Category: Climate Cult

Good Fracking Luck

It seems that the environmentalist movement has come to the conclusion that there is good fracking and bad fracking. Bad fracking is when we drill a well and extract hydrocarbons. Good fracking is when we expend huge sums to stuff a perfectly harmless gas back down those same holes. It’s a variation on Keynesian economics: wherever we find existing holes, we should pay people to fill them in, even if there is no need to do so. The article goes on to point out all sorts of potential problems with this idea, but then Keynesians will likely argue that remediation efforts will “stimulate” the economy.

With support from the Biden administration and billions of dollars in new subsidies and tax incentives, energy companies and others are planning to capture millions of tons of industrial carbon dioxide emissions and then pipe the climate pollutant for underground storage, part of an effort to reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas pollution. Federal and state regulators are reviewing 69 projects or permits to store CO2 underground, with 24 of those in Louisiana. Nine projects have already been approved while one more, in California, is pending.

Carbon tax, round ??? Fight!

Conservatives blast pro-carbon price economists as ‘so-called experts’ It doesn’t cause inflation, didn’t you know? Then why were my groceries yesterday 40% more than 2020?

Meanwhile, the carbon tax fight is heating up as the price is about to go up, again, on April. 1, fittingly April Fool’s. Conservative premiers are lying about carbon pricing: Trudeau, while Moe addresses Commons committee.

 

Sorry I didn’t have time to dig into this one myself. Not enough hours in the day. After all, I had to spend half an hour at Sobey’s on Wednesday pointing out to my 17-year-old son how prices of soup, meat, green onions and the like have gone up 40% in the last four years. In the end, a cart which wasn’t even full cost $300, whereas in 2020 it would have cost closer to $210 or so. I kept asking, “And who do we blame for this?”

What do you think the right answer was?

Also, for your reading pleasure:

 

Y2Kyoto: The “Younger Cry-Ass Boundary”

After 15 years of deliberation, a team of scientists made the case that humankind has so fundamentally altered the natural world that a new phase of Earth’s existence—a new epoch—has already begun.

Soaring greenhouse gases, the spread of microplastics, decimation of other species, and fallout from nuclear tests—all were submitted as evidence that the world entered the Anthropocene, or era of humans, in the mid-20th century.

But the proposal was rejected in a contentious vote that has been upheld by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the field’s governing body said in a statement published on its website on Thursday.

The decision “to reject the proposal for an Anthropocene Epoch as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale is approved”, it said.

The only thing funnier than losing the vote is the notion that it could be determined by vote.

Y2Kyoto: Xi See What You Did There

More Chinese Communism can Save Us from Climate Change

Anyone who is curious why China is building wind and solar AND coal, the answer is they are building wind turbines because Xi Jinping told them to build wind turbines.

In 2021, Xi wanted to pimp China’s emissions record in time for the next COP conference, so he issued strict district level energy quotas, demanded more wind turbines and solar, and ordered a transition to renewables.

The order for quotas was obeyed, but Xi forgot to tell everyone to reduce their energy use, to ensure the quotas lasted until the end of the year. As a result, China burned through their quotas and ran out of energy by July 2021, and much of the Chinese economy shut down for a few weeks while people waited for new orders from the Communist Central Committee.

The central committee did the only thing possible, but it took time for news of the crisis to filter through the communist bureaucracy and for a decision to be made – they relaxed the coal quotas.

h/t PaulHarveyPageTwo

The Germans came for LNG, Trudeau offered wind/hydrogen/ammonia

Remember when Germany came to Canada, asking for liquefied natural gas, and were handed a weird wind and hydrogen project in Newfoundland instead? Looks like things are moving forward on that front.

But wait! This whole scheme is to build on-shore wind generation on the southwest corner of Newfoundland, and use that to turn water from an old mine into hydrogen. But since there’s only one very small ship on the entire planet that can ship liquid hydrogen (at 20 degrees above absolute zero), the Newfie wind-hydrogen will be converted to ammonia to ship to Germany. Got that?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just build the wind turbines in the German part of the North Sea instead?

And for something completely different: Brian Peckford was one of the premiers that signed the Constitution Act of 1982, which brought us the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Op-Ed: Brian Peckford: Now that we can amend our constitution, we have no leadership to do so

And since we’re talking about political bullshit, here’s a little bullshit.

Quick Dick McDick: How is a calf born, in 5 minutes or less

And Saskatchewan’s burgeoning helium industry is continuing to grow, using oil and gas services to do so.

North American Helium adding two more processing facilities in Saskatchewan

The Rising Cost Of Bird Choppers

These days it’s routine to hear that wind power is “free” energy. But the Swedes are finding out that the absence of an invoice for raw material doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to still lose your capital investment.

Christian Sandström and Christian Steinbeck analysed wind-power companies’ annual reports in Sweden and their work revealed “significant financial problems”, they told Swedish media outlet Kvartal on February 28.

