Metaneos

Personality politics emerge as pipeline dispute pits Alberta against B.C. "For Ms. Notley to tell British Columbia that somehow chasing the 20th century is the way for our future is not a good sign for her and her economy in Alberta," Weaver said. "Frankly, I think she should get with the program and embrace the 21st century as well." I've gotta agree with this. The tar sands have become a money pit, an economic black hole from which Canada needs to try escaping before they take down the entire economy. Back in 2009, Canada was spending $30 billion a year in subsidies so that the tar sands could generate a mere $10 billion in profit. That's, frankly, insane. That was when the price of crude was well over $100 per barrel. With prices falling dramatically to below $50 per barrel, that $10 billion in profit dried up rather quickly. And whatever profit was being generated fell just as much as the price of oil, which means Canada's now probably spendin...

The Huffington Post Canada Some pretty harsh words. And accurate, too. What is the point of more pipelines? Their effect on the Canadian economy seems negligible, at best. At worst, they're sinkholes, employing some, but draining time, money, and manpower from other industries that'd be of more benefit to the Canadian economy as a whole. At some point, the Canadian government's simply going to have to give up on the tar sands. They're a money pit. Canada's days as an oil-producing nation are long over. There's more money being spent on the tar sands then Canada's recouping, now. And the days when barrels of oil were selling at or over $100 per barrel are never coming back.

CBC There seems to be a disconnect here from reality. Not matter how many pipelines are laid, oil prices won't recover because of them. No matter how much oil is wrung from the tar sands, it won't be enough to offset the fact Canada's economy won't recover any faster because there's no infrastructure to do so. We squeeze oil out of the tar, but we don't refine it. Whatever profit there is, we don't tax it. We don't have any industry to speak of to make use of our oil, anyway. Canada's a consumer nation. All our manufacturing, excepting what may even be less than the bare minimum to sustain a small workforce, has been off-shored. Canada can't react. Can't even act. Feet still. Pants around our ankles. Pipleline profits are a pipe dream. All they'll do is off shore more profits for the energy industry. One needs to question the motivations for Notley's government on this.

CBC News Wow, Nexen really bent itself over backwards trying to lower the impact of the headline, pipeline spill. Emulsion? That's new. It was, er, emulsion that spilled, which is an entirely different thing than diluted tar. No siree Bob, we don't have a single thing to worry about if it was emulsion that spilled. And what is emulsion? Had to look that word up. It's a mixture of two liquids that are normally unmixable. In this case, tar, sand, and water. And probably something in it that makes it all mixable, too, but no one's reported what that is, yet. What's worse are these news organizations giving cover for Nexen, running with a headline probably thought up in Nexen's PR department. Whatever. Hopefully, the new Alberta NDP government dings this company, good and hard. Incidentally, isn't this the same company bought by one of China's state owned companies?