce truly prodigious amounts of greenhouse gases. (For more, see this from the Natural Resources Defense Council.)
Our good neighbors compare the oil they send us to a cup of sugar. Suffice it to say that the 1.4 million barrels of oil they so unselfishly provide costs us, at today’s price of $77.21 per barrel, aboot $108 million.
Here, for my money, is the best factoid from the ad below: Alberta has achieved 17 million tons in reductions. Only problem? “Oil sands plants and upgraders produce roughly 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year.” That figure is from the Pembina Institute’s Oil Sands Program. (I would be remiss, of course, in not pointing out that the bigger problem in all of this is the actual combustion of the fuel. A new study from the National Energy Technology Laboratory shows that the carbon dioxide from using conventional fuel is “…ten times greater than the emissions caused by producing the crude oil…” EVs anyone?)
In any event, you have to hand it to them. Way to go, Alberta. You certainly got ’em.
