"Wealth can not be created,

"Wealth can not be created, only taken" .....and this is one of the best examples.

NAFTA and the WTO have destroyed the Canadian economy and now the country has to sell the ground from under people's feet and engage in criminal activities to survive, now called "globalization" and "trade".

What we need are more Chinese millionaries bringing back more Canadian money to buy up the country with "wealth creating foreign investment"

I'm sure the "conservative" governments and economists are jumping for joy, as they always have for all criminal activities, as long as they feedsthe insatiable profit demands of a few.

Ed Deak.

what about the frackin power needs?

I believe I read somewhere (perhaps on the Tyee), that the reason B.C. needs more hydro is to power more fracking. So if Site C is primarily for these gas wells, then thisw would be the biggest subsidy of all times. More info about this would be good to get out to the public. Thanks Ben for your work on this topic.

ditto

YES, about fracking time!

Great article and about fracking time we get to learn more about our own province's dirty little secrets.

Parfitt writes correctly that both the two major political parties in BC while in government feasted on the dollars provided by these carbon artifacts.

We know the socred/liberal coalition has used these revenues, the future sales and lease revenues from oil and gas, to bolster the treasury prior to elections.

What should have been a "heritage" trust fund, since these revenues come from future extractions and should be accessible for future generations, became a slush fund to curry favour with the electorate and to pay for the cost overruns for the 2010 IOC grand party in our backyard.

Why the rush to extract our resources?

From Saskatchewan's uranium and potash to Alberta's and BC's oil and gas plans have accelerated for rapid extraction. In Sask they estimate at current operations and the 11 billion dollar upgrades and new potash mine initiatives that potash will be gone in 50 years. Then what? Potash is an essential fertilizer for food crops.

Just who is reaping the benefits? Total wealth of the top 100 in Canada now sits at $185 billion, an increase of 74% since 1999. GDP in the same period rose only 40%.

Even more telling are the stats that show median earnings of full time workers rose by only $53 from 1980 to 2005 (in 2005 dollars from $41,348 to $41,401). This despite a 37% gain in overall labour productivity for the same period.

Exorbitant executive bonuses and corporate subsidies continue and governments seem more than willing to accommodate while asking us for more fees, levies and taxes.

Wish we had more independent MLA's!

Dan Miller

Company man in NDP clothing.

electrical energy needs

I doubt whether fracking or any other drilling methods would require the amount of energy produced by the proposed Site C.

Nikiforuk and others have stated electrical energy initiatives in BC and Alberta, as well as electrical transmission infrastructure initiatives are all about creating a continental grid so Alberta and BC can export more electrical energy.

Ft. McKenzie tar sands development gas fired cogeneration electrical plants are producing not only sufficient energy for their operations but also enough surplus energy to sell it into the continental transmission grid.

Site c

I believe is being built to supply power to the Tar Sands in Alberta and also to send to California. We overpay for the Run of River scams.

a tad misleading

"With billions of dollars having flowed into provincial coffers over the past decade -- much of it in the form of one-time sales of subsurface rights or royalty payments -- and billions more potentially at play"

Bonus payments and drilling permits are indeed one-time items, although continued industry activity means there will always be some level of revenue. But royalties come from gas production, and are tied to price and volume. If industry critics are successful in shutting down production -- than I guess it does become one-time. Otherwise, it continues to pump money into Victoria year after year.

And yes, the last couple of years (and probably the next couple) have seen very low prices and uninspiring royalties. But the years before that were spectacular. People who believe the price will never go up are just as myopic as those who believe it will never go down.

Transparency

"If industry critics are successful in shutting down production -- than I guess it does become one-time. Otherwise, it continues to pump money into Victoria year after year." Blackie.

I don't think industry critics want to "shut down" production, but they would like it to be scaled back from the corporate black gold & gas rush to develop as much as quickly as possible, until its nastier side effects are better understood, the vulnerable areas are better protected through good regulation and hopefully techniques to use less water and far fewer (still secretive and dangerous) chemicals are implemented.

Its those non transparent negotiations, including "diversions out of Williston Reservoir" that "have resulted in behind-door negotiations between gas companies and BC Hydro over what PRICE DEALS", (but not the health and environmental effects), leaving out local inputs, including First Nations, in such negotiations, that any frame for truly responsible development of this resource is seriously hindered.

Encana and such know that once the infrastructure is in place and production is flowing, there will likely be no turning back, no matter what accidents or detrimental effects may occur from these developments.

Skywalker, thanks for the input. I reviewed the comments I made elsewhere about the old BC Hydro crown corporation and the HST being a relatively small issue (compared to this one and the Tar Sands, or the Harpo moves to stifle dissent), but I couldn't find anywhere that might have had you think I would support the HST. Not a chance.

Wording confused

Sorry Skywlker, I will mark the ballot to get rid of the HST, but I just noticed that saying No to the HST is a Yes on the ballot to extinguish it. My misread.

