so Maher had National Review's Jill Melchior on this week... the irony of having a well-spoken con on the panel wearing bright green while decrying the Keystone decision as some "lost opportunity" was amusing...

But when she claimed Alberta oil sands would still be produced, just delivered using more harmful methods than we could have provided via some "clean" pipeline, no one called her on it... Do you see what happened there?

As is most usually the case with growth-addicted cons, an assertion of fact starts from a false assumption. She quickly shifted gears to train explosions and railway deaths, and was off the hook.

No one reminded her that there is absolutely no guarantee Alberta will still keep producing at the same rate. In fact, far more evidence exists that the region's production volume is starting to contract.

I wonder how aware Obama was about that fact when finally making the decision to kill it. My guess is: Probably.

This is a project that is trying to deliver a product that desperately needs prices twice as high as they currently are. Why in the world would you build something like that in such an environment of contraction?

In any event, are you for or against said pipeline?...

1st

Source that Alberta oilsands production is contracting?

Would have been ok with it if they ran a parallel water pipeline

If people always pointed out when conservatives were lying, they'd never have time to do anything else.

Consume/Replenish
Destroy/Conserve
Profit/Respect
Win/Share

I guess I'm on strike.

Earl?

Being from Alberta and living here she is correct. Reality is the amount of oil shipped via trains has increased dramatically.Now Alberta is looking at a east pipeline as an alternative.

The biggest impact on the Tar Sands will be the price of oil only. Right now its low so production will not increase.

Though I did think her analogy of more people dying due to oil being shipped by train was a stretch. Also the people killed in the Quebec train derailment was not Alberta Oil but Oil from the Dakotas from fracking. That is some of the most dangerous oil to ship.

So in reality both Bill and her had their facts wrong and Bill rarely makes that mistake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%..._rail_disaster

I remember a stat that coal trains kill about 100 a year. I suppose the same is for oil.

The reality is Bill Maher uses planes that use gas. Obama voted against it because it was the mob decision. He said Canada should not use our land to transport oil to the gulf to send oil around the world. Hillary cut the gasoline tax. Trump says we should be good friends with Canada and allow it to be build. Maybe we can get a 5% royalty off of it.

In summary, buy an electric car, as many solar panels on your roof that the liberals will let you, and buy an efficient heat pump. Every dollar you save on fuel is less income tax you have to pay.

In Summary WAAF. Maybe we should have deregulated access to the electrical grid, thus I can buy my power from a homeowner in Nevada. Democratic party unions will prevent it like in Spain. $2 million fine or life in prison if you put solar panels on your roof.

In summary vote Trump.

Seriously? .... OK, I guess:

In the oil sands, a painful shift to a new normal

Today, the sector is reeling amid a price shock that has sapped billions from corporate budgets and forced a dramatic rethink about the companies’ role in global energy markets.

By one estimate, as much as 1.2 million barrels per day of future production capacity has been put on hold since the downturn began last summer, representing tens of billions of dollars’ worth of squelched investment.

Some analysts say only a fraction of it will be resurrected, as companies grow apprehensive about reviving costly blueprints in the face of rapidly shifting patterns of supply and demand, stubbornly high costs and persistent export constraints.

Tales from the oil sands downturn

As the $340-billion petro-economy confronts an oil market meltdown, a decade-long investment spree is being reversed, layoffs and spending cuts are in full swing at companies such as Suncor Energy Inc., and everyone from oil drillers to real estate agents is feeling the pinch.

With the 50% drop in the price of oil since June, Cenovus Energy Inc. scaled back plans to develop the 130,000 barrel-a-day project. Last week, the producer announced the first layoff in its history, dismissing 800 people and freezing wages. ...

That market is now rapidly reversing. Home sales plummeted 44% in the last two months, making them the worst 60-day period for the city’s realtors since at least 1988, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Oil Sands Boom Dries Up in Alberta, Taking Thousands of Jobs With It

FORT McMURRAY, Alberta — At a camp for oil workers here, a collection of 16 three-story buildings that once housed 2,000 workers sits empty. A parking lot at a neighboring camp is now dotted with abandoned cars. With oil prices falling precipitously, capital-intensive projects rooted in the heavy crude mined from Alberta’s oil sands are losing money, contributing to the loss of about 35,000 energy industry jobs across the province.

Canada is now dealing with the economic fallout, having slipped into a mild recession earlier this year. And Alberta, which relies most heavily on oil royalties, now expects to post a deficit of 6 billion Canadian dollars, or about $4.5 billion

Obv future plans for projects are being suspended. But currently live sites are going to keep producing. I'm finishing up on a project right now that will be producing 130,000 barrells a day by the spring. Then I'm most likely going to a project that will be at 180,000 when complete by the end of 2016.

Yea there has been layoffs, cuts is spending etc. But these projects have a 25+ life span. They're not just going to shut down.

Ya jiggs doesn't know the difference between scaled back expansion and scaled back production

Jiggs is correct that expansion is halted but it is all due to price. TRust me if it was $100 a barrel there would be no job layoffs.

Obama is such a hypocrit though when he says he is doing this for climate change. If he clearly cared about the climate he would shut down fracking and off shore drilling. I like Obama also but on this issue just tell the truth on why you are not approving it

I wish Alberta would invest in more refining so we would not need to ship it to China

Problem is Hilary is gonna win and I dont see a Republican winning for a bit. So the pipeline is dead

Oh, look! It's the forum's top-ranked tar sands enthusiast!!

Quite the contrary. Better than you, who pretends cost at the well-head is all that's ever involved, and ignores royalties, transportation and blend, among everything else that's involved in bringing source energy to market in usable form.

I'm also painfully aware - unlike you - that production can't maintain levels for very long after expansion has stopped, no matter how many times cornucopians like you scream "technology gains" over and over again.

who me?

Nope I believe in Climate Change and realize the tar sands contribute. Fossil fuels are the cause of many problems in the this world. Climate Change, wars.

Though I also realize no CDN or provincial government is going to stop them as it would be economic and political suicide. Though I also think its stupid not to diviersify.

Biggest concern to the planet is Population

I can't help but be sceptical of something when people have to announce whether or not they "believe in it".

Well the sad thing is many republicans including their treasured leaders do not.

no, not you... the troll I quoted.

Well that's kind of the point

http://globalnews.ca/news/2336992/wi...-flow-by-rail/

830,000 barrels a day going via train