April 02, 2013

Practically everything out of this guy's mouth is BS except this. Bitumen is outdated technology and fossil fuels are a thing of the past. Canada should not be going insane to rush this stuff to market on behalf of these fossils. Any new developments threaten the Petro-chemical industry and it's demise is well past due. SINCE India began its nuclear programme in the 1950s, it has aimed to tap the ample thorium reserves that lie within its borders. Construction is finally set to begin on a reactor that will produce electricity from India's most convenient fuel for the first time.

at the expense of everything else as Harper's de-regulation regime has demonstrated. Princeling Jiang Mianheng, son of former leader Jiang Zemin, is spearheading a project for China's National Academy of Sciences with a start-up budget of $350m. He has already recruited 140 PhD scientists, working full-time on thorium power at the Shanghai Institute of Nuclear and Applied Physics. He will have 750 staff by 2015. The aim is to break free of the archaic pressurized-water reactors fueled by uranium -- originally designed for US submarines in the 1950s -- opting instead for new generation of thorium reactors that produce far less toxic waste and cannot blow their top like Fukushima.

Industry and government claims that Canada is losing as much as $70 million a day on bitumen exports due to "double discounts" in oil markets and a lack of pipeline capacity are untrue, says a new financial analysis. In a 35-page report B.C. economist and former business executive Robyn Allan tried to track down sources for the discount story, but says she ran into a dead end. Nor is the oil sands industry really losing money on bitumen discounts for two vital reasons, says Allan

Is the production of bitumen an exception to the rules set out in NAFTA? It is my understanding that we can increase our percentage of "oil" exported to the USA but we cannot reduce that percentage without the full consent of the USA. Unless bitumen falls outside that percentage, which would be hard to believe as this admisntration consistently calls it oil, then how will we ever be able to produce enought to supply either Eastern Canadian refineres and the USA's percentage, never mind the intended exports to China and, according to Oliver, India ? Whether we like it or not we are bound to ship cheap bitumen to the USA in an amount that increases with our increased production...Sounds like a catch 22 to me.