Did you see this new video

Did you see this new video of Gasland director admitting he didn't show the full story - http://youtu.be/e9CfUm0QeOk

Holes in Lancashire

A report in today's Guardian says a fracking operation near Blackpool had to suspend operations for what experts said was causing a 1.5 earthquake, the second of its kind in Lancashire.

Mucho Factoids Omitted - Part 1

Yeah, but there is a reason behind those tax credits:

1. Summer Drilling;
2. Marginal Wells;
3. Deep Drilling;

Otherwise a portion of the annual $7 billion invested in the ng industry would never have taken place.

Up to 2006, those cumulative ~$250 million in tax credits generated an additional $900 million in natural gas royalties for the province. Not a bad return in my books.

The same reasoning behind the production service tax credits et al in the BC film industry.

Funny. I never hear about the utilization of deep, sub-surface, non-potable aquifers containing saline, sour (containing hydrogen sulfide) water. The Debolt water treatment plant turns this sour water into potable water for use in fraccing.

In fact, it fulfills a minimum of 80% of the water needed by Encana and Apache for hydraulic fraccing operations in the Two Island Lake area of the Horn River basin.

http://www.encana.com/responsibility/environment/water/snapshot/debolt-plant.htm

Again, Ridgeline Energy Services Inc., for example, provides on-site services for the treatment, reuse, and recycling of produced and flowback waste water in natural gas well fraccing.

Mucho Factoids Omitted - Part Deux

The Horn River and Montney basins are still in their infancy in terms of development/infrastructure and it will take years before major production volumes flow to market.

Again, these factoids to consider:

1. While, ng is currently priced at between $3 - $4 per MMBtu in the North American market, the price of ng is "tied to oil" in the Asian market, where much of the NE BC production volumes will likely be destined;

2. Nexen's president has called these NE BC ng plays as lucrative "oil plays".

3. Much of the NE BC basins are very rich in natural gas liquids (a by-product), which is priced at a barrel of oil;

4. Apache/EOG Resources/Encana have a multi- billion dollar pipeline/Kitimat lng plant currently in the front-end engineering phase;

5. Shell also is in the planning stage for another west coast lng plant;

6. Secondary utilization of the ng feedstock by SASOL for a 100,000 barrel/day ng conversion plant to diesel and potentially Methanex's moth-balled Kitimat methanol plant;

A very capital intensive industry, which could see $100 billion+ invested in BC over the next decade. Big, big bucks.

I sense a certain conspiracy theory tone in this article. That said, I would have no problem focusing upon the surface water/wastewater issue as long as it is undertaken by parties that have common sense, are logical, and reasonable. Otherwise it would likely be a waste of time.

As an aside, the Canadian Energy Research Institute predicts that as this decade progresses, BC will surpass AB's ng production and BC's provincial treasury will reap the financial rewards thereto.

In that same vein, AB's royalties from the oil sands (which will require a good chunk of NE BC's ng feedstock as time progresses) will increase from ~$2.7 billion in 2010 to a phenomenal ~$67.5 billion/ year into provincial government coffers by 2044 according to CERI. Big, big bucks.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/Oilsands+poised+flood+Alberta+coffers+2044/4862602/story.html

Go Canucks Go!!! Woot woot!

Coolest of Handy Factoid check

No reason necessary to subsidize drilling as most of the "investment" flows out of province. No or few BC workers on rigs. Imperial Oil even bringing in excavator and dozer operators and roadbuilders from Alberta.
First aid services from Alberta, etc., Why not pay car dealers to sell cars instead of gas producers to produce gas?? Again certain companies catch liberal favours.
Your books are cooked if you think that the subsidy level is as low as you say. Figure over a $Billion since the liberals got so generous with publice funds. As there is a finite quantity of gas in the ground the royalties are not additional they are "one time" only.
The BC film industry actually is in place as it employs huge numbers of BC residents, not Albertans.
Now we will grant you the saline aquifer water being used in the north where it is available. Most of the Montney is being done with a mix of pond water, river or creek water and treated city water from municipal water sources. One little outfit treating water won't cover the 1000 cubic metre water 1000 tonne sand plus "secret sauce" requirement of each stage of a large fracturing project.
Is it just me or does it seem slightly warped to burn a bunch of relatively clean natural gas to make stinky diesel to burn in trucks that could easily burn the gas more efficiently?? Why not subsidize(if the liberals are stuck on subsidies)clean burning fuels through usage rather than attempting to create a glut with no market. If LNG is so good for Asia, why not BC Residents? MIght even help deal with excessive refined fuel prices or aren't we being gouged? Maybe explains the non effort to make LNG available to consumers for motor fuel.
Again remember it is money not all invested in BC. An Alberta crew installing Alberta built production equipment hauled inby Albertans using machinery purchased in Alberta and hauling in fuel purchased in Alberta is not investment in BC.
The water issue will be what puts residents against fracturing, even the few of us that earn a living in the business with our little crumb picker service companies.
CERI will put out whatever their funders want them to and when they do put out good information like the study done on jobs lost from BC, it never sees the light of day. Conflicts with liberal message of nothing but prosperity.
Your facts are correct on the Canucks!!!