[SFUVancouver]

Good article.

My grandfather worked for Imperial Oil as a pretty senior petrochemical engineer on the oilsands project at the very beginning, back when he and others were first beginning to crunch the numbers and figure out how much there was, how much it would cost to get out, and when they expected to ever make money off of it. The oil sands bought him a nice house and put all seven of his kids through university long before they ever made Imperial any money. The staggering profits that are being reaped now come after almost half a century of it being a money pit and a pipe dream.

But the environmental cost will haunt us. We've lost the moral authority to talk about being green and sustainable so long as the oil sands are in operation and the Alberta government plays it fast and loose with intensity emissions targets and deferred caps.

Lastly, I think Albertans are not getting the sort of public benefit that their energy wealth should entitle them to. I'm not talking about petro despotisms' ability to build new man-made islands or buy everyone a Mercedes, but so far there does not seem to be a corresponding investment in new public infrastructure commensurate to the amount of money that is being made off a public asset. I also think that the low-density, dispersed, automobile-dependant built form that Calgary is taking during this boom is inherently unsustainable and will become an obstacle and burden to future generations. And I'm saying this as someone with an Albertan half to my family and great affection for Calgary.