In response to the growing national and international resistance to oil sands development in North Eastern Alberta. The oil industry and federal and provincial governments have come to the defense of development with a ferocity not seen before. In 2008, the Alberta provincial government, then under Premier Ed Stelmach launch a 25 million dollar public relations campaign to clean up Alberta’s image. Since then, countless millions have been spent to purchase the social license to develop and operate production in the oil sands. (to contrast, Greenpeace’s oil sands campaign budget in Edmonton is less than $300,000)
There are several deep flaws in Ezra’s argument.
First, “ethical oil” is an oxymoron and a false dichotomy. No environmental organization or activist is arguing that we should be buying “unethical oil” from the world’s dictators. They are arguing that the combustion of fossil fuels is adversely affecting life as we know it. The argument is missing the third option which is not to produce oil at all. Perhaps if we could implement a carbon tax and a dictatorship tax, and internalize all the externalities of energy production, we would find the most “ethical” choice. We might be surprised to find that the alternative sources of energy which are currently struggling to enter the energy market will be the most ethical after all. Then again, maybe not. Simply, the problem is far more complex then what Ezra and myself are currently making it out to be.
Second, the politics and economics of oil will and never be determined by morality. Oil runs the global economy and although there are some market obstructions (OPEC, government subsidization etc.), oil prices and allocation is determined by supply and demand. For instance, the reason gas prices are lower in western Canada then they are in eastern Canada is not because the oil is produced in western Canada and companies are happy to give the local residents a break at the pumps, it is because they are unable to sell it to higher buyers. They are unable because of a glut of oil in the midwestern US and a lack of pipeline capacity which is currently depressing prices. This is why Alberta and Mr. Harper are so keen to get a pipeline directly to a coast where the oil can be sold at the global price. If the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL are built, Alberta should actually see the price of gasoline increase. Through these pipelines, Canada will be able to sell diluted bitumen to who ever wants to buy it and the current list of clientele has no “ethical” restrictions. If it did, we might reconsider selling oil to the world’s largest non-democratic regime.
Third, lets think for a second. What were to happen if we were to halt purchases of oil from non-democratic regimes, what would happen? Would these nations crumble due to a lack of revenue? Would their environmental regulations improve? Would they embrace liberal human rights for their citizens and turn into a light unto the world? Or, would oil thirsty developing (and developed) nations buy up the stock? Obviously the last choice would be correct. That oil is going to be extracted, bought and combusted by who ever is going to buy it. Now, I’m not trying to be an apologist for autocratic regimes but there are two options (with some shades of gray), we can either develop the oil sands and feel “ethically” good whilst simultaneously turning north eastern Alberta into a slew of emissions, tailings ponds, fragmented landscapes and end pit lakes while extirpating the regions woodland caribou and hindering the ability of the regions first peoples from practicing their traditional lifestyle, or, we can buy oil from the middle east and support an autocratic regimes which is going to happen regardless of our choice. Essentially, at the end of the day, we need to decide if the environmental risks to Alberta, Canada and the world are worth the benefits they produce.
Not that anyone is actually taking the organization ethical oil seriously (especially after this online spectacle, a personal favorite) but greater light needs to be drawn to this false logic. The allocation of oil is and always will be dominated by power and wealth. Although I do truly wish that energy, environment and resource decisions were based on some sort of ethics towards future generations and marginalized communities, I know that this is simply not going to be the case without government intervention or grass roots resistance.
However, as long as Ezra Levant continues to operate out of the Sun News Studio in Toronto, ON, he will continue to buy unethical oil based on the dynamics of global supply and demand. Until TransCanada’s natural gas pipeline is reversed and ships bitumen to eastern Canada and Toronto, by Ezra’s standards, the most ethical choice for Ezra might be to buy an electric car fueled by Ontario’s generous feed-in tariff system for alternative energies. And what a sight it would be.
The Pathways Policy Project 