October 4, 2011 - Latest Issue - McGill University

AUSTINDEL RIOL a w IETHICAL OIL OR DISASTROUSENVIRONEMENT POLICY?AND, HOW SAUDI ARABIANS ARE TAKING OVER THE CANADIAN MEDIAThe Alberta tar sands are having a miserabletime these days keeping out of themedia spotlight.First there was the wave of American environmentalprotestors that descended onthe Whitehouse several weeks ago demandingObama withhold approval of thecontroversial Keystone XL Pipeline project.Then last week, Canadians held a protestof our own on parliament hill where 117fierce and perhaps slightly overzealousopponents of the pipeline were arrestedfor breaking through a police barrier.And now, as of last Thursday, eight noblepeace prize laureates have signed onto aletter unequivocally condemning theHarper government for its support of theAlberta tar sands and its failure to take actionon climate change.Phew! Can’t a guy just pump some goodold, wholesome oil out of the ground anymorewithout getting the third degree?For those just catching up with this wildfireissue, the Keystone XL project, financedand controlled by TransCanadaCorp., would be an expansion to the alreadybuilt Keystone pipeline which hasbeen delivering raw crude oil fromHardisty, Alberta, through Saskatchewan,Nebraska, Oklahoma, and then on to Illinoisfor processing. The XL pipeline, whichoverlaps partially with the original Keystoneline, will add an additional 529 kmof Canadian pipe and will bring the totallength of the XL pipeline to 3190 km. Afterseveral minor planned additions, the originalKeystone line will be expanded to3456 km. Now that’s a lot of pipeline!But more importantly, it is a substantialincrease in the amount of actual crudethat is about to be piped out of Canada’sTexas of the North.In fact, we would see the number of barrelsof heavy crude exported to the US increaseby nearly 700,000 barrels a day,and that is just too high a price to pay indamage to the environment, according tosome critics.World renowned climate scientist, JamesHanson, one of the 1000 environmentalprotestors to be arrested in Washingtonsome weeks ago, believes that approval ofKeystone XL would be “essentially gameover” in the fight against climate change.“But for the great majority of us thataren’t swayed by either “the sky isfalling” version of the climate changeargument, nor the “jobs, jobs, andmore jobs” mantra of the economyvs. environment debate, what arewe to make of this new Keystone XLpipeline?”He argues that the project will increasecarbon in the earth’s atmosphere by 200ppm (parts per million), according to a recentGlobe and Mail article, and that thiswill “endanger the entire planet.”In the same article though, Andrew Leach,a business professor at the University ofAlberta, refutes these claims and arguesthey are simply not true. According toLeach, even using the data put forward byHanson, there would only be a significantclimate impact over 1000 years from now– and considering the advances in environmentaltechnology we expect to seebefore then, the environmental impact ofthe pipeline is hardly anything for anyoneto get worried over.And besides, as many supporters of theproject would contend, didn’t the EnvironmentalProtection Agency in the US recentlyrelease their revised environmentalimpact report and find, for the secondtime, that the pipeline would have a minimalenvironmental impact? (yes, theydid.)Of course, the Harper government hasbeen a firm supporter of the oil sands andthe Keystone project since 2005 when thepipeline was first proposed. And the governmenthas held fast to its claim that anypotential environmental impact of the oilsands is far outweighed by the tremendousprosperity and employment that exploitingthese natural resources provides.But for the great majority of us that aren’tswayed by either “the sky is falling” versionof the climate change argument, northe “jobs, jobs, and more jobs” mantra ofthe economy vs. environment debate,what are we to make of this new KeystoneXL pipeline?Ezra Levant offers a fascinating way out ofthe seeming deadlock between these twopositions.Ethical-Oil is a buzz word that is gaining inpopularity and renowned all acrossCanada, and is a concept Levant spawnedin his book released last year under thesame title: Ethical Oil.The concept of ethical oil is simply that asa Western society still in the beginningstages of a green technology revolution,whether we like it or not, we still need oil.And even though Canadian oil may be thedirtiest of all the oils extracted around theplanet, it stills comes from a country thatscores very high on issues like humanrights and economic and social justice –12 • 4 OCTOBRE 2011 • QN