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OILMEN - Are they Stupid Enough to Continue their Old Ways?
Oilmen are stupid enough to believe in their own delusions, denials, and outdated opinions.
Date: 2/18/2009 11:03:36 PM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 3180 times Alberta, that Canadian Province that is getting some attention now due to the Tar Sands operation there.
When I lived there, I wrote the various government officials and suggested that some of the vast amount of money being collected in the "Heritage Trust Fund" - a special account for windfall oil and gas revenues - be used to help the wind and solar energy industries get started. No reply.
Now, we see that a few American states, such as Ohio, have got such a head start in those industries that it will be hard to get a foot in the door. They will get all the business, all the jobs, all the tax revenue from this growing industry.
It wasn't even MY idea, lots of people were saying that Alberta should diversify the economy in ways that would mean we could keep our status as "Energy Capital of North America".
ARE THE OILMEN STUPID ENOUGH TO CONTINUE THEIR OLD WAYS?
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The power that money brings to politics meant that the oil and gas people would call the shots, and they sure did, and still do, in Alberta.
The reign of President Bush the 2nd meant that oil and gas people had some extra clout. Global warming deniers could continue to be heard, and affect public opinion. Fossil fuels remained the only sources of energy.
That political power also re-enforced the oil people's own beliefs in what they were saying. Also, the religious slant of their type had them believing the old idea that "Nature is here for humans to use, and we can do no harm because God would not let it happen, Blessed are the OilMen".
Global Warming, toxic air pollution, water sources being depleted and polluted, oil spills on the oceans, land being ruined, roads into natural habitat... all that bad stuff about oil and gas and coal, and yet the oilmen refused to change their opinions or arguements.
Now Obama is President, the oilmen's political capital is weakened, and more and more people are realising that "Faith Negates Reason". The energy scene is going to change.
ARE THE OILMEN STUPID ENOUGH TO CONTINUE THEIR OLD WAYS?
------A few isolated points:
I am using the term "oilmen", not as an insult to women, or to ignore women's role in the oilpatch, but because the oil industry is dominated by men. And a lot of those men do are still sexist old goats. I won't even ask the question "are they stupid enough to..."
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"Socialism" is a term the oilmen would bandy about as if they were using it correctly. Where investment in new industries, such as wind and solar power, would be helped along by government, the oilmen would cry foul and say "SOCIALISM!!!". Not only is that hypocritical considering all the concessions that the Tar Sands, and other oil industry investments got from the Alberta government, but in fact the alternative energy industry would still be owned and operated by PRIVATE CORPORATIONS.
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There are huge losses for Albertan's in the Tar Sands - mostly that the natural gas used in the processes there [to heat the sands so it will release the oil in it] is being used without paying normal rates of royalties. If that natural gas used at the Tar Sands - fully ONE-THIRD of Alberta's annual natural gas production!! - was instead sold for normal uses such as heating homes, or export to the USA, there would be royalty revenue for Alberta. This gift to the oil corporations is pure theft from Albertans. And, the exports of natural gas to the USA may have to be reduced because so much is being used at the Tar Sands. This madness has to stop. Electric cars would mean that Tar Sands would not have to be turned into crude oil to be made into gasoline, and instead the natural gas used in the process could be used to create electricity until the wind and solar capacity is up to speed. That would be a far better use of the natural gas... using a clean fuel to produce a dirty fuel is madness in itself!! Needing to refine that dirty product TWICE adds to the madness.
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I didn't start out to write about the Tar Sands... this was supposed to be about the Stupid Oilmen Mentality. I suppose it is showing through anyhow, eh?
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