To our Political Advisers:
One of our Political Associates sent me
an apparently widely distributed article by the Sierra Club. In the article, the
Sierra Club implies a requested boycott of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr Pepper
by asking customers to write those companies asking that they cease use of DIRTY
tar sands oil in their hundred thousand vehicles.
I replied to our Associate as follows:
I replied to our Associate as follows:
This article by the Sierra Club is completely misleading.
For a more complete understanding of what tar sands are, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands. However, I will give you a short description to put things into the proper perspective.
We run our automotive fleets with gasoline and Diesel. The federal government has spent billions of taxpayer dollars on subsidies to convert the fleet to electric power, which would be generated by wind or solar source. The federal program has so far been ineffective, primarily because wind and solar power sources are considerably more expensive than the use of gasoline and Diesel.
For a more complete understanding of what tar sands are, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands. However, I will give you a short description to put things into the proper perspective.
We run our automotive fleets with gasoline and Diesel. The federal government has spent billions of taxpayer dollars on subsidies to convert the fleet to electric power, which would be generated by wind or solar source. The federal program has so far been ineffective, primarily because wind and solar power sources are considerably more expensive than the use of gasoline and Diesel.
The cheapest source of petroleum is from
extensive pools belowground. I'm sure you have seen some of the old movies
showing oil drilling and subsequent gushers of oil. These gushers involved
striking a pool. After the initial pressure is past and the well is no longer a
gusher, oil still still can be pumped from the pool in significant quantities at
low cost. This is happening with many wells in the US and most of the Middle
East. New exploration and drilling techniques have also been developed to find
and produce oil from new pools.
However, pool oil is not the only available source. Oil is also mixed with shale and with sand and when the oil is extracted from the shale or sand, it is respectively called shale oil and sand tar. Petroleum oil from pools is not uniform. The chemical composition of the material varies from light hydrocarbons to heavy molecular weight hydrocarbons. Tar from sands is the high molecular weight type, which does not flow, and which is similar to tar which is used in roofing or mixed with crushed stone to form road asphalt.
The separation of oil or tar from shale or sand is more expensive than merely pumping oil from an underground pool,, but under certain conditions it can be economical.
Whether the hydrocarbons are from an oil pool, shale, or sand, they have no use in the crude form. They must be refined, for which reason we have oil refineries to produce usable products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, Diesel, lubricating oils, etc., from the crude. Refineries operate on the basis of distillation and cracking. Distillation is merely a separation technique to obtain the lighter fractions for direct use as fuels. The heavier components are changed chemically to a lighter fuel fraction by a cracking process. The heavier the hydrocarbon, such as in sand tar, the more cracking must be involved to obtain the fuel components. But, in the final analysis there is always a residue, which cannot be economically converted to fuel, and which is then used for road asphalt.
With that description of materials and process, perhaps you can now tell me what is dirty about the automotive fuels made from sands, as claimed by the Sierra Club.
Employees of the Sierra Club know well the information which I have given above. However, their intention is to develop within you an emotional reaction such that you and others will combine to boycott the identified soft drink companies to force a shut down of sand tar mining . This position is consistent with that already held by the Administration. The question is really why do they take this position? Do they want to preserve sand tar for possible future use? Are they concerned that the mining will disrupt the environment? Note that they do not say.
My own opinion is that US environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have been infiltrated by Communists, who have the intention of destroying capitalism in the US and reducing the US to the economic capacity of a third world power.
However, pool oil is not the only available source. Oil is also mixed with shale and with sand and when the oil is extracted from the shale or sand, it is respectively called shale oil and sand tar. Petroleum oil from pools is not uniform. The chemical composition of the material varies from light hydrocarbons to heavy molecular weight hydrocarbons. Tar from sands is the high molecular weight type, which does not flow, and which is similar to tar which is used in roofing or mixed with crushed stone to form road asphalt.
The separation of oil or tar from shale or sand is more expensive than merely pumping oil from an underground pool,, but under certain conditions it can be economical.
Whether the hydrocarbons are from an oil pool, shale, or sand, they have no use in the crude form. They must be refined, for which reason we have oil refineries to produce usable products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, Diesel, lubricating oils, etc., from the crude. Refineries operate on the basis of distillation and cracking. Distillation is merely a separation technique to obtain the lighter fractions for direct use as fuels. The heavier components are changed chemically to a lighter fuel fraction by a cracking process. The heavier the hydrocarbon, such as in sand tar, the more cracking must be involved to obtain the fuel components. But, in the final analysis there is always a residue, which cannot be economically converted to fuel, and which is then used for road asphalt.
With that description of materials and process, perhaps you can now tell me what is dirty about the automotive fuels made from sands, as claimed by the Sierra Club.
Employees of the Sierra Club know well the information which I have given above. However, their intention is to develop within you an emotional reaction such that you and others will combine to boycott the identified soft drink companies to force a shut down of sand tar mining . This position is consistent with that already held by the Administration. The question is really why do they take this position? Do they want to preserve sand tar for possible future use? Are they concerned that the mining will disrupt the environment? Note that they do not say.
My own opinion is that US environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have been infiltrated by Communists, who have the intention of destroying capitalism in the US and reducing the US to the economic capacity of a third world power.
You might add a little history. The Sierra Club was founded by Dr. Muir - an eminent conservationist and an early environmentalist. In the beginning conservation and concern for the environment went hand in hand. In many cases, they still do.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the Sierra Club was expropriated by lawyers who use conservation and environmental issues to raise money. They then hire other lawyers or their own lawyer members to file law suits using a variety of federal statutes. Perhaps you remember the spotted owl which was "protected" by the Endangered Species legislation. There was an evaluation by other bureaucrats that protection of the spotted owl's habitat was required to ensure that specie's survival. As a consequence of the report and the Sierra Club's lawsuit, major forest acreage was declared off limits to logging. Significant economic damage to the lumber industry and its communities was incurred. Later studies showed the the original report to be flawed, but the damage had been done.
The Sierra Club is largely responsible for foreclosing the development of petroleum reserves known to exist in Alaska. Kindly recall that it was concern for the caribou in Alaska whose habitat would be invaded. The caribou could care less given the thousands of acres of open land in northern Alaska. Of course, there was the protection of the snail darter that closed out a major dam and flood control project. The list goes on.
The latest Sierra Club initiative that you reported is typical - and inane.