Saturday night, the middle of the cold snap, was something to be endured
Terry Etam
Etam: On Low Natural Gas Prices…
Is there any critical industrial material as bizarre as natural gas? The stuff holds almost zero interest for the general public, for the same reason no one is interested in the sound of a washing machine. Both boring. Both ubiquitous. Natural gas isn’t even sold on...
Etam: Awkward – Canada Creates a Brand New Fossil Fuel Subsidy
Upon hearing about the federal government’s decision to roll back the carbon tax on heating oil, I rolled up my sleeves. The point of writing about energy at all is to try to illuminate some aspect of an energy topic from a viewpoint inside the energy sector; to...
Etam: Panic at AI’s Looming Energy Appetite
There is an army of analysts out there, a quasi-industry, that attacks data streams like piranhas, ripping everything apart and, unlike piranhas, analyzing the living daylights out of them. There are people that spend days on end analyzing, for example, not just...
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Weaponizing the Law
The indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump for crimes invented by his political opponents is the most egregious example yet seen of the weaponizing of the law. The United States is now full of examples. However, in Canada, we also see the law being...
“Looking At” Seizing Control Over Western Canada’s Natural Resources
OTTAWA, REGINA - Last week, two things happened that could have profound impacts on natural resources development in Saskatchewan. One is a hint the federal government might want to take control of natural resources away from the provinces, and the other is the...
Etam: If China is Picking Our Politicians can We at Least get Them to Teach Us About Industrial Policy?
There is something really crappy and dumb going on with Canadian industrial policy. Maybe you’ve figured it out. I sure haven’t. In the spirit of “the more minds working on it the better”, here are some low-lights to get everyone’s brains working on it before...
Etam: When Science gets Mugged for the Media – a Case Study
I walked past a truck in a parking lot the other day and I figured out what’s wrong with everybody. It was a good-looking new semi-small one, and, walking with my head down, watching for ice and muttering as usual, I almost walked into the side of it. There, staring...
Etam: Energy Should not be Controversial; How did this Happen?
Are you familiar with Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto-whiz kid that started crypto-exchange FTX, the 30-year-old worth $30 billion, some were hailing as the new Warren Buffett? His empire is now a pile of rubble, and against all legal advice he’s been delightfully...
Etam: Open letter to Californians: A high-utility-bill explanation, and a path to a smarter energy future
Dear Californians, I just love your state. It has everything. It is home to Bugs Bunny, sourdough bread, Silicon Valley, Death Valley, the Valley, Redwood forests, deserts, ski resorts, endless beaches, the accidental Salton Sea, a vast movie industry, a vast porn...
Etam: 2023 Energy Predictions?
Happy New Year all, though 2023 is well underway. Type A’s have buttoned down 2023’s goals and are doubtlessly already pursuing them with a vengeance. (Us) Type B’s are now wandering aimlessly around gyms, rationalizing abandoned resolutions, and annoying the regulars...
Etam: Wealthy Californians “Just Stop Oil” Campaign – Popular in Europe; has Anyone asked, say, Bangladesh?
“Kindly let me help you or you will drown said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree.” – Alan Watts That’s a quasi-parable about how ignorance can maim helpfulness, turning well-being into harm, through pure innocence. But…that parable assumes the...
A Year of LNG Royalties/Taxes from a Single Pipeline Could Pay for …
Sitting on top of one of the world’s largest and richest natural resource warehouses is turning into quite a disconcerting distraction. While much of Canada’s population – the heavily urban part for whom “rural” means Whistler, Muskoka, or Mont Tremblant – likes to...
Etam: BRICS Starts Sidestepping the Tragedy of Western Energy Policy
As I spent a summer avoiding energy discussions wherever possible (harder than normal; funny how 15 years of energy policy calamity was uninteresting until record utility bills scorched J. Q. Public’s eyeballs), the lazy days in the sun brought some needed clarity...
Etam: A Good News Energy Story Amid the Carnage
It’s not even Stampede yet – and it looks like it will be a good old-fashioned free-for-all – and I’ve already encountered a fascinating drunken goofball at the top of his game. Nothing unusual there, I suppose, except that this encounter actually had an interesting...