oilsands

A clever hoax

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Late this evening, an email arrived in my inbox that looked rather believable. The text of the email stated that: EthicalOil.org has expanded efforts to identify the Canadian oil industry as the world’s most ethical by calling on the federal government to ban companies active in conflict oil regions from operating in Canada. I jumped … Read more

My latest in The Globe and Mail: Oil sands monitoring plan a good step forward

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Environment Canada has released the second of two phases of a proposed environmental monitoring plan for the oil sands, and one need only look at the second name on the list of authors on the first page to understand its significance: Dr. David Schindler. Dr. Schindler is one of the most high-profile and well-respected personalities … Read more

Keep Alberta Oil in the Ground

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In case you missed it, today’s Globe and Mail features an op-ed by 350.org founder Bill McKibben entitled Keep Alberta Oil in the Ground. In the article, McKibben specifically mentions an Economy Lab post of mine on the Keystone XL pipeline debate.  I have also run some similar numbers on this blog here and here. … Read more

Twice the offsets, half the credibility for the offset system

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The Governments of Alberta and Canada announced today that a final funding formula had been reached for Shell’s Quest project, a carbon capture and storage operation housed at Shell’s Scotford Upgrader in Fort Saskatchewan.  The fact that the funding model has been agreed upon is great news, since although I have been critical of Alberta’s carbon capture and storage strategy in the past, I think that these pilots provide a crucial opportunity for technological advancement.  In this case, proving that CCS can work, at scale, in an oilsands upgrader has the potential to be a game-changer.

The good news in this press release ended for me when I read, “Alberta is updating its carbon offset program to allow multiple-credits…(for)…large-scale, direct injection CCS projects.”  Under this arrangement, projects, “will receive a bonus credit for every tonne of offset credit created through the capture and storage of their CO2.” In other words, capture and store 1, get 2.  A similar bonus credit regime for CCS had been proposed under both the Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Lieberman cap-and-trade bills in the US.

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EEDC Oilsands Event Recap

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This morning, join 650 other interested and engaged people at Shaw Conference Center, for Edmonton Economic Development Corporation’s “Oil Sands: What’s Really Going On?” event. As you can see from speaker line-up, it bound to interesting day. It lucky enough to attend as guest of David Kane and EEDC, for grateful. Click below for recap, with few links your reading pleasure.

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My latest @ The Globe and Mail – Facts take a hit in debate over Keystone XL

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As the deadline for comment to the U.S. State Department on TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline loomed, prominent environmentalist Bill McKibben and NASA climate scientist James Hansen each voiced calls for the Obama Administration to turn down TransCanada’s request for approval to build the pipeline. As has become the norm, their objections were supported by … Read more

On the potential for oilsands to add 200ppm of CO2 to the atmosphere

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Over the last few days, posts by Bill McKibben in the Guardian and by NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen on his own website at Columbia have again brought forward the statistic that, “the tar sands are estimated to contain at least 400 GtC (equivalent to about 200 ppm CO2).”  That’s true but, in the context of building the Keystone XL pipeline, the statistic is laughably out of context.

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Time for Minister Liepert to come down hard on TransCanada

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Alberta’s Energy Minister Ron Liepert has certainly been aggressive in his support of the Keystone XL project, urging US President Obama to, “sign the bloody order,” and saying the the President was, “out of touch with Americans,” who he insists want the pipeline to go ahead.  Liepert went on, in the same interview, to say that, “the (Obama) administration today is highly influenced by the environmental movement, and there’s a lot of foot-dragging relative to the approval of projects that are seen to have, quote, environmental impact.”  He said that, “if we don’t have either increased access to the U.S. Gulf Coast or a pipeline to the West Coast of Canada, we’re going to be a province that’s landlocked in bitumen.”

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My Alberta Oil column on oilsands reclamation

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The Alberta government’s revision of the Mine Financial Security Program (MFSP) continues down a wrong-headed path where the province is willing to take on environmental risk to enable oil sands development. It would be unacceptable if the government were underwriting oil sands firms’ pension liabilities to accelerate development. It should be unacceptable for the environment … Read more