Canada's energy superpower delusion

[JohnyCanuck]

by David Hughes

A SUPERPOWER IN NEED OF SUPER POWERS

First off, Canada is not now, nor is it ever likely to be, an “Energy Superpower”. This term was first used by Prime Minister Harper on the eve of the 2006 G8 meeting1. As evidence he stated:

'Canada is the world's third largest producer of gas, seventh in oil production, the biggest hydro-electric generator and the biggest supplier of uranium. Alberta's tar sands are second only to Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil reserve.'

‘Harper also stated Canada believes in "a free exchange of energy products based on a competitive market - not self-serving monopolistic political strategies."'

Harper is an economist by training. Mainstream economics demands growth, and growth in GDP is historically highly correlated with growth in energy consumption. Notwithstanding the fact that they are finite, fossil fuels currently provide more than 80% of Canada's energy. Mainstream economic assumptions that the "invisible hand" of the markets will somehow find an alternative to fossil fuels at the scale they are currently used is a pipedream. No combination of renewable and nuclear energy can come close to the energy throughput currently provided by fossil fuels. The Canadian practice of liquidating non-renewable energy resources as fast possible to stoke economic growth is a sell-out to the energy security of future generations.

The "Energy Superpower" mindset of Harper and the authors of the Open Canada report show they are not in sync with the geological realities of the energy production and consumption trajectory the world and Canada are on. Let's look at the facts putting Harper's statements into perspective and then at the conclusions of this chapter of the Open Canada report:

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/53422

[JohnyCanuck]

1. What Those Who Killed the Tar Sands Report Don't Want You to Know

Just two weeks ago the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development abruptly cancelled a big report on the tar sands and the project's extreme water impacts. The parliamentarians even destroyed draft copies of their final report.

After listening to testimony from scores of scientists, bureaucrats, lobbyists, aboriginal chiefs and environmental groups, the committee dropped the whole affair like a bucket of tar. (For the record, the Alberta government, a petro-state with Saudi visions of grandeur, refused to show up and testify.)

Killing reports paid for by Canadian taxpayers on a $200-billion backyard development is not the sort of behavior one associates with a "responsible energy producer," but there you have it. While federal panjandrums argue that the tar sands may be key to our economic prosperity, our politicians couldn't put aside their partisan views long enough to complete a national report on the project's formidable water liabilities.

Fortunately, civilians can do what politicians can't. In the interests of accountability and transparency, I read through 300 pages of evidence and pulled out the sort of uncomfortable revelations that Ottawa doesn't want U.S. oil customers, industry investors or Canadian taxpayers to know.

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/07/15/TarSandsReport/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=190710

This has also been cross posted in the Environment/Energy Forum.

[CHIMO]

3. Committee Members

ChairJames Bezan
Vice-Chairs Bernard Bigras David J. McGuinty
Members Scott Armstrong Blaine Calkins Linda Duncan Christian Ouellet Francis Scarpaleggia Justin Trudeau Mark Warawa Jeff Watson Stephen Woodworth
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/CommitteeMembership.aspx?IncMem=1&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3&Cmte=ENVI

[CHIMO]

2. OILSANDS REPORT TOSSED

As the anti-oilsands campaign mounts in the U.S., Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach should take a page out of the federal government's book. Just take the ads placed by his opponents -- and destroy them.

For eighteen months, Ottawa's Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development has been investigating pollution caused by oilsands development. The Committee heard testimony from a number of experts -- including environmentalists, people in the oil industry, aboriginal leaders, and scientists with Environment Canada. MPs even took the time to travel to Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray to hear from witnesses.

What they learned wasn't good. But Canadians will never really get to know the full story. Because last month, the government took their final draft report -- and quietly destroyed it.

All we're left with now are the transcripts of the testimony. By law, the government is required to make them public. Andrew Nikiforuk, the author of "Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent", has read the transcripts. We reached him in Calgary.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/aihstreaming_YYYYMMDD_02.wma
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html

[CHIMO]

4. OILSANDS REPORT FOLO

For the MPs looking into the environmental damage caused by Alberta's oilsands, it seems to have been a case of oil or nothing.

A few nights ago, we spoke with Andrew Nikiforuk, the author of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent

. He described how Members of Parliament destroyed a report on the oilsands. For over a year, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development had been investigating pollution caused by the industry. The results of their investigation painted a bleak picture. But, in the end, there was no consensus among MPs. And, for some reason, the final draft went up in smoke, never to see the light of day.

Linda Duncan is on that committee. She's the NDP Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Strathcona. We reached her in Edmonton.
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/aihstreaming_20100722_02.wma