[R-G] Author rips the Alberta tar sands

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/030509/news3.html

Big dumb oil
Author and journalist William
Marsden rips the Alberta tar sands
projects and the stupidity behind it

by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

In recent weeks, debate over the environmental destruction caused by  
the extraction of oil from Alberta’s tar sands has intensified once  
again. This month’s issue of National Geographic magazine caused a  
stir with a multi-page spread depicting in disturbing detail the  
environmental impact of the tar sands, and the House of Commons  
environment committee announced this week that it will investigate the  
effect on fresh water resources.

William Marsden, the award-winning author and investigative journalist  
for The Gazette, raised the hackles of the oil industry back in 2007  
with his expose of the oil sands, Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta  
Is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (And Doesn’t Seem to  
Care). The Mirror talked to Marsden in advance of a Wednesday, March  
11, speaking engagement at Concordia.

Mirror: Your book has been out for almost a year and a half now—what  
kind of response have you had?

William Marsden: In Canada, we have this reputation for protecting the  
environment, which I’ve always contended was nothing more than a lie.  
Before the book came out, Canadians viewed the oil sands as this great  
endeavour, that it was a good thing in all its quarters, wealth,  
technology, ingenuity and all the rest of it. I took a completely  
different view, and I think it opened everyone’s eyes. Not that I was  
the first. There were organizations in Alberta that have been  
screaming about it for a long time, but nobody listened.

M: The Alberta government recently laid charges against Syncrude after  
500 birds died in one of their tailings ponds. Do you think this will  
be a wake up call to the oil companies?

WM: There’s no question that the companies are becoming far more  
defensive than they ever were before. Before my book came out, they  
didn’t care. Then when things started to roll, and various  
organizations internationally and in the U.S. and Europe began to take  
up the charge and lobby their politicians to not accept this oil, it  
became a serious economic issue for them. But they’ve always looked at  
it from the same point of view: that it’s a PR problem. They don’t  
understand that the fundamentals of this whole project are wrong. You  
can’t get the oil out with present-day technology without tremendous  
destruction, which is unacceptable. The footprint is just too big.
Where to, now?

M: With tar sands oil becoming less attractive to the Americans  
because of environmental concerns, do you see China becoming a bigger  
player?

WM: It could, but you need a pipeline to go from Alberta across the  
mountains to Prince Rupert [on the B.C. coast]. One of the major  
pipeline companies wants to build it, but I read recently that they’ve  
decided not to for the moment because the costs are so high and they  
can’t get the banks to fork out the money. You now have about $99- 
billion worth of future investment that’s been cancelled or delayed in  
the tar sands because of the current economic situation.

M: And do you think that might be the saving grace, if it’s  
economically unviable to produce the stuff?

WM: That will be a saving grace for the moment, there’s no question  
about it. But we have to look at the long term and we also have to  
deal with the situation as it exists. Companies like Syncrude, Shell  
and Suncor are still churning the stuff out like mad because they can  
still make money when oil is in the $15–$25 per barrel. They’re  
pumping CO2 into the air like there’s no tomorrow and expanding the  
oil sands and the tailings ponds.

M: Your book is titled Stupid to the Last Drop. Is it stupidity or is  
it greed, or both?

WM: It’s a combination of greed, hubris [and] absolute stupidity. But  
in the end, it comes down to stupidity, because the facts are all  
there. You just have to go and look at the oil sands to see what’s  
happening. They’ve essentially surrendered the province to the oil  
companies and, in the end, even the financial aspect of it doesn’t  
make any sense. Alberta is now at the point where it’s going to go  
into a deficit budget. They’re in a situation where the oil boom in  
the sands could very well be over and they look at their coffers and  
they find out that they’ve spent all the money. What do they have to  
show for the last 10 years of growth and expansion and billions upon  
billions of dollars in investment? Nothing.

WILLIAM MARSDEN SPEAKS AT
CONCORDIA’S HALL BUILDING (1455
DE MAISONNEUVE W., ROOM 1220), ON
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 7 P.M., FREE.
FOR MORE INFO, CALL (514)-846-0644
OR E-MAIL
NADIA.ALEXAN at SYMPATICO.CA