I agree with you there. Feels like the necessary evil to weather the storm. It doesn’t mean you have to stop investing in green energy. But we still need fuel until that transition can fully happen and so does the rest of the planet.
The big problem here is that we’re eventually going to hit global peak oil use. Building out new infrastructure like this takes nearly a decade to complete, and paying it off usually takes multiple decades. If it’s going to take you 20 years at 100% capacity to pay off, and 10 years to build, and we reach peak oil earlier than 30 years from now (the IEA predicts 2030, however other international agencies push that out as far as 2050), then building extra capacity just doesn’t make sense.
If the IEA models are correct, then we wouldn’t even be finished expanding or building any new pipelines before global oil demand starts to drop. That risks a big drop in prices, which makes it more difficult to pay off any new pipelines once they come online as transit fees bottom out. And then taxpayers are stuck holding the bag.
I feel like those predictions may have relied on the previous growth of alternative energy sources. But with the new reality of today the demand maybe be driven up for much further then 2030. And starting completely new pipeline projects might not be the best I agree. But putting a rush on existing project should be prioritized I’m my opinion. This clears the bar of national emergency in my books and for that reason alone it should be afforded the appropriate level of response. And even if the peak happens, we have no way of knowing how long it will take the industry to decline to the levels where these pipelines may not be worth it keeping. Most of these predictions rely on technologies that don’t exist yet to keep being invented. There is a non-zero possibility that oil remains a requirement for us and world wide customers in the near/far future. I just think that Canada can do something to capitalize on its oil resources while we figure out how we can cut our dependence to them. Also we need to find way to bring revenue streams to the oil producing provinces. This will strengthen our national unity and help us come together in the face of a fairly adverse situation. Would give us time to invest in alternatives revenue streams for the same provinces so we don’t just one day turn off the taps at once and cut them off of Any way to make a reasonable living.
There are a lot of benefits to forging forward here even if we limit our selves in the name of not over investing like you point out and getting stuck with the bag when oil eventually gets sidelined.
Unfortunately I support doing this so we can wean off American money.
I know this didn’t start with trumps tariffs, and I know fossil fuels are awful, and fossil fuel companies are among the worst.
I support this because oils create more than just fuel, and we’re in a drowning moment and need a lifeline.
I agree with you there. Feels like the necessary evil to weather the storm. It doesn’t mean you have to stop investing in green energy. But we still need fuel until that transition can fully happen and so does the rest of the planet.
The big problem here is that we’re eventually going to hit global peak oil use. Building out new infrastructure like this takes nearly a decade to complete, and paying it off usually takes multiple decades. If it’s going to take you 20 years at 100% capacity to pay off, and 10 years to build, and we reach peak oil earlier than 30 years from now (the IEA predicts 2030, however other international agencies push that out as far as 2050), then building extra capacity just doesn’t make sense.
If the IEA models are correct, then we wouldn’t even be finished expanding or building any new pipelines before global oil demand starts to drop. That risks a big drop in prices, which makes it more difficult to pay off any new pipelines once they come online as transit fees bottom out. And then taxpayers are stuck holding the bag.
I feel like those predictions may have relied on the previous growth of alternative energy sources. But with the new reality of today the demand maybe be driven up for much further then 2030. And starting completely new pipeline projects might not be the best I agree. But putting a rush on existing project should be prioritized I’m my opinion. This clears the bar of national emergency in my books and for that reason alone it should be afforded the appropriate level of response. And even if the peak happens, we have no way of knowing how long it will take the industry to decline to the levels where these pipelines may not be worth it keeping. Most of these predictions rely on technologies that don’t exist yet to keep being invented. There is a non-zero possibility that oil remains a requirement for us and world wide customers in the near/far future. I just think that Canada can do something to capitalize on its oil resources while we figure out how we can cut our dependence to them. Also we need to find way to bring revenue streams to the oil producing provinces. This will strengthen our national unity and help us come together in the face of a fairly adverse situation. Would give us time to invest in alternatives revenue streams for the same provinces so we don’t just one day turn off the taps at once and cut them off of Any way to make a reasonable living.
There are a lot of benefits to forging forward here even if we limit our selves in the name of not over investing like you point out and getting stuck with the bag when oil eventually gets sidelined.