Deputy Premier Ron Stevens must have had a tough time during his last day re-branding the tar sands in Washington D.C. and the United States this week as his important government mission was rudely interrupted by 500 very inconsiderate ducks who broke provincial environmental regulations and landed in the Syncrude Aurora Northern Tailing Ponds.
Who do these ducks think they are? Interfering in Syncrude's important tar sands operation? Interfering with Ed Stelmach and Mel Knight's $25 million tar sands re-branding campaign? Interfering in the free market?
More shocking is the revelation that an "anonymous tipster" tipped off Alberta Environment and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development to the ducks' interference. Just who is this "anonymous tipster?" Probably some socialist-Greenpeace-Liberal-hippie type still bitter from losing the last election.
In Alberta, we tough things out. We shoot, shovel, and shut up.
This incident highlights the damaging impact of the "natural" ecosystem on Alberta's booming and prosperous oil economy.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
the quack heard round the world.
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7 comments:
How dare those ducks trespass onto Syncrude property. Where was security? They should all be given tickets, amounting to about $287.
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Awesome!!
The reports I've heard just say "ducks." Some people don't care to know the difference between geese, swans, and cranes - but I do. What if the next time this happens, it's the last 200 or so whooping cranes left on the planet?
aaron,
Nothing new in the blog post you cited. This is an on-going debate among politicians in the U.S. Senate and Congress.
And at the end of the day, it will mean nothing. The U.S. - and more importantly, the world - needs oil, and there are only so many places you can get it.
The news about the ducks is bad, and the timing could not be worse for the gov't (nor better for the Greenpeace types), but it does not change the facts of world demand.
We want it all. We want "clean oil" and zero emissions from the producer... and we want cheap gasoline. There is already public bleating about gasoline prices in Canada and the U.S., and we pay some of the lowest prices among First World economies (Europe is much higher). "People's Party" institutions like the Parkland Institute brag that citizens of some oil-exporting countries pay far less for gasoline than we do, while forgetting that these prices are highly subsidized by the government, and only serve to increase demand. Not the result one wishes to see if you want consumption and emissions to decline. But then, economics is not usually the socialist's strong point.
What we need to do as a province is consistently raise the bar for environmental practices, rather than sitting back with self-righteous commentary and/or trying to grab publicity with stupid stunts. There are many environmental groups which recognize that the economy and the environment need each other. Pity only ones like Greenpeace have the big budgets.
aaron,
Nothing new in the blog post you cited. This is an on-going debate among politicians in the U.S. Senate and Congress.
And at the end of the day, it will mean nothing. The U.S. - and more importantly, the world - needs oil, and there are only so many places you can get it.
The news about the ducks is bad, and the timing could not be worse for the gov't (nor better for the Greenpeace types), but it does not change the facts of world demand.
We want it all. We want "clean oil" and zero emissions from the producer... and we want cheap gasoline. There is already public bleating about gasoline prices in Canada and the U.S., and we pay some of the lowest prices among First World economies (Europe is much higher). "People's Party" institutions like the Parkland Institute brag that citizens of some oil-exporting countries pay far less for gasoline than we do, while forgetting that these prices are highly subsidized by the government, and only serve to increase demand. Not the result one wishes to see if you want consumption and emissions to decline. But then, economics is not usually the socialist's strong point.
What we need to do as a province is consistently raise the bar for environmental practices, rather than sitting back with self-righteous commentary and/or trying to grab publicity with stupid stunts. There are many environmental groups which recognize that the economy and the environment need each other. Pity only ones like Greenpeace have the big budgets.
If you haven't heard the latest, Ed has now claimed wind turbines kill more birds than tar sands. In FACT (he didn't check) they kill over 30,000 birds!
Same government, more lies.
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