Editorial: We’ve Been Fooled Long Enough
By Fred Larsen – Special to SUNonline/Orillia
I ask readers, first of all, to consider the following statement by the writer of a recent book:
“The fossil fuel companies have lied through their teeth for decades. First, they denied that climate change was happening. Then they denied that climate change was caused by humans. Then they said the science was in question. Then they said warming wasn’t happening as fast as independent researchers said it was.
They weren’t just wrong. They knew they were wrong. They’d read the same research as everyone else. Their own research even confirmed it—in fact, for a long time their climate models were better than NASA’s. And they continued to lie anyway. They were willing to put millions, maybe even billions, of lives at risk to protect their profits.”(Cheaper, Faster, Better. Tom Steyer, 2024, p. 49)
Does this truth about oil and gas companies make you angry? It should. Why? Because we are now living with the floods, fires, heatwaves and wildly destructive weather that was predicted to accompany rising temperatures due to climate change, weather events that are costing lives and enormous damage—now into the billions of dollars each year.
And this is just the beginning.
Yet even today, oil and gas company advertisements seek to persuade us that they are part of the solution to dealing with climate change—at the very same time as lobbyists hired by these companies seek to dissuade our governments from taking the actions necessary to reduce the emissions that continue to worsen the effects of climate change, while also pressing for subsidies that enable them to drill for more oil and gas—leading to even more profits and more emissions!
A recent Environmental Defence report reveals that, after environmental organizations have advocated for years for rules to cap oil and gas emissions that “will make sure oil and gas corporations take responsibility for reducing their pollution,” Canada is on track to release draft regulations to limit these emissions. The bad news? “The oil and gas industry is fiercely opposing any regulations — they held over 1,200 lobbying meetings with federal officials in 2023 and are running aggressive misinformation campaigns.”
Now no one is naive enough to believe we can get off our oil and gas dependence overnight. But the reality is non-polluting, alternative sources of energy are now the cheapest sources of energy on the planet. As a result, our country – all countries – could be taking much stronger actions to build a green, emission-free energy system that would replace oil and gas. That we are not doing so is the result of the oil and gas industry doing everything it can to delay these actions—all in the name of more profit for Big Oil.
We see this in Alberta, where the Alberta government has put a moratorium on the development of solar and wind resources. Does anyone think Danielle Smith would be doing this if it weren’t for pressure from Canada’s oil and gas industry – from those who have already polluted thousands of acres of land and water in that province and others, and who now appear ready to abandon hundreds of wells on private property to be remediated using the taxes of the people of Alberta? Will Albertans of the future thank the oil industry for what they’ve done in that province?
Unfortunately, as reported in the Toronto Star, we also see the power of the lobbyists in Ontario. Premier Ford has endorsed the proliferation of Enbridge’s natural gas lines and, rather than look to emission-free wind and solar for more electrical generation, is promoting the building of more gas plants—promising the gas plant companies profits into the future even if the plants are later shut down to reduce emissions.
Ford’s Conservative government is wilfully blind to the fact that the cheapest form of electrical generation now in existence is wind and solar – and the technology to store generated electricity is now available. It would appear that Ford is as anxious to please Ontario’s fossil fuel companies as he is to please Ontario’s large developers.
With some bewildering results. Levels of toxic emissions from the Portlands gas plant in Toronto are so high that they could imperil the construction of tall residential buildings along the eastern Toronto waterfront – land that has been remediated and flood-protected at public expense to prepare for new housing.
In September CTV News reported, “An air quality assessment prepared in March for a proposed development at 309 Cherry St. [in the Don river area] found that emissions of nitrous oxides produced by the nearby Portlands Energy Centre (PEC) would need to be reduced . . . to avoid exposing the towers upper-most floors to dangerous levels of pollution. It found that if the plant does not reduce its output, all dwellings above 118 metres or about 35 storeys would need to be built without windows, balconies, or any sources of fresh air intake.”
Toxic emissions endangering the lives of residents near the gas plant? Apparently it’s not a problem to the Ontario government. It’s a waste of public dollars to reclaim the area if the number of homes has to be reduced to avoid the toxicity? Perhaps it is no concern to Premier
Ford, but the waste of dollars should be of enormous concern to the people of Ontario – especially when those same toxic emissions are simultaneously contributing to a future threatening to be even more highly destructive of lives and properties than we’re seeing in the summer and fall of 2024.
Ford, of course, is not alone in his support for the fossil fuel industry. I’ve mentioned Premier Smith of Alberta. Donald Trump in the U.S. argues that, if he is elected in November, his mantra will be “Drill, baby, drill!” Pierre Poilievre’s “Axe the Tax” obsessive ranting in Ottawa appears to have succeeded in endangering the Liberal carbon pricing program, a program that experts agree is one of the most efficient and effective means of reducing the demand for fossil fuels.
Where are the leaders we need in this third decade of the twenty-first century? It’s hard to find them in Canada.
And that should make us all angry as we watch Canadian communities and those in other countries going up in flames and being washed away in floods in 2024.
While fossil fuel companies reap higher profits than ever and tell us they’re not to blame
(Images Supplied) Main: Oil Refineries in Sarnia’s Chemical Valley as depicted on the $10 bill.
Fred Larsen is a co-founder of Sustainable Orillia, and was treasurer of the group until recently. He is also a former Liberal candidate for Simcoe North in the 2011 and 2015 federal elections