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The day that oil became worthless

May 4, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Laura Campbell

At the time of writing this, I am celebrating Earth Day with my children. We intend to do some roadside cleanup, plant some seeds, make a poster, feed the birds… the usual inventory of environmental activities that they’ll likely lead me into. But beyond that, I’m also feeling more hopeful than I have in years that maybe (just maybe) we can tackle the climate crisis. Why? On Monday, April 20, the price of oil went into the negative. While this is not a cause for celebrating the end of oil, it is a symbol of the potential we have to change our world for the better. 

We are all bearing witness to it: the possibility for change. Quiet streets, wildlife returning to cities, reduced air pollution, communities supporting one another, travel-weary people hunkering down in their homes and overworked parents re-connecting with their children. People are cooking, baking, planting, and checking in on one another, and if they’re still working: they are saving money. (All of this, at a very low-carbon cost). *This is not to minimize the severe impacts of this crisis on our most vulnerable people. Indeed, as we’ve seen in the United States, the virus hits the poor the hardest (economically and epidemiologically speaking).* *Nor do I want to ignore the more recent historical reality that crisis does tend to concentrate power and wealth even further.*

Our economy is hanging on by a few wires- the most tattered of which is the oil sector. The global price of oil flat-lined this week (literally). And if conventional crude is this battered, that would mean Alberta bitumen is in even deeper trouble. This reality has meant that no prudent economist, or federal politician, could even for a minute continue to make the case that the oil patch is ‘good for Canada’s economy.’ Indeed, the opposite is true. And for the first time ever, Justin Trudeau’s government has made a decision that reflects this moment- likely possible only in the context of a minority government. 

There is a lot in the federal bailout of the oil industry just recently that should worry

Canadians. The bailout is worth billions and some of it looks like traditional financial support for the corporate structures of companies that are no longer viable- but one of the key pieces that deserves credit is the federal plan to clean up orphan and inactive wells across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and BC. As I’ve written in this space before, abandoned oil wells are a menace to the environment- they leak unknown amounts of methane (likely the worst greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere, year after year. While our highest courts had recently ordered firms to clean them up (especially larger companies that had acquired the wells from bankrupt ones as a liability), the reality is that many of them haven’t done the work. 

Now unemployed oil and gas workers will get to work cleaning up and shutting down these sites. Specifically, upwards of 60,000 workers in smaller firms will be sealing off and capping wells and remediating the sites. This is a small step towards what a Green New Deal could look like. But we have to do more- we must not accept this as a small concession to humanity. It has to be the trend. 

What does strengthening the trend look like? This Earth Week, I will urge all of you to write to our Prime Minister and ask that the government attach some stringent conditions to the money we Canadians are giving to Alberta. We cannot accept the continued practice of orphaned wells, unpaid royalties, enormous tax breaks, and of course, the waving of environmental regulations. We cannot be blinded by this one policy piece to the reality that the oil lobby almost always gets what they want. We must encourage this one positive action (oil-well clean up) into more concrete steps to transition away from the most polluting industry in the world. 

Many politicians are already making the case that the time for change is now. Not surprisingly, MPP Mike Schreiner (Guelph), leader of the Green Party of Ontario, continues to be the main member of provincial parliament who is looking at this crisis as an opportunity to create clean, sustainable, well-paying jobs in renewable energy. His hopeful and urgent proposals include turning Ontario’s manufacturing sector into a hub for low-carbon industries. He is urging for more support for farmers, sustainable mining in Ontario, EV manufacturing, infrastructure upgrades (from flood mitigation, to transit, to grain storage systems), tree planting, etc. Even more crucial, he argues, is that we do not give in to the temptation to go in the opposite direction. Indeed, as Schreiner says, we must “flatten the curve on climate change” (The National Observer, Apr 22). I’m going to rally behind his hope and echo his sentiments. 

Of course, our work as environmentalists and humanitarians will never be finished. The struggle against the worst aspects of capitalism (profit accumulation at the cost of everything else) will always be constant. But today, we have a bit of hope. And sometimes, hope is the absolute best fuel for change. 

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