Here in Alberta, the eco-boondoggle known as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) lost a major player. TransAlta corp has pulled out of the $1.4 billion Pioneer Project because it wasn't economically feasible.
The Minister of eco-nuttery (or Environment) Dianna McQueen says:
“Under new technology, sometimes this happens ... "That so happens to be the same excuse Obama used to explain the Solyndra failure. Excuses appear daily as "green" endeavors fail.
The Minister predictably maintains that the other 3 projects are economically viable. This must refer to a progressive definition of economically viable. Projects subsidized in the tens of millions are normally thought of as economically infeasible.
Even with the heavy subsidies, companies use the CO2 from CCS to stimulate old wells to produce more oil. Money is made producing oil alone. CO2 has no value. Its smoke.
TransAlta blames the inherent worthlessness of CO2 for the project's cancellation. Government price controls on a worthless and ubiquitous substance like CO2 have failed everywhere they have been tried. Al Gore's Carbon Exchange in Chicago was dreamed up by Enron and is now history like Enron. European Carbon Exchange is rife with fraud and even the eco-nuts don't like it.
Don't ever say oil companies oppose cap and trade. They don't. Essentially, the government pays them gigantic sums of money to extract more oil. What a deal. You pay for it all.
The best part is that all of this is happening under the premise that its supposed to make you feel good. Its the 'Do-Something' rationalization. CCS has negligible impact on Climate Change according to the most alarmist Climate theories. The PC government has committed $2 billion to do nothing at all. $2 billion will make a lot of CO2 however its spent. CCS does less than nothing at all for the Climate in theory and don't forget that It's only profitable if they can sell more oil doing it. Stupid. This is probably the most expensive way to produce oil possible.
"But we have to do something."
Why? Why do we have to do something? I am all for efficiency. I despise waste. The 'Do-Somthing' rationale is a total waste. It doesn't affect global warming and it makes nobody happy. I'm not happy and the eco-nuts are never happy. Welcome to Alison's Wonderland Alberta.
Update: Minister McQueen says that no taxpayer money has been spent on CCS yet. Hopefully the rest will pull out before the government can waste it.
