Written by Rex Weyler Thursday, 10 May 2012 14:47

THIS IS A MUST READ. Vandy

The City of Vancouver passed a motion this month demanding that Kinder Morgan pipeline company carry full liability to cover the costs of an oil spill in our Vancouver Harbour. The request is just common sense but demonstrated very uncommon courage in the public political realm.

So, how much liability would Kinder Morgan – the now notorious ex-Enron billionaires from Texas, who bought BC Gas and flipped it for the pipelines – need to carry to indemnify our city from the ravages of an oil spill?

Well, for starters, some $40 billion, as I explain below. But let’s keep in mind:

There is no such thing as “cleaning up” an oil spill. Most “clean ups” get about 10 percent of the oil spilled, like the way a 3-year-old “cleans up” milk spilled on the kitchen floor. There is no price to cover the soul of this region, the promises of indigenous rights, the food we take from this water, the childhoods on our beaches, the families of creatures and forests of fauna, the identity of this city and region, our heritage, and our dignity. There is no price for that.

Economic costs of an oil spill

The Aframax tankers now using Vancouver Harbour carry up to 700,000 barrels of bitumen, the deadliest crude oil on Earth. To estimate the costs of responding to such a spill, one must examine comparable costs for similar accidents. One method uses the historic “costs/barrel” for responding to oil spills.

The Exxon Valdez spilled 270,000 barrels, about one-third of an Aframax tanker. The Alaska tourism industry lost 26,000 jobs and $2.4 billion immediately – and another $2.8 billion over the next decade. Total loss for tourism alone: $5.2 billion. Ouch. [An Aframax tanker carries 700,000 barrels of Alberta Tar Sands bitumen under the Lions Gate Bridge]

British Petroleum set aside $20 billion for clean up and compensation in the Gulf of Mexico, but Credit Suisse estimated total BP liabilities of $37 billion, just for cleanup and injury claims.

So, who pays this cost? Exxon has been in and out of court for 23 years over the Exxon Valdez spill, and still hasn’t paid its liability claims. BP is fighting injury claims, but in Vancouver Harbour there may be no such company that would even accept liability. The oil companies – Shell, Syncrude, Sinopec – and pipeline company Kinder Morgan have already indemnified themselves and would decline liability once the oil is on a ship. The ship owner has liability by Canadian marine law, but these days oil tankers are owned by obscure numbered companies with few assets, in slippery jurisdictions, where they can and literally do disappear overnight in the case of serious accidents. Read the complete Post.

Opposition to pipeline projects slowing shipment

By Yadullah Hussain
Postmedia News May 10, 2012

Rail could emerge as a long-term transportation alternative for Canadian oil companies ham-strung by the slow pace of pipe-line projects.

The continent’s largest pipeline companies, Enbridge Inc., TransCanada Corp. and Kinder Morgan Inc., have proposed numerous expansion plans, but all face opposition from environmental and indigenous groups.

Their inability to keep up with rising oilsands production is forcing companies to seek new modes of transport to get their produce to market.

“To temper the effects of a possible near-term transportation shortfall into U.S. markets, Canadian producers have begun adding rail, trucking and barge trans-port to their delivery options,” S&P analyst Michelle Dathorne said.

A barrel of diluted bitumen is transported at a cost of $7 via pipeline, compared with $6 to $8 via rail, a new S&P report says. Read the complete Post.

By Michael Jessen.

Michael Jessen is a Nelson, BC eco-writer, the owner of the consultancy Zero Waste Solutions, and the energy critic for the Green Party of BC. He can be reached by email at zerowaste@shaw.ca

One way of looking at the energy industry today is to liken it to a horse race; coming out of the backstretch, oil is leading natural gas by a nose and coal is half a length back.

If you had placed your bets before the race began, you would feel pretty comfortable as oil, natural gas, and coal head for the wire – a trifecta win already warming your wallet.

