Having spent seven years in my early career as an on-site executive of Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) – Canada’s pioneer developer and first successful extractor of oil from this massive all-Canadian resource – I feel compelled to comment on the increasing tendency by many to criticize this economic crown jewel. Not one Canadian […]
When government and industry dismiss your product, where do inventors turn?
John Brinkman says he’s often greeted with a cynicism when he tries to sell the oil industry on the benefits of his oil spill clean up product “We get lumped in with everyone else. People think, ‘here comes another snake oil salesman.’ But then it turns out to be better than sliced bread,” says Brinkman, […]
Can new technology ease concerns over pipeline safety?
Who could have ever imagined that North America would surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids? A decade ago, that would have seemed laughable. Yet that’s exactly what has happened; and it’s not just Saudi Arabia that has been left in North America’s dust — Russia has, too. […]
Comment: Oil industry taking on well-funded environmental groups
Back in 2004, Wilburforce Foundation stipulated that the purpose of funding the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) was to protect the region “from oil and gas development, through an advocacy campaign that focuses on grizzly bears and critical wildlife habitat,” tax returns say. Since then, the Wilburforce foundation has granted more than US$25 million to environmental […]
Damage worse than thought
Some regions in the Gulf of Mexico affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are still feeling it’s affects. It was four years ago when BP’s well ignited and pumped oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months. Six months after the spill, a survey showed severe damage was done to coral up to […]
Social license requires integrity and follow through
If the oil industry isn’t going to operate on a zero spill mandate, when there are issues at sites and cleanups are not done quickly enough to satisfy area residents, a companies social license can be in jeopardy. That’s what’s happening in Louisiana. Many landowners in the southern state have been locked in a battle […]
Comment: Foreign money working against pipelines
Now Northern Gateway has been approved by the federal government, it’s time to turn the page and wait for U.S. President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Obama’s supporters come from several interest groups, and the environmentalist movement is one of the largest. It contributed millions of dollars to his campaign, with the […]
Comment: Make Prince Rupert the terminus
The recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling should give pause to Enbridge to consider that Port of Prince Rupert as a viable alternative of its plan to build two pipelines from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, to Kitimat, B.C. Certainly the ruling strengthens the hand of the many small native bands that fish the tributaries of […]
Help for oil spill cleanup
MIT researchers think they have found a way to separate oil from water after a major spill. Their newly developed membrane could process large quantities of the finely mixed materials back into pure oil and water. In addition to its possible role in cleaning up spills, the new method could also be used for routine […]
Are U.S. dollars propping up environmental groups in Canada?
$84-billion per year, that’s the potential impact the oil sands could have on the Canadian economy. The industry it could be argued is the most important economic issue we will have. The greatest hindrance to future projects appears to be the gridlock due to opposition from environmental organizations and First Nations. This gridlock has been […]