Quote:
|
So to me, Climate Change is a bit of red herring (not that it isn't real..it is)...but in Alberta its a very important economic argument that gets us to the same place...what are we going to do when markets won't buy our oil?
|
We're already experiencing it. Alberta is, rightly or wrongly, square in the sights of the climate debate with its oilsands. The typical response by the right-wing, deniers, corporate sociopaths, and oil dependent government is a "woe-is-me" attitude that we've been unfairly targeted. The response has been to straighten out the debate, to say that the oilsands aren't actually that bad, to counter facts with different facts, to try to wiggle out of the unfortunate position that they've caught themselves in.
And how has that gone? The lens on the oilsands has only intensified. The visual cues of the tailings pits are emotional and visceral. We didn't fully accept how lasting the brand sticks once it's been applied. But these tactics failed to recognized this basic truism: Climate change isn't going away and the only true course of action that will address the growing anti-oilsands lobby is by actually doing something.
It's the classic failure of using tactics in the place of strategy.
So getting back to your point. The LACK of climate change policy in the oilsands is now the industry's and the province's greatest liability. Governors in four year cycles and CEOs reporting every quarter could not see the writing on the wall. Desperate to save the golden goose by not placing any additional burden on the sector they have now exposed the economy to a massive downside risk. The belief that "America will always buy our oil" is now dated and dangerously naive. The pipelines to tidewater are decades and supreme court cases away. The spectre of much slower growth in the sector is now here, and much of that has to do with failing to understand just how badly positioned they made the oil sands by failing to understand that the tide was coming in on climate change.
The only way forward is real policy. It's to deploy the plastic making tech at the upgraders, which unfortunately does need some type of tax or fee to make that tech economic. We'll see if Alberta has the cajones.