But wait, what’s this? Here comes energy efficiency making a late charge as the horses enter the home turn. The jockey on energy efficiency uses his riding crop to encourage his horse and it responds as it thunders toward the finish line.

In the winner’s circle, energy efficiency is crowned the champion. Oil came up empty, natural gas showed brief foot and tired, while coal broke down and had to be destroyed. Solar, wind, geothermal and tidal were all making up ground at the three-quarter pole despite being ridden by apprentice jockeys.

Nuclear wasn’t entered in this race as it hasn’t raced for more than 45 days and is currently laid off. (Horses that are significantly laid off tend to not perform to their normal standards because they need at least one race to get back on track, pun intended.)

Racing analysts had tipped fossil fuels to win, place and show. How could the daily racing form have handicapped the race so badly? Read the complete Post.

April 13, 2012
With the most recent release of international oil production data, EIA Washington has revised figures back to 1985. This is one of the most comprehensive revisions I have seen in several years. Generally, the totals were revised slightly lower, and this was especially true for the past decade. Data for the full year of 2011 has now completed. | see: Global Average Annual Crude Oil Production mbpd 2001 – 2011.

Since 2005, despite a phase transition in prices, global oil production has been trapped below a ceiling of 74 mbpd (million barrels per day). New production from new fields and new discoveries comes on line, but, it has not been at a rate fast enough to overcome declines from existing fields. Overall, global decline has been estimated at a minimum of 4% per year and as high as 6+% a year. Given that new oil resources are developed and flow at much slower rates, the existing declines present a formidable challenge to the task of increasing supply. I see no set of factors, in combination, that would take global production of crude oil higher in 2012, or next year, or thereafter.

–Gregor

Apr 21st 2012 | from the print edition

AS THE developed-world economy tries to gain momentum, it faces a persistent headwind. The oil price remains stubbornly over $100 a barrel, acting like a tax on Western consumers. Some blame the high price on evil speculators—Barack Obama unveiled plans to increase penalties for market manipulation on April 17th. But there is a simpler explanation: that supply is inadequate to keep up with rising demand.

The concept of peak oil—the idea that global crude production may be at, or close to, its limit—is far from universally accepted. One leading asset manager talked recently of the world being “awash with energy” because of the exploitation of American shale gas. Nevertheless, oil is still the main fuel for cars and trucks. And crude output (as opposed to alternatives such as biofuels and liquids made from gas) has been flat since 2005. Read the complete Post.

The InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver Society presents Protecting Our Sacred Waters, a two-part event examining how political decisions and global economic activities have affected the condition of our rivers and oceans. The daytime symposium is for young adults (16-22) and the evening event is open to the general public. Both sessions will involve evidence-based and respectful discussions about how to protect and restore our sacred waters, a limited and precious resource for life now and for future generations.

GUEST SPEAKERS THROUGHOUT THE DAY INCLUDING:
Rex Weyler – journalist, author, co-founder of Greenpeace, Hollyhock Institute, and Tanker Free BC
Aline LaFlamme and Daughters of the Drum – Dene leader, InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver Society
Chief Phil Lane Jr. M.Ed, M.P.A. – Four Worlds family of organizations; Native American (Dakota-Chickasaw), traditional pipe carrier, sweat lodge keeper, leader in human and community development
David Lavallee – Film producer, “White Water, Black Gold”(screening included)
Jamie Biggar – Founder of LeadNow.ca
Emma Pullman – Blogger for DeSmog Blog and LeadNow.ca,
Michelle Morningstar Doherty – Leader, Educator, ‘Plains Indian’ – Cree/Ojibwa/Nakota mixed with Irish, Australian. Michelle is a member of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, born in Coast Salish Territory.
Sun Dance Chief Rueben George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Director of Community Development
Karl Perrin and Eliza Olson – Burns Bog Conservation Society
Nigel Haggen – Coastal and Marine Science, Policy and Planning, UBC

Plus a guest performance by acclaimed BC singer/songwriter: Aidan Knight!

