Oil-besotted place:Just a cyclist living here

[shootingstar]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle2300748/

I was glad that Obama and U.S. environmentalists have temporarily stopped the proposed oil pipeline from the Canadian oil tar sands in Northern Alberta. However the Canadian company proponent/partner, TransCanada Corp. is proposing a different route through Nebraska....whatever.

One thing clear in all these pipeline route planning gyrations is that the bottom line is the profits in their eyes (underneath their concerns of traversing mountains, etc.).

The more I learn about living in Alberta and the grip of the oil industry, the more I'm disgusted. I'm just grateful not to have a job at all in the oil and gas/energy private industry.

My partner is glad he retired years ago from the industry. He was interviewed recently: http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2011/...le-conference/ (Note: He was simply a middle manager, not at the top of the chain.)

I'm a cyclist, I don't consider myself an environmentalist. But living in this province has made me even more aware of environmental issues. How about those of you who live in states dominated by the oil/energy industry?

What am I doing about? I just ride my bike, take transit, walk...

[NbyNW]

Another reason I moved back to the PNW ...

What Edmonton had in terms of cycling infrastructure just wasn't working for me. I can't cycle in cold weather -- my lungs just shut down and I was on my trainer all winter. Too much sand on the roads until after May long weekend to be safe for road tires. When the weather was finally good, there was the river valley multi-use trail, which got busy every weekend with big fundraising events, so I would end up riding on the grass shoulder. Some of the neighborhood connector paths might take you somewhere, but then there was no safe place to lock your bike. Didn't care for the straight, flat roads outside of the urban center. So I contented myself with toodling around inside my little mega-block.

I drove everywhere. Had to. I've mentioned this before, that my nearest laundry, grocery, bank, hardware store, and pharmacy/post office were all in separate strip malls in every direction from my place. You would think that wouldn't be the case in an older neighborhood less than 5 miles from downtown.

Here in Seattle I can walk/bike about a quarter mile and all of those things are within a 3-block radius of each other.

The thing is, though -- while Seattle is quite progressive and has in many cases been about to preserve and encourage its walkable business districts -- my time in Alberta has me thinking that we're fooling ourselves if we think we're not so dependent on oil. Sure, it's not our major industry, but even with hydro-electric dams and wind power we're still using a fair amount of fossil fuels and tons of petroleum products. But so much of it is out of sight.

There's a commercial for an electric car that I've seen a few times recently -- making claims that it's cleaner and more efficient. But it never addresses where that electricity is coming from, and how it's being made.

[OakLeaf]

Properties all around me are being leased for shale gas.

Our land itself is under an old lease which I think we should be able to quiet title, but that really doesn't matter that much with hydraulic fracturing. If they contaminate the aquifer anywhere, our water supply is toast.

[shootingstar]

Interesting Oakleaf. And did you know when you moved there about these leased properties?

Until I moved to Alberta, I didn't pay attention at all about the oil industry. Not really. After all, I don't even know the price of gas since I've been car-free for decades.

Innocent me learned about fracking process just um....4 months ago from a work colleague whose GF works for a local company that exclusively specializes in fracturing....which is breaking the ground with natural gas to release the oil. A crude way of explaining but that is how dearie explained it to me.

Honest, in this city it is hard not to meet a local whose personal connections (friends, relatives) who is employed by an organization involved with the oil/energy industry. Calgary area is the spot in Canada where alot of the corporate head offices from these industries are located.

There is a major wind farm by Pincher Creek, near the U.S. border/Waterton National Park...but alternative energy projects are not given enough prominence/nor funding here.

I recognize the value of petroleum for.....our bike tires, our plastics...which is useful for building construction, furniture, (all wood is not always practical), etc. But it is deeply disturbing the overt slogans of "jobs", etc. , when really it's just corporate execs. lining their coffers. The thousands of jobs....are temporary for construction of any pipeline anywhere in the world..is just temporary.

Note: The Canadian environmentalists are just concerned & lobbying.

[OakLeaf]

did you know when you moved there about these leased properties?

The shale gas rush is only just getting underway in my area. There are only a handful of wells already drilled (and none on my aquifer), but hundreds of vertical exploratory wells have been permitted in the past year.

Obviously the existing lease was part of our title search, but we've believed all along that if push came to shove we could get our title quieted, and we thought the likelihood of water contamination from conventional wells on neighboring properties was fairly low. Fracking is something else.

[smilingcat]

electricity to charge up your EV is still far better than running your gas engine in the car. Car engine is no where near the efficiency of powerplant generated electricity. And this is including all the transmission loss. And not to mention that coal plants have more emission control than your gas engine.

We all need to do our part. don't leave all the lights on when you are not around. Don't run your tap water when you are not using it e.g. washing your face, brushing your teeth, for guys shaving. Water usage uses lot of electricity, water pump to pump the water from where ever it comes from, purification, pressurizing the pipe requires to pump the water to some high place. And you know how heavy water can be.

Do our part by recycling. Recycle that aluminum can. Recycle that glass. Both uses lots of electricity when it has to be made from raw material. Smelting of bauxite into aluminum uses lots of electricity. Alcoa has their smelter next to a hydroelectric dam because it uses so much electricity. Glass is almost as bad.

Do our part. Don't throw away batteries with regular trash... and so on.

And I'm looking into ultra light vehicle. velomobile with electric assist. Looking into it as in research and development. Electric motor in use for electric bikes are not that great to bad. We could do a lot better. GE has an electric motor 12 inch long and 12 inch in diameter with 333hp and that was nearly 20 years ago I think... half HP motor should only take 4 cubic inches.

Tar sand and shale is bad in so many ways!! Lets not just try to stop defacing earth and destroying aquifer, do our part by conserving and recycling. Demand less of your power needs. If there is no need, tar sand and shale technology will not be developed.

[shootingstar]

There's a ton of news on the 'Net.

A piece from a more outspoken online news site based in Vancouver:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/01/19/Keystone/

Just a few blocks from home in Vancouver there is a meeting tomorrow, among some activists at a community centre.

I agree NByNW, the hearings ..right now to me, is just to placate the public, the First Nations (native Indians) which this pipeline will run through over 20 different reserve lands if Northern Gateway is approved.
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Envi...earings-start/

Still interested in knowing if Texan TE members are used to living in an oil state. Or maybe it's not like that anymore?? I wonder if I will get used to living in the area where I am now..
Of course, BP Gulf oil spill happened not too long ago..