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Moratorium: To be or not to be - Offshore Drilling
Spunkie
I come from downtown. Posts: 5,646
Should Canadian provincial and federal governments lift the moratoria and permit offshore drilling? Why or Why not?
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They've been talking about drilling off of BC for years and its a horrible idea. Firstly, we live along an active earthquake zone. We're expecting an earthquake along the lines of at least an 8 on the richter scale at any time. This makes us very vulnerable to spills and we should learn from teh Exxon Valdez disaster.
Secondly, it would kill a lot of our tourism industry and destroy much of our marine life. The noise would disrupt many of the migrating whales through that area as well as other mammals that inhabit the straight.
Our oil exploration and drilling does not make Canada more dependant on oil. As any oil found is sold on the world market. We do not artificially price our oil for internal consumption like countries such as Venezuala do.
If people want to make Canada less dependant on oil they could do things like as for oil heating to be outlawed, push governments for a switch to nuclear energy to provide more hydro, outlaw homes over 2,000 square feet. Outlaw trucks that run on anything other than natural gas. As polaris has pointed out many times it's not Canada's use of gas to drive that is driving our rising greenhouse gas emissions, but rather the oil drilling in Alberta.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
i'm all for changing the laws except the push for nuclear cuz that is a waste as well ...
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
an aggressive conservation strategy - our waste of energy is moronic ... closure of all coal fired plants ... carbon sequestering ... and an investment in renewables like wind ... and stop subsidizing oil and gas ...
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
this is the thing with the drilling in alberta - they are using COAL to power all their extraction processes ... 3 times the amount of greenhouse gases than conventional oil drilling ...
anyways - i'm all for your carbon tax ... and let's bring back the ELECTRIC CAR!!!!! ...
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
tidal power, thermal, ocean thermal, biomass (although it releases CO2 but on a balanced scale) ...
What about the risk of spills and the fact that we live in a very earthquake sensitive place? What about the marine life which also is vital to not only the tourism sector, but also fisheries? I'm not sure there is any way to drill without emmitting massive amounts underwater noise which has been shown to be devastating for whales and other marine life.
It is blatantly unfair to allow drilling off of Newfoundland but not off of B.C.
If and when a big earthquake hits the westcoast the least of my worries will be oil leaks.
And about the marine life. Where you live most likely killed and or displaced wildlife to be developped. Maybe you should raze your abode and let the wildlife back. Same goes for where you work and travel to. Human activity displaces nature, I find it pretty hypocritical to just go after one sector while giving most other sectors a free ride.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
I say give "conditional" and progressive tax breaks to companies that implement technologies that reduce harmful emissions.....
From what I've heard, the proposed area is between Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes right? That is not very far off-shore. It will hurt tourism because it is a very sensitive ecosystem which has the potential to virtually eliminate any whales and other species which is what BC tourism feeds off of and is known for. Secondly, cruise ships to Alaska go through there and there is nothing sexier than a dead body of water with those good lookin' rigs.
The debate is not only about jobs. Yes, oil jobs are more lucrative, but not everything should be measured only on dollars and cents should they?
As for earthquakes, we are most likely to survive, however a major oil spill may ensure that any coastal wildlife will not. Do we only care about ourselves an humans?
Yes, my house does sit upon an area that was an old growth forest at one time, however, I believe it is our responsibility to limit our footprint as best we can. This is why I take very careful measures at the expense of price and convenience to do my best. All things, human or otherwise exist at the expense of another, but we should TRY and be as least destructive as possible don't you think?
Lastly I think you cannot justify doing something merely because it is done somewhere else as well. They fucked over their fisheries, therefore we should do the same with BC salmon? Newfoundland has a completely different environment with different geographies, wildlife, and challenges. I haven't completely decided whether I agree with Newfoundland drilling to begin with. I'll think it over.
I just think the cons outweigh the pros here in BC.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
more effects of climate change
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
his foundation is huge ... i would think that most of his figures comes from whatever scientific body is doing research in the area ...
and just to be clear - according to tish's post - they claim the 70% impact is due to increased river temperature ...
Maybe it's that I'm so used to anything Suzuki says being full of shit, hyperbola and not based on science that I have a really hard time acceptig the 70% figure given. Based on what I've seen and read by Suzuki if DDT in the water was the hot topic he'd be blaming 70% of the decrease on DDT being in the water. I think Suzuki does more harm than good.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
I personally think Suzuki's a dick, but I do respect his science. I'm don't agree with him 100% of the time, but his contributions and his foundation does a lot of good work. I don't think he personally does a lot of science himself anymore, but his foundation funds a lot of science and he is basically the spokesman for it now. He does understand the science and the issues, so I think he does deserve some credibility. He's even backed off of some of the doom and gloom stuff and has recently begun writing about some more positive steps we're taking.
Re: water temperture rising, this has some to do with climate change and also to do with projects such as the Kamano completion project which diverted the Nechako River away from the Fraser (reversed its current). Glacial water being led away rather to the river has caused river temperatures to rise in important spawning sites.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley