Flatlining

I have read with interest the series of Pete McMartin's columns about the environmental review processes around several current hydrocarbon transportation initiatives, including the Enbridge pipeline proposal.  I was, however, most struck by a particular comment in his most recent column (Sat. Feb.2, 2013): 

"I'd wager the same number of us would be wondering how we could back away from that precipice [of environmental disaster] without flatlining our economy."

This, I think, is the point.  I believe that almost nobody is talking about flatlining our economy.  By most accounts, Canada already has a reasonably well-functioning economy, at least near the top of the current economic heap. 

What we ARE talking about is whether to proceed with relatively short-term, dramatic economic expansion based on hydrocarbon extraction, and whether to expand at what might be a very intemperate pace.

If all the pipeline expansion proposals were put on hold, the Canadian economy would not flatline any more than reducing excess consumption of anything would cause immediate demise.  For example, if Kinder Morgan cannot more than double its current pipeline capacity to the Lower Mainland, I doubt that the firm will go out of business.  There already has been huge expansion of the tar sands, and the product is currently being shipped.

In this debate, aside from the environmental issues, what we are really arguing about is whether it is prudent to move to the next level of resource gluttony, and how fast.   And some, I think, rightly argue that there is plenty of evidence that increasing fossil-fuel extraction may well be the most direct route to flatlining everything.