Safe, Secure Oil Sands Energy and Alberta
August 01, 2010
In 2008 federal NDP leader Jack Layton flew over Fort McMurray in his campaign plane and announced that the Alberta oil sands should be shut down. He claimed the oil companies were polluting and putting human health at risk, but offered no substantiation, only hyperbole.His preferred alternative, it would seem, would be to put tens of thousands of Edmontonians and Albertans out of work in favour of imported oil. With the oil sands shut down, much of North America’s oil would necessarily come from countries with serious human rights violations, regimes that use oil revenues to oppress their citizens or participate in international conflicts and terrorism. Such “blood oil” isn’t what Canadians want.
Other options, such as oil from offshore sources, also have problems. An accident in the Gulf of Mexico in April has allowed an estimated 35-60,000 barrels of oil to be spewed into the Gulf daily for more than three months. That’s up to 5,000,000 barrels, to date and much more if the well remains uncapped, an environmental disaster (the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill was “only” 260,000 barrels). By early July thousands of birds and other animals had reportedly died because of the spill. Alberta’s oil sands by their very nature cannot spill on their own and are inherently safe compared to deepwater drilling with its risk of out of control well blowouts.
Both federal and provincial legislation is already in place to protect the air, land and water during oil sands development. Environment Minister Jim Prentice has stated that the government will hold energy companies to account, to ensure all oil development in Canada is done in an environmentally sound manner.
With proper controls and a commitment to clean energy, I think the Alberta oil sands have become the safe, clean source of choice for North America’s energy needs.
What do you think?