I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
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That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
Reader Mail: One little thing…
May 6, 2008
Count Roland writes in with some follow-up thoughts on this article.
I agree with you and Premier Stelmach.
However, A similar incident is reported to have happened at a Conoco-Phillips site elsewhere in the oilsands.
If that is the case, then perhaps the government should not only investigate both companies but also reflect on its own regulations and staffing levels (tough to keep adequate in today’s economy) to ensure that it can inspect in a timely manner to ensure compliance with the pertinent regulations, regulations which should be more environmentally conscious. Also, a program that penalizes companies for non-compliance, as well as for being below average in environmental stewardship and stockpiiles some money and gives extra money to sites above average in quality would also tend to improve environmental standards through voluntary means (if the carrot and stick are big enough…)
Pace to most environmentalists, but simple government fiats towards higher standards without incentives ensure, at best, minimal compliance. The people, the environment and the governmant are better served by using market measures to drive policy as opposed to laws which may be difficult to enforce. Positive and negative reinforcement work better than empty praise and punishment.
I can’t really disagree with that, O Reader. I applauded Ed Stelmach’s conviction that the Syncrude incident with the ducks would be investigated further, and I certainly think that there are probably more than a few different examples one could find in Fort McMurray of companies who flout various environmental regulations. Certainly, that is the impression I get from speaking to a sister of mine who works, currently, with a consultancy group that periodically does environmental evaluations in the region of that city.
And perhaps that will be an outcome of these investigations.
The problem, as I see it, will not be getting someone to agree to use “the stick” so much as it will be getting that someone to use “the stick” fairly. It’s ludicrously easy to point to the oil companies and cry out over the environmental havoc they may be wreaking. It’s substantially more difficult, because the issue is more politicized, to do the same about supposedly “green” operations, like wind farms or hydro dams — even when wind farms are far more devastating to avian populations than even ten Syncrude tailings ponds would be, and even when hydro dams destroy (through flooding) vast tracts of land that even Syncrude’s draglines would be hard-pressed to cultivate.
Still, overall, Stelmach has been good at keeping his promises, and there is a distinct hope that something will come of this investigation.
