Harper fools Canadians on oil sands emissions

Reading this piece on more lack of transparency from our government, I was struck by one line in particular, something that should concern us all because it negates even the most flimsy of emissions counters. Never mind that the Harper government buried the oil sands data from the U.N. report, this statement is depressing:

The data also indicated that emissions per barrel of oil produced by the sector is increasing, despite claims made by the industry in an advertising campaign

In the last few years the Conservatives have used "intensity" targets to mask a lack of progress on emissions. Overall emissions can rise, but the Conservatives can still claim great progress based on lowering what is puked out per barrel. At the very least, intensity reductions denotes progress, a very important aspect to the overall sales job. Let’s just plow ahead, because we know technological innovations and improvements will drastically reduce emissions in the future. 

However, here we have evidence which not only negates the optimistic future, but shows a situation where "intensity" is actually INCREASING. I admit, I’m even a little surprised by this revelation, one would expect a levelling at the very least. This fact begs the question as to why intensity is actually rising, DESPITE all these bullshit claims by industry, despite all this talk about improved techniques. An incredibly depressing reality, when you factor in the inevitable rise due to increased production, at the very least one would hope we could see some efficiencies. The Conservatives spoke of the lowest of bars to try and manipulate numbers to look a success. What kind of a worrying development that this industry looks poised to fail, and badly, on the most easiest of measures.

 

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