“The total loss for the years 2017–2022 amounted to 13.5 billion Swedish krona [€1.2 billion], which meant a loss margin of 39 per cent,” they said about the sector.

Sandström and Steinbeck pointed out that the sector as a whole has not made a profit in any year since 2017.

Company losses have ranged from 19 per cent to 90 per cent of turnover between 2017 and 2022, they said.

Will a First Nation-owned pipeline be without protests and opposition?

Can’t imagine why oil shippers demand explanation from Trans Mountain for pipeline cost overruns, can you?

B.C. First Nation and Western LNG partner to purchase natural gas pipeline project. Can they succeed in bringing a major pipeline in on time and on budget, or will they face the same perils as Trans Mountain (above) and Coastal GasLink? Will other First Nations do all they can to halt it, like GasLink? Will they destroy equipment and raid camps?

US Bureau of Land Management accepts bids for the sale of Federal Helium System. FYI the US Govt getting out of #helium is what’s driving Saskatchewan’s burgeoning industry

About those multi-lateral wells … and the Alberta grid

Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Saturn Oil & Gas has joined the multi-lateral bandwagon, having drilled two open hole multi-lateral wells that the Government of Saskatchewan announced an incentive for yesterday (shared yesterday)

I’ve been saying for over a year the Government of Saskatchewan needs to do something to increase drilling numbers. I’m wondering if this is it?

Also: Alberta’s shaking up its electrical grid by 2027. And in a related story, new rules for power generators in Alberta

Reject Net Zero by 2050, says Sask United

Nadine Wilson. Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

 

Several commenters on SDA frequently point out if you accept the premise of your opponent’s argument, you’ve already lost. Looks like that’s what the Saskatchewan United Party is saying here.

Saskatchewan United Party calls on Sask Party government to reject Net Zero by 2050 policy. Leader Nadine Wilson says the Sask Party government seeks to shut down coal and natural gas for wind and solar, gets punted from assembly for calling government liars.

NDP calls for break on fuel tax, finance minister says it would be temporary

Wind peters out in Alberta, yet again, on Wednesday

Op-Ed: Kaase Gbakon: A (Hungry?) Tiger in Your Tank: Part 2

 

The Libranos: YOU get a heat pump! and YOU get a heat pump!

You can’t fool Father Physics.

The energy charges from Nova Scotia Power total $1,591.37 for the period spanning Dec. 13 to Feb. 14. That’s not including taxes or the additional $773.32 he still owes from his previous bill.

Feaver said he’s on the brink of being disconnected, which has left him looking for a second job.

“It will be a job for Nova Scotia Power and then a job to live,” he said.

The 26-year-old rents a two-bedroom apartment in Bridgewater, N.S., with his girlfriend, their dog, two cats and pet snake. Their unit is on the top floor of an older home with a heat pump. They moved in last April.[…]

A rate increase of 6.5 per cent came into effect on Jan. 1, but customers are questioning why their bills jumped much higher.

Danielle Fraser of Westville, N.S., said her energy costs tripled. According to her bill, she used 4,268 kilowatts in January compared to 1,832 kilowatts in November.

She said no one at the utility can tell her why she’s drawing more electricity when her habits haven’t changed. She runs three heat pumps in her home and said she has them cleaned regularly.

Previous.

Carbon tax, carbon tax, carbon tax

Leader of the Opposition Carla Beck during Question Period on March 4. Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

Guilbeault calls Saskatchewan premier ‘immoral’ for breaking carbon-price law.

Estevan MLA Lori Carr tries to show a difference between Sask Party and NDP on carbon tax in statement.

Premier Scott Moe during Question Period on March 4. Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

That statement was referenced in the exchange between Scott Moe and Carla Beck in Question Period on the federal carbon tax. The NDP thinks Saskatchewan should have negotiated a carve-out deal.

A plan to save coal, power generation, and the oil industry in SE Sask

Boundary Dam Power Station

What if there was a way to keep coal mining jobs in Saskatchewan, continue to produce low-cost electrical power, and extend the production of a substantial portion of Saskatchewan’s oilfields not by decades, but by generations? And in doing so, we could still dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and maybe save some money by reducing our nuclear rollout?

Recent developments from Whitecap Resources showing using CO2 in the Frobisher formation led to initial results of 5x improved production. Not 5%, or 50%, but 5x. That’s 500%. I’m not saying it’ll stay anywhere close to that, but we should be taking a very serious look at this development, especially since most new drilling in southeast Saskatchewan is focused on the Frobisher, part of the Mississippian. While the Bakken was a flash in the pan, the Mississippian has been the mainstay of SE Sask oil production for generations. And this is a generational opportunity, but we will let it slip through our fingers if we shut down our coal-fired power plants.

This is one of the most significant opinion pieces I’ve ever done with regards to energy. It basically puts it all together.

 

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