What a fantastic topic for my first ever post on here! See, I live in Alberta, work for the biggest Caterpillar dealer in the world, and I tend to be
on the supporting side of the tar sands. Before you lash out at me, or think I'm some troll, please ponder a few simple facts. Bitumen crude is the
backbone of almost a third of the US oil supply, and consists of 50% of canadian oil. Those are some pretty big numbers folks. What other viable
options are there for energy sources at the current moment that are in the average consumers grasp?
Hybrid vehicles?
www.forbes.com...
Nuclear power?
Do I even need to post a link to this one?
Off shore/foreign oil?
*see above
The other option is hemp? Any idea what those fertilizers do to the soil? Heard of fertilizer runoff into watershed and wetlands? And what happens if
Monsanto gets ahold of a GMO hempseed? You really want them controlling our food supply AND energy production? Give your head a shake.
Without fossil fuels I would not have a computer to read tripe like this.... A job to go to, or money to put food on the table for my family.
Production, mining, and extraction of ANY energy source we utilize right now is harmful to the environment in some form or another... Plant it, mine
it, whatever. It's just getting really tiring, hearing these interest and environmental groups whine about "dirty oil". We keep hearing about how
Canada is a pretty big greenhouse gas contributor as well. Ever see those pictures of people in India and China walking around in a browny orange haze
with a dust mask on? I don't recall seeing anyone EVER wearing one of those here. How about some of the rivers/garbage dumps down there as well?
Maybe those tar sands really aren't the biggest world environmental crisis we are facing right now... But they keep coming up for some reason. Maybe
check out the REforestation being done up there. The restoration of wetlands. These areas have had billions spent to restore them after they have been
mined. That always seems to stay out of the media for some reason. The arguments against are well informed and very insightful, but the benefits of
these projects far outweigh the drawbacks.
On another note, this hybrid car idea really kinda cracks me up. The cost of a HE vehicle is double to triple the cost of a gas or diesel
powered vehicle to begin with, AND you still have to put fuel in it. Much less consumption of course, but who can afford one? I'll tell you! Those
people who don't care about the cost of fuel to begin with, and if I'm given the option between a Prius or a Jeep, we're goin offroading fellas.
Fact is... Fort Mac isn't the problem. The problem is that there is no viable alternative to the fuel we use currently. And it's a whole lot easier
for people to complain and post pictures of tarsands than to actually do something about it. Until hybrid technology improves, or I don't have to go
and raid the fryer oil bin at McDicks to make my own biodiesel, please oh please shut up about "dirty oil".... It's all dirty in some from.