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LETTER: Don’t expand oil and gas extraction

From reader Mike Geisler...
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CBC News this morning reported former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge saying, “Building pipelines will pay off.” In some circumstances that may be right but only if it’s in the correct context, i.e. a livable world. There is growing evidence that in order to avoid catastrophic global warming we must limit warming to less than 2 degrees C. There is also growing evidence that in order for us to limit warming to 2 degrees we can continue to extract oil and gas from existing developed fields but not from expansion fields.

Evidence is also building that limiting oil and gas extraction to existing fields while transitioning to renewables, nuclear, bio and other proven sources of energy will benefit the economy. For a recent analysis see ‘The Sky’s Limit’ [2016] from Oil Change International.

Mike Geisler

Bonnington