Commenting on energy used to be fun and rewarding. Earnest people wanted earnest answers about how the energy world – what fracking is, how dependent are we on oil, where does it come from, etc. Then people had questions about renewables, and those were pleasant discussions also, explaining how those options work and how they fit into the system.
Over the past few years, that’s all fallen apart. Trying to explain the way the energy world works – the way it really works, not the way people hope it can one day work – is now grounds to throw the explainer into the “denier” pit.
The media stands by, complicit and stupid, and simply bleats out political propaganda without even realizing what it is. Of course, it doesn’t help when our politicians simply smile and wave with no critical value to add whatsoever.
Case in point: A United Nations anti-racism committee recently was in the news demanding that three major western Canadian energy infrastructure projects be halted: an oil pipeline, a natural gas pipeline, and a hydroelectric dam. Their reasoning is that indigenous groups have not provided their consent. What is happening in fact is that not every indigenous person supports the developments, but a great many do. The UN would appear to require unanimous approval, for energy projects anyway. This is kind of an ironic stance given that a foreign committee of 18 people sees fit to enforce their will on Canada, and they have near zero support here.
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