Given that the tar sands oil extraction is an ecological nightmare, these seem like the appropriate kinds of thing to be doing with revenues generated from it.
You must be aware of the environmental devastation caused by the extraction of oil from the tar sands? I just checked your profile, you live in Calgary for goodness' sake.
Carbon capture and storage is a start, if not a bare minimum solution.
It would be nice to see reductions in carbon output. That would help reduce the amount and cost of storage.
Even better would be to find ways of not producing such by-products of processing and/or find ways to convert output into non-greenhouse gas emissions. That would lead to a good money-making business.
Plans are already in the works to put out less waste, use less energy and use the waste in the processing. This $4billion is being used towards all that. The oil biz sees these plans as profit, if they can spend less to get more, they will. Using the carbon waste for processing instead of expensive water will save the biz money.
This is all well and good but we have to keep in mind that no Province will ever be able to generate the revenues that Alberta has been for some time now. The fact that they have a surplus large enough to create such a massive environmental system, again, is all well and good but I think it hurts the possibility to forming a national environmental policy.
Having a province spend billions in environmental programs and then having the Federal government come in and change things is like telling your son he can't play violent or mature games on his gaming console after he saved up and bought the X Box himself. The fact is that no province outside of Alberta will ever be able to generate the revenues required to have in place an effective environmental program and for that reason we need a national program.
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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Farm_Animals_More_Damaging_To_Climate_Than_Cars_999.html
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You might start with Stupid to the Last Drop or just do some Google searching: http://www.google.com/search?q=tar+sands+oil+extraction+ecology&hl=en
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It would be nice to see reductions in carbon output. That would help reduce the amount and cost of storage.
Even better would be to find ways of not producing such by-products of processing and/or find ways to convert output into non-greenhouse gas emissions. That would lead to a good money-making business.
Reply
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Having a province spend billions in environmental programs and then having the Federal government come in and change things is like telling your son he can't play violent or mature games on his gaming console after he saved up and bought the X Box himself. The fact is that no province outside of Alberta will ever be able to generate the revenues required to have in place an effective environmental program and for that reason we need a national program.
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