Hansen's Hype

James Hansen opposes the opening of the “spigot to these very dirty, unconventional fossil fuels,....We can’t do that without guaranteeing disasters for young people and future generations.” He is talking about the oil sands of Alberta.

“The current government is a Neanderthal government on this issue, but Canada can actually be a leader,” he said.

“They’re in the hip pocket of the fossil fuel industry, as you can see, but that doesn’t mean that the Canadian people are,” said Hansen.

Oh?

A new poll, released Monday, suggests that while Canadians and Americans are keen on reducing greenhouse gasses, the vast majority of them support the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that could transport up 830,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

Neanderthal’s didn’t have oil and wouldn’t know what to do with it if they did. Neanderthal’s also didn’t have the standard of living that the discovery and refining of oil has brought to modern humans. Does Hansen want to hasten our ‘advance’ to the past for the ‘benefit’ of  “young people and future generations”? Perhaps they will not see it that way and will not be grateful for the reduced standard of living.

Canadian crude from its Alberta oil sands is already being moved to Texas refineries via rail. How come only the Keystone Pipeline(KXL) is under attack? Why are environmentalists not upset and causing a ruckus over the movement of the oil via rail? Where are the protesters lying on the railroad tracks? Hansen has no qualms about getting arrested. Why has he not tried to stop oil trains? Oops, may we shouldn’t give him any ideas.

Even if CO2 emissions frighten you the amount contributed by the oil that is anticipated to move via the KXL will not contribute that much. Even the alarmist NYT doesn’t think Keystone will be much of an environmental threat. Maybe. They seem a little confused on the subject.

Both the State Department and the Senate have approved KXL. But the decision is up to Obama where there may be some indication that development of alternative sources of energy are considered more important than the denial of KXL.

The fact that the decision on KXL has not been forthcoming may have something to do with, and let me emphasize that this is pure speculation, with Mr Buffet’s recent purchase of Heinz Ketchup from Secretary of State’s John Kerry’s wife which also put a sizable stipend into Mr Kerry’s pocket. If KXL is eventually approved perhaps the delay in doing so will allow Mr Buffet’s railroad to benefit from shipping shale oil for a while before the pipeline is completed. If KXL is not approved Buffet will benefit to an even greater degree. To be fair, Buffet is on record as approving of KXL.

To be concerned about oil one has to be concerned about CO2 emissions. As Marc Morano of ClimateDepot.com has said  'Carbon based fuels have been one of the greatest liberators of mankind in the history of our planet' It has elevated our standard of living from Neanderthal to modern human with our array of labor saving devices that allow us to explore our planet that a Neanderthal did not even know existed. But CO2 is not a ‘planet cooker’ as some would have us believe. CO2 is not dangerous. That is good news.

We owe CO2 an apology.

We need to stop all activities aimed at decreasing human emissions of CO2.

CO2 is green. We need more of it not less. CO2 has been exhaled during the creation of this post. No living thing was harmed. Some even liked it.