By Arthur Weinreb
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
A fire on February 15 at an Imperial Oil refinery in Nanicoke forced the closure of the facility. It was not helpful that the resulting shortage in the supply of gasoline occurred during a CN rail strike that made the delivery of the remaining stock of gasoline more difficult.
It wasn't long before several Esso stations ran out of gas and were forced to close. But Ontarians, being ever so enterprising, simply drove their vehicles across the street and filled up at a Petro-Canada or Shell station. But pretty soon those stations ran dry from the increased demand and delivery that was hampered by the rail strike. Currently several stations are closed and many that remain open are rationing what has become a rare commodity. The horror of it all!
It is estimated that it will be well into March or April before things return to normal. The Ontario Truckers' Association is warning that the province's highways will turn into giant parking lots as the big rigs run dry. The major oil companies, one of the last vestiges of free enterprise have raised their prices; gas that was selling for about 82 cents per litre on the day of the fire is now over the one dollar mark. It is not a good time for drivers in Ontario. And the shortage seems to be spreading after several gas stations in Montreal were forced to shut down. Whether or not this would have happened in an independent Quebec will no doubt be debated during the present provincial election campaign.
For a country that is relatively free of major earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural or man made disasters, the fuel shortage is a major catastrophe. The gas shortage is even worse than the Asian tsunami that, although cost thousands and thousands of people their lives, at least happened in Asia. Needless to say, there has been extensive coverage of the gas crisis in the media and it has eclipsed other less important news such as the tumble of the world's stock markets and the fact that Canada no longer has any anti terrorism laws. Then again maybe we don't need laws to deal with terrorism any more; what can a terrorist do if he can't drive to his intended target.
It is also no surprise that the more left leaning the media, the more of a national crisis this drop in the fuel supply seems to be. More than one Citytv info babe has been close to tears, no doubt at the prospect of having to take the red rocket to work. The media is saturated with comments from people who are whining and complaining about the inability to get gasoline or its cost when they happen to find some. It seems nobody is happy.
What is totally absent from all this coverage is any mention of the positive contribution that this crisis is making to the environment. With gas guzzling trucks and SUVs dying all over the province, the amount of carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere is reduced. You would think that the millions of people who worship at the feet of Al Gore and David Suzuki would be happy at the thought that as the fuel dries up, we will inch ever closer to our Kyoto targets. You would think that Imperial Oil and their buddies at CN would be praised for the positive benefits that are accruing to the environment. You would think that Liberal leader Stphane Dion would run out and buy another dog just so he can name it "Esso". But no, none of this is happening.
The people that lie awake at night, thinking that they are important enough to destroy the Earth and consequently save it, don't seem to be able to savour the positive from the current crisis. Saving the planet is one thing but obviously not as important as being able to drive to the convenience store. All of this shows that the global warming hype is just that -- hype.
None of this is new and no one should be surprised at the lack of praise for the environmental benefits that the fuel shortage will bring. In his 1993 book, Earth in the Balance, Al Gore wrote that in order to save the planet, gasoline prices would have to rise to the then unheard of price of $2.00 per gallon. Then, when gas prices increased way beyond that mark a couple of years ago, Gore joined the other greenies in their anger at the high cost of gas, blaming it all on the evil George W. Bush and his friends at Halliburton.
All of this proves that the notion of saving the planet from its inevitable destruction by man (that is white men in developed countries), is nothing more than a pastime for the privileged with too much time on their hands. When it comes to saving the planet vis a vis personal convenience, the latter wins out every time.
And that like it or not, is the inconvenient truth.
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