I can't believe it. No real rants to convey this week. A few random thoughts maybe, but no eager, easy skepticism issues. That's just not like me. I wonder if there's something wrong with me? Too much sunshine perhaps?
OK, there's one thing that kind of borders on negativity, but not really. What I refer to is this Roche Percee valley park thing. If we let that opportunity get away from us, we'll rue the day and I don't like rueing days. I like Fridays.
We need to get behind this effort folks. Roche Percee should be a national treasure and instead we have a little group of hard-working, well-intentioned folks, trying to save it from total deterioration. Shame on us, shame on our governments.
It's just unfortunate for them that not all of these prized spots are located within a half-hour of Regina or Ottawa. If they were, then you can bet the financial and logistical support would be there. Have the event or item more than an hour away from their universe and it seems the interest level drops off . If the bureaucrat can't get to it and then be back in the office before lunch sorry, not gonna happen.
Gee, that sounded like a mini-rant, didn't it ?
Better get on with item No. 2.
Let's see. Oh yes, as much as we hate to take a swipe at multi-billion dollar corporations while they're down, we can't resist the opportunity from this little corner to give a miniature shout-out to BP and ask them how their Plans A, B, C and D worked out in terms of stemming that big leak in the Gulf and cleaning up the major mess.
It's difficult to understand how there were no contingency plans in place.
Now we hear that offshore producers are wanting to keep drilling in the Beaufort Sea in northern Canada without using relief wells in case of emergency.
Can you imagine what would happen if a BP-styled well failure happened in the north? Arctic ice, water, snow, land. Try cleaning that one up. Of course it wouldn't seem to be as tragic because there would be fewer people affected. But still, just ask Exxon.
It's been well over 10 years since the Valdez dumped their crude into northern waters and they're still working on that cleanup and that's without a lot of population pressure involved, just a few thousand dead birds, seals and fish.
Offshore drilling will continue, but I hope not unabated. Of course we realize that this will eventually be reflected in an increase in the cost of petroleum products in the long run. You don't think BP and others of their ilk will accept that kind of loss, do you? The shareholders require feeding. They will not accept too many quarterly reports that show losses. That's how things go. They pay for six months consumer pays the rest of the way. We're not foolish enough to think that BP or Shell or Exxon or any of the other majors from any jurisdiction would take on $900 billion in cleanup costs over the next 25 years, without passing the costs down the line.
We've been told that these major corporations are being led by the most brilliant minds of our time. Well, it's time for some of that brilliance to emerge, dear diary, because that oil slick is growing the size of a small island every day and it's been what a month now? Time to crack open Plan E, me thinks.
So all is well with the world. The Icelandic volcano will stop erupting any day now. We can't blame BP or Stevie Harper for that one can we? General Motors and Chrysler have turned things around completely, Toyoto will have no more recalls, Goldman Sachs will once again assume the mantle of financial dominance in North America; Iran and North Korea will quit purchasing uranium; the Taliban will cease killing people for no reason and if you believe that then we'll simply say that Peter Pan just dumped a load of fertilizer on the Sugar Plum Fairy because she was too naïve and trusting.
Anything you'd like to dump a few thoughts on, contact NKP at normpark@estevanmercury.ca
