Quebec could allow for the opening of many shale gas wells. This would need to be harvested not unlike the Alberta tar sands. Good. Let the companies collect the gas. However, they should pay for the damages against the environment. This means not just a carbon tax, but many other taxes depending on the damages to the surrounding environment. This would encourage the oil and gas companies to either invest in R&D or not mine for gas at all. The government makes a profit. In any case, the environment wins.
In most places west of Manitoba, the arrival of yet another oil or gas drilling rig is cause for little notice or concern. In Quebec, a half dozen gas wells and the potential of hundreds more may be about to set off a new kind of identity crisis.
Quebec has long nurtured an image as a green-energy titan, relying on hydro and sneering at those other energy producers in the West, with their smelly, polluting oil and gas.
Read more at the
Globe and Mail.
As a resident of la belle province, this will go ahead and help to reduce our mighty debt.
ReplyDeleteAnd it will be done safely too!
Before you get too enthused about this, watch the documentary "Gaslands." Then read Marsden's "Stupid to the Last Drop." When the shale gas industry works its magic, be prepared to kiss your groundwater goodbye. Of course, being Quebec, you'll probably only do this on native lands. "Done safely" - what a sick joke.
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