2019 election can solve oil problem

Dear editor: Re: A few leaks in pipeline letter, Herald, Letters, May 18

It’s good that David Flater agrees that Canada should be in the oil export business, even if it’s on a self-limiting basis.

We shouldn’t put any more faith in the prognostications of the McKinsey Institute about the decline of oil than we should in the self-serving prophecies of Justin Trudeau.

It’s appealing to think about the world humming along in electric cars, but we’ve never grasped the costs or the challenges involved in supplying the massive demands for additional electricity. It’s all pie in the sky.

The faltering German experience and the Ontario electrical boondoggle show that wind and solar are nice when the wind blows and the sun shines, and when government subsidies are there to pay for them. Even then, they can’t supply the current or forecasted demand. Wind and solar need to be backed up with predictable electrical supply from hydro, nuclear or fossil fuel generation. Nuclear is the best option after hydro, but it creates a welter of costs and environmental implications which people are reluctant to confront.

As Flater notes, our only new export possibilities from the oilsands are those offered by Line 3 to Lake Superior, the Keystone line to Nebraska and TransMountain to Burnaby.

None of these are a sure bet because of all the political and environmental wrangling. We should probably thank Donald Trump for creating better chances for our exports than Justin Trudeau, even though our product will be discounted when moved through the U.S. instead of our own ports.

The imbroglio created by concurrent political, legal, native and environmental disputes will most likely cause Trudeau’s selection of Trans-Mountain to fail. There’s no Plan B except to compensate KinderMorgan with taxpayers’ dollars.

Oil is a global business and we shouldn’t voluntarily concede any advantages to the US shale oil industry or to foreign competitors like the Saudis.

We are fortunate to have the oil resource and we should energetically exploit it for our national prosperity. Oil companies may be greedy, but they aren’t stupid enough to pursue uneconomical export options or try to penetrate political stonewalls.

Unfortunately we’ve created our own political, regulatory and environmental constipation which can best be resolved with an electoral enema in 2019. John Thompson

Kaleden