DATE: Saturday April 21, 2012
LOCATION: 949 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver – Unitarian Church of Vancouver
YOUNG ADULT SYMPOSIUM (10:00 am – 5:00 pm), Registration at 9:30 am
PUBLIC EVENT (7:00 – 9:00 pm), Doors open at 6:30 pm
Donations at the door (Suggested amount of $ 20.00)

See details and register, go to our News-Programs-Events page!

Posted By DavidJones On March 18, 2012 @ 9:59 pm In Economic Growth,Environment,Steady State Economy,Sustainability | Comments Disabled
by David A. Jones

There’s an old question in theology: “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” The supposed answer is “as many as you like.” A pin is a physical object, whereas angels are non-corporeal beings.

I consider mainstream (neoclassical) economics a kind of modern day theology, and the question about angels is akin to the question, “How much economic growth (GDP growth) can our ecosystems cope with?” For the economic “theologians” the answer is once again “as much as you like,” because economic growth can supposedly be decoupled from physical impacts.

First a reminder about what GDP is. GDP stands for gross domestic product. It’s a measure of the total market value of the goods and services produced within a nation’s borders during a year. The basic formula for calculating GDP is:

GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)

One way to calculate GDP in practice is to track the monetary exchanges that occur when final goods and services are purchased. GDP, therefore, measures how frantically money is flowing among people, companies, banks, and other players in the economy. And so the dancing angels become monetary exchanges, the pin becomes the Earth, and the “theological question” becomes, “How many monetary exchanges can fit on the Earth?” Read the complete Post.

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March 15, 2012
The New York Times

To be a modern Republican in good standing, you have to believe — or pretend to believe — in two miracle cures for whatever ails the economy: more tax cuts for the rich and more drilling for oil. And with prices at the pump on the rise, so is the chant of “Drill, baby, drill.” More and more, Republicans are telling us that gasoline would be cheap and jobs plentiful if only we would stop protecting the environment and let energy companies do whatever they want.

Thus Mitt Romney claims that gasoline prices are high not because of saber-rattling over Iran, but because President Obama won’t allow unrestricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Meanwhile, Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal tells readers that America as a whole could have a jobs boom, just like North Dakota, if only the environmentalists would get out of the way.

The irony here is that these claims come just as events are confirming what everyone who did the math already knew, namely, that U.S. energy policy has very little effect either on oil prices or on overall U.S. employment. For the truth is that we’re already having a hydrocarbon boom, with U.S. oil and gas production rising and U.S. fuel imports dropping. If there were any truth to drill-here-drill-now, this boom should have yielded substantially lower gasoline prices and lots of new jobs. Predictably, however, it has done neither. Read the complete Post.

March 16, 2012
By Rex Weyler

This article is a must read. Great summary of our current dilemma.
Vandy

Oil company cheerleaders proclaiming huge supplies of oil are dead wrong. Peak oil is as real as rain, and it is here now. Not 2050. Not 2020. Now.

Oil production has been flat since 2005. This is not by choice. The producers cannot increase production because new fields cannot keep pace with declining production from old fields. The plateau is the top of the global depletion curve.

(The oil plateau: The calm before the decline. Reference: The Oil Drum.)

Furthermore, this end of energy growth only accounts for volume. Energy quality and net-energy are falling like stones as environmental devastation increases.

Every producing oil field on Earth is in decline (unless it is brand new), and peak discoveries are well behind us. Read the complete Post.

ENERGY & EQUITY: Nikiforuk on how oil lubricates bellicose statecraft.
By Andrew Nikiforuk, March 5, 2012, TheTyee.ca

Excellent article. Worth the read. Vandy

Whenever North Americans fill up their vehicles with gasoline these days they should reflect on their ongoing contribution to the dysfunctional status of petro states and the Islamic Republic of Iran in particular.

Iran’s civilian nuclear power ambitions, of course, have set off a grand political tiff with the United States and Israel. Both suspect the nation wants to make atomic weapons too. Read the complete Post.