December 4, 2005

Untended Consequences -- energy department

Well, the USA does need more energy. That simple fact is not going away anytime soon even if we bowed to the demands of the environmentalists and went completely over to alternative sources. Frequently, these alt. sources require more energy put into the system than is derived from them -- solar, ethanol and bio-diesel come immediately to mind... Public hue and cry prevented us from drilling on the coastal areas of the ANWR (there was never a plan to drill in the heart of this area where the gorgeous scenery is -- there is no oil there, it is only in the coastal deposits). The drilling equipment would occupy several parcels of land, each about ten to twenty acres in size (to a maximum of 2,000 acres total) and the oil would leave by tanker ships. Current technology for drilling allows a drill bit to be steered so one of these sites could tap several different oil fields. Because of climate and transportation considerations, it makes a lot of sense to consolidate equipment and resources. Well, the energy demand is not going away and the chickens have come home to roost. It is somewhat like what was quoted in an earlier post:
“Once again it appears we are trying to solve our environmental problems by dumping them in developing countries, where they have devastating effects on local people.”
In this case, it is our neighbors to the north racing to deliver Natural Gas to us via two land-based pipelines. Story at the Washington Post:
A 'Great Pipeline Race' in Canada
Two Plans to Send Natural Gas to U.S. Would Transform Pristine Land

FORT SIMPSON, A wind prickly with ice bit at Jonas Antoine, the gray-haired native elder. The sting brought a broad grin to his face. "I feel like a wolf in this weather, ready to hunt," he said, leaning against the driving chill.

The cold thrill of sneaking toward a keen-eared moose or snaring a lynx calls him, but Antoine spends days in a stuffy gymnasium, debating with chiefs and elders the looming invader from the north: a huge pipeline from the Arctic that all agree would irrevocably change this land.

Soaring energy prices and profits have revived plans for two massive pipelines -- the biggest private construction projects in North America -- to bring natural gas hundreds of miles south from the frozen Arctic Ocean, through vast untouched forests and under wild rivers, to the United States.

The plans would flood isolated areas of Alaska and Canada with thousands of construction workers, pump billions of dollars into poor native economies, and bring the roar of heavy cranes and bulldozers to pristine areas where it is now quiet enough to hear the hoots of snowy owls and the rustle of pine boughs.

The projects are crucial to keep up with the growing thirst for energy in the United States, say oil company officials and energy analysts. Supporters and opponents agree that the projects would affect Canada's sparsely populated north on a scale larger than the Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s, and unleash a rush of new exploration and drilling.

"Every square inch is going to be opened to diamonds, sapphires, gold, oil and gas," Michael Miltenberger, the Northwest Territories minister of natural resources, said in an interview in the territories' capital of Yellowknife. "There's an insatiable demand. And the critical first step is the pipeline."
That last paragraph sums it up. With drilling in ANWR, the damage to the environment would have been minimal but people got their knickers in a bunch and went hysterical. Now, Canada is stepping up to the plate with two projects that will not only occupy a lot more land, they will be building roads into that territory so future prospecting and development will be guaranteed to follow... The article also cites the case of Yellowknife -- two diamond mines opened up in the early 1990's (Diavik and Ekati) and also talks about towns along the existing Alaska Pipeline:
Towns along the pipeline routes grimly expect the construction to bring inflation, drugs and crime along with the economic boost for their rural economies. In Yellowknife, two new diamond mines have sent rents soaring and brought cocaine to the streets. Last month, the town experienced its first drive-by shooting.
It seems that a lot of the environmental 'platforms' are not well thought out -- they are only looking at a short narrow view and not considering the entire system. Which is funny because one of their platforms is the concept of Gaia and how the entire planet is an entity and interconnected. Spider, tend to your own web first before you meddle with mine... Posted by DaveH at December 4, 2005 9:28 PM
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