Isn’t it interesting that Alberta is under such an intense attack by the so-called environmentalists who have decided that Alberta oilsands, if developed, will bring civilization as we know it to an end. The intensity reached a new pitch when former U.S. vice-president Al Gore presented his optic on the cataclysmic fate of the Earth last Sunday to a surprisingly uncritical Michael Enright on CBC’s The Sunday Edition.
Gore announced himself as a ‘recovering politician,’ but proceeded to suffer a relapse in once again bypassing the facts in his attempts to sustain himself as a global environmental expert (He once stated that he was a tobacco farmer). The former vice-president started by stating that there were three types of oil – good oil, bad oil and tar sands oil. We were then led to consider his irrefutable self-conclusion that Alberta was about to bring upon the Earth a cataclysmic environmental change.
For some reason, he failed to mention coal. Coal burning generates twice as much CO2 per unit of energy as natural gas and a third more than burning diesel fuel or furnace heating oil. Coal burning yielded 8.666 million tons of CO2 last year and accounts for 30 per cent of the world’s CO2 production from fossil fuels. China mines 50 per cent of the world’s coal with the U.S. the second largest producer. Yet nothing was said in Gore’s dissertation about the impact of this form of fossil fuel.
Maybe it’s because coal is the largest source of electricity production in the U.S., and rationing electricity is not politically cool insofar as raising one’s demagogic ratings. Maybe it’s because he was the U.S. senator from Tennessee where coal mining is a politically very hot issue. Mountaintop removal and surface mining are the most popular forms of mining coal in that state and China has an important foothold in Tennessee coal companies. Undoubtedly, Mr. Gore is familiar with surface mining – and he obviously doesn’t like it much. Still, a frontal attack on his own state isn’t exactly the way to start another run at the U.S. presidency. He lost to George Bush first time around. He’s got to be more careful next time.
Which brings us to Fort McMurray. Surface mining is obviously the most cost effective approach for the present Syncrude and Suncor sites, and their operations account for 80 per cent of oil production from the oilsands. But that is about to change as all of the new sites will be drill-welled – to the extent that in full production only 20 per cent of Fort McMurray operations will be surface mined. Technology changes are also significantly lowering water and energy needs for production.
The City of Fort McMurray is changing as well. Mayor Melissa Blake is bypassing the province’s slow paced action to allow people to safely travel by road to Fort Mac. She and her council are expanding the airport. They will also recycle and commercialize their landfill waste to produce concrete materials, methane for greenhouse heating and composite material lumber. Downtown redevelopment has started with demolition of buildings that are not in their approved plan. They can’t expand their land base (it’s Crown land) so they are going vertical. The city’s recreational centre will be expanding to include professional level arena facilities. They are doing all this in partnership with local industry. Fort McMurray is growing up.
I expect St. Albert could have been part of the Northern Alberta development plan, as had been our historical and cultural role. However, we seem to have voted against the development of the Villeneuve airport and, with the extension of Ray Gibbon Drive to serve it, we will have successfully avoided having to concern ourselves with that role any longer.
Alan Murdock is a St. Albert resident
