Tar sands come with insanely high carbon liabilities. This is a fuel source that even its most ardent supporters admit is the dirtiest oil on the planet—even when compared with world’s other most-carbon intensive fuel sources on the planet, bitumen is found lacking. Canadian studies show it 9-40% worse than the heaviest of crudes on the planet. Other research shows tar sands as 3X the carbon of more typical petroleums. With discussions in DC and Copenhagen looming, these are issues that must be considered.

And there are pollution issues that will need to be resolved on both sides of the borders.

And efficiency…for every barrel of tar sands oil, two tons of earth and sand must be mined and six barrels of fresh water wasted. Again, industry supporters point to recycling programs and efforts towards efficiency—but there are litterally 50+ square miles of toxic lakes that have been created in Alberta to hold the mining pollution. More liability that must be considered as remediation will eventually be necessary as the noxious stew impacts ground water supplies in the region. There are newer technologies in play, but they will not completely replace surface mining and have not been as effective as advertised so far.

And of course there are the moral issues. Don’t take my word for it—plenty of folks have a problem with this stuff:

The Archbishop of the region had his issues with the way this resource is being extracted, its impact on the environment, and the nearby communities: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Technology/Bishop+spurns+oilsands+development/1221786/story.html

So did the UN: http://theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com/2008/05/slow-motion-oil-spill.html

As do nearby First Nations communities downstream from the tar sands mines who seem to be suffering from exotic cancers at unusually high rates: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/mnakagawa/a_cause_for_alarm_in_community.html

And so did the US Conference of Mayors: http://docs.nrdc.org/air/files/air_08062301a.pdf

And note the comments of the head of the IPCC this week…

Some things to consider before considering this stuff, or presenting it in such gilded fashion…

The Keys to Canada’s Sustainable Economic Growth

We all think & worry about the commodities ALWAYS in demand & all becoming scarcer & therefore more valuable over long term cycles – but Canada has more than its share.

FOOD, FRESH WATER (to make food), ARABLE LAND

FOSSIL ENERGY – to do everything (out of favor POLITICALLY but by far the most economic transportable energy source) as in TAR SANDS, Conventional Oil & NATURAL GAS (Lots & Lots of it, not even counting the McKenzie [sic] Delta area). There will come a time where imported Canadian Gas will heat Northern IL, MI & WI

INDUSTRIAL & PRECIOUS METALS – do you like GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM, or PALADIUM – if not, then you will just have to make do with DIAMONDS.

BUT FIRST LOOK AT HISTORY & WHERE THE GREAT
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS AROSE.

THE CRITICAL COMPONENT IN THE LONG TERM SUCCESS OF ALL CIVILIZATIONS GOING BACK 10,000 YEARS IS – FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!!!!

Readily available excess food provides high levels of physical & economic energy within the society, be it Egypt, Greece, Rome, China etc., and acts as a medium of trade for other valuable resources. The same holds true today, the US & Canada are the largest food exporters, have a copious amount of water & arable land to keep making more & more FOOD!! But when employing the economic energy derived from FOOD, Canada has a much more concentrated, undeveloped resource base to work with. US minerals & hydrocarbons have been exploited for hundreds of years, so you can now find only very high cost copper, steel, lead, & precious metals and all exist as a very widely disbursed resource. There are no longer mineral veins, now it is ZONES OF MINERALIZATION. Great – but that mineralization may be only 1 to 10 OUNCES per TON of ore. This is a VERY SERIOUS (as in Extremely Costly) recovery problem. Only societies with low cost fundament economic energy derived from a vast excess of food can provide the work (as in Labor & Capital) needed to convert the resource into valuable products & services.

In the ultimate all capital equipment has it genesis as a combination of labor and resource – trucks are produced from labor & metals. But the metals were made from ores & labor, in equipment made from materials & more labor. In the ultimate all economic activity is based on physical labor & resources. FOOD is the resource that requires the least amount of physical work & other resource to produce something of real value – the sustenance of life. As long as China, Europe, Russia & the other pretenders to world economic leadership can’t feed their own population & have to import more than of their resources, they will have to subsidize there economic growth thru very high taxes either financial (e.g. Europe), a physical tax as in very low wages (China & third 3rd world).

Dick Hildebrand