I have tried to stay out of this conversation for many reasons, first is that I live only hours away from the "dirty oil", second that the economy EVERYWHERE in Alberta depends on our oilfield and third it has the potential to become very heated, and third I have a great deal of respect for everyone here, on both sides of the boarder and thoroughly enjoy the conversations.
While I don't claim to be fully in the know of all the details but here is what I do think I know.
First and by far the most important, the media has blown out of proportion the oil sands and dirty oil. There is a picture of a duck or bird covered in oil that has been circulated through the media more times than I can count. I have been through some of the mines and while it is not the cleanest, the fact is the oil was there before, some sitting on the ground. If I understand correctly the natives would take their canoes up to water proof them. Yes it takes more to extract the oil from the sand but the oil companies do return the land to a clean state afterwards.
Second, Sjc3081, I believe you are correct. It's not that the pipelines are going to carry more oil, it will be replacing the train cars carrying the oil south. Sending the oil through a modern pipeline is safer. The technology in place to build and monitor will ensure this. And with the older pipelines we hear leaking, you can be sure that the regulations, inspections, monitoring and everything around a major pipeline like this will make it as safe as possible.
I agree that the pipeline being pushed through is causing more issues than we could possibly imagine, it should have been negotiated properly. A couple things Trump has added to this I agree with for the most part. Using USA steel for the pipeline is better than getting it from overseas. He will also renegotiate the royalties so there will be more profits from the oil flowing through will benefit more than just Canada, and in a greater amount than originally proposed.
I also think we as neighbours should be helping each other and not getting the oil from the Middle East.
I spent 14 years as GM technician, but with the economy going in the toilet I had to keep feeding my family, so I used the skills I got from the Fire Department and branched out into EMS. I am seeing people half my age now trying to kill themselves. I went to a patient a couple days ago who has been unemployed for 1.5 years now, cannot find a job so he drank way too much and tool whatever pills he could so we could go to sleep and not wake up. While I think he is a dumba$$ for not saving properly and not having options for himself, there are simply few to no jobs here unless your highly skilled.
Again, this is my opinion.
