Oil and gas ‘liability’ creates revenue
In the April 25 edition of the Western Producer, a letter by Frank Orosz caught my interest. He questions the validity of a previous article by Terry Nemeth. He also questions her qualifications as an environmental consultant. I am pretty sure she would have researched the material in her article before she printed it.
Frank wildly claims that a huge liability was imposed by the oil and gas industry on Alberta as well as the rest of Canadian taxpayers. He conveniently omits the fact that hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue were collected by various levels of governments over the years.
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He also mentions environmental damage to Lake Winnipeg from the agricultural operations. Some years ago I recall the subject was debated. If I remember correctly, a greater part of the pollution in Lake Winnipeg originated from the City of Winnipeg.
By the way, Frank, what part of your experience as a loans officer qualifies you as an environment expert?
Roger Brandl,
Fort St. John, B.C.
Push back against pesticide restrictions
Regarding the article on fighting flea beetles in canola crops that appeared on page 1 of the May 2 issue, you should have followed up on your 2018 article, Neonicotinoid phase-out reduces canola flea beetle control tools.
Again, farmers were right and we’re paying for it. Sham environmental policies take away the tools we have to control pests and farm efficiently, and instead of pushback, we get pablum advice which every farmer is already well aware of.
Were you aware of the fact that in recent bad years, farmers are doing four to five full field spray passes to control beetles? Before harsh chemical regulations, we could get away with a couple of headland passes. We could have kept using proper neonicotinoid seed treatment that actually worked, but now beetles are getting out of control.
By the way, spraying is much worse for bee populations compared to seed treatment, which had zero effect on pollinators who don’t actually eat the plant.
Also, as a side effect with the explosion of beetles in the countryside, it’s impossible to grow garden broadleaf vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli or kohlrabi because the beetles chow down on them now.
These are direct effects of misguided political decisions that lean on eco-nut policy and do not heed the advice of the people who actually know what they’re doing.
It’s time to push back and be blunt about what’s going on. It’s time to dig deeper.
Blair Gilmore
Kelwood, Man.
