Series: A Critique of Common Justifications for Alberta's Oil Sands

[This post is the first of a 5 part series, which looks at the main economic, social, and environmental justifications for Alberta's Oil Sands. The final post in the series will discuss select renewable energy sources, along with the feasibility of implementation in Alberta]

Humanities addiction to oil has become a global crisis, as energy needs continue to skyrocket. Because of this, Alberta’s oil sands are being touted as a ‘bright light’ for the province. Although industry and government alike have been criticized for ignoring the true costs of the operation, they continue to maintain that the oil sands are an economic necessity. This series will look at the main economic, social and environmental justifications for the oil sands, and present alternative views.

Argument 1: The Oil Sands Provide a Stable and Growing Economy for Alberta and Canada

Industry touts that there are currently 456 000 direct and indirect jobs created by the oil sands, while more are being created every day. (OSDG, an industry funded association)

The figure implies that in the:

• Short-term: Alberta’s economy will no doubt enjoy the economic benefits that oil is providing, in the form of jobs and injected capital. 
• Long-term: The number of jobs that rely on the presence of oil will become detrimental to the economy. Guaranteed oil exhaustion will put hundreds of thousands of well paying jobs into peril. This is only natural, as structuring an entire economy around a finite resource only invites an eventual collapse in the system.

The global economy will be severely affected by the projected energy crisis. As we saw in 2008, globalization means all countries are deeply linked to the economic health of the global network.

“As demand grows in the next decade, we will not have the oil production capacity we will need to meet demand. Supply will then have to ration demand, and prices will skyrocket – with the likely outcome of bringing the world’s economy to its knees.” explains John Hess, chairman of Hess, a large, international energy company based in the United States.

Furthermore, Alberta's tourism industry has been targeted because of the oil sands. In 2010, Corporate Ethics International launched a billboard campaign that encouraged Americans to rethink visiting the province, which would block valuable tourism dollars from multiplying through Alberta’s economy. The message of the campaign was simple, Michael Marx of CEI stated that he wanted “Alberta and Canada to quit interfering in our efforts in the United States to end our addiction to oil and transition to a clean energy economy.”

Even Barack Obama maintains that renewable energy sources will be the economic power house of the future; he claimed that "the country that figures out how to make cheaper energy that's also clean, that country is going to win the economic competition of the future.”

Please comment below if you have questions, comments or ideas.