Are we experiencing higher death rates due to drought, floods and other related climate-related disasters? In a study titled Global Death Toll from Extreme Weather, Indur Goklany examines climate-induced death rates from 1900 to 2008. His statistically-based conclusion: mortality due to weather has plunged. He credits agricultural advances like better seeds, coupled to an abundant [...]
Provincial support for bitumen upgrading and enhanced oil recovery
Is the provincial government wise in supporting the proposed North West Upgrader and Enhance Energy’s carbon dioxide pipeline? The complementary projects have a capital value of nearly $5 billion. The people who want more bitumen upgraded in Alberta naturally favour a government role. However many Calgary oilfolk, as private sector purists, resist the concept. Before [...]
Know your adversary, oilpatchers
Last year, the World Wildlife Fund raised C$600 million. Greenpeace collected US$200 million. The Sierra Club came up with US$56 million in the United States. There are hundreds of other eco-groups. Globally, environmental lobbyists undoubtedly raised more than a billion bucks in 2009. And for many of these groups, the oilsands have become a favoured [...]
Camelina versus bitumen
An American F/A-18 Hornet recently became the first fighter jet ever to fly on a 50-50 blend of conventional jet fuel and biofuel refined from camelina. The U.S. Navy made a point of timing the flight to Earth Day (April 22), underlining its effort to help break the country’s dependence on foreign crude. But this [...]
Calming the waters
In Alberta, 90 per cent of the water flows northward while 90 of the population lives in the south. Although the province has ample overall water, its distribution will require more sophisticated management as demand increases. Political squabbles, sometimes fierce, are virtually inevitable between industries, municipalities, and other users. The Canada West Foundation has just [...]
Gulf consequences
Todd Crawford, an economist with the Conference Board of Canada, suggests that BP’s ongoing blowout in the Gulf of Mexico will likely nudge American investment toward the oilsands. My two cents: First, for similar reasons, onshore natural gas may also benefit from the Gulf tragedy. Second, the petroleum industry may now undertake a really serious [...]
Alberta’s provincial budgeting is inaccurate but responsible
Among Canada’s provinces, Alberta has the worst record for accurate annual spending and revenue projections. Between 1999 and 2009, Alberta Conservative governments almost routinely varied their annual spending by 10 per cent from projected annual targets, and surpassed 20 per cent in 2007-2008. For the decade as a whole, Alberta spent $11.4 billion more than [...]
Environmental killers
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy has reviewed eight government-sponsored environmental projects, examining the unintended consequences of public policies. Biofuel subsidies, for example, have reportedly reduced the available acreage for food crops and triggered higher food prices. The subsidies also prompted the draining of wetlands to grow biofuel crops. Even worse is the near-total ban [...]
Weather warning
The National Weather Service (NWS) bases its temperature record on readings from 1,221 monitoring stations placed across the continental United States. More than 1,000 of those stations have been assessed physically by 650 volunteers. The initiative is led by Anthony Watts, a retired television weatherman. His analysis indicates that about 90 per cent of those [...]
Popular wisdom
A public opinion poll commissioned by Investor’s Business Daily indicates that 59 per cent of Americans still support “oil exploration and drilling in America’s national territorial waters.” The sampling of 795 individuals was taken 10-15 days after BP lost control of an offshore well in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20. Only 31 per [...]
