Terry Etam

As we enter 1984, metaphorically speaking, I realized I’ve had enough of the climate madness. Not just the mass delusion (the equivalent of Y2K times the dot-com boom times Beatlemania), but the whole topic, a twisted mess of ideology, speculative science, and fear. "The science is settled" vs. "no one will give up lifestyle". Science/lifestyle, back and forth for eternity. Elon Musk’s marketing/engineering genius is now a symbol for those who want to destroy the fossil fuel industry, despite [Read more]

An apology is in order for the following subject matter. This is an energy-focused website, and energy alone is a fiendishly hard topic to explain properly to the general public. The energy world is complicated and frankly not that interesting to most, made up of pipes and tanks and tankers, all central to the industry known as “utilities”. Who in history was ever interested in the word “utilities”? Unfortunately, the problem of disinterest is compounded by folding in an interest rate [Read more]

I’ve recently succumbed to an infatuation, much like a grade-school crush. Mind you, what is appealing at my current age is markedly different than what was back then; having traversed a generation's worth of the realities of adulthood, and with the prospect of hoping to retire someday, the subject matter of my admiration has shifted. Monumentally. Sadly, and weirdly, my current crush is on a company, or more specifically their stock: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. This is disturbing in [Read more]

“Hello, this is 9-1-1, how may I assist you?” “I’d like to report a major criminal enterprise and see the perpetrators thrown in jail.” “…is someone in imminent danger? Because this is an emergency line and perhaps you want to speak with the police to launch an investigation.” “No, this is indeed an emergency, caused entirely by these criminals. It was just in the news. A front-running US presidential candidate said that the fossil fuel industry is conducting criminal activity that is [Read more]

Multi-election years are trying times for those that don't enjoy the game of politics. If one is immune to the charms of glad-handing and full-frontal bullshitting, exposure to the black art of politics at a minimum leads to dry heaves, and, in high enough concentrations, a stay in a hospital. Some feel otherwise; a university friend and I once debated the merits of choosing the political life. He defended the career path on the grounds that working for the public interest was a noble [Read more]

Sometimes, for people with a propensity to use many words to describe something properly, it is annoying and frustrating to read short and overly-simplistic analyses. It seems impossible to capture complex issues in a few words, and efforts often fall short. As a rule of thumb, I sneer at the paltry word counts, muttering that the feeble authors probably like Haiku to boot. For example, I’ve been trying for a long time to properly articulate the views of the petroleum industry to the world, [Read more]

This isn’t going to sound very nice, but think of all the stupidity in the world. I’m not trying to be mean, and no, this isn’t some sort of political diatribe. Sorry to break it to everyone but Trudeau isn’t stupid – he is just wildly out of his element. He has no ability or inclination for the finesse required to run a massive organization. Had he stayed in the drama classroom, we might all be marvelling at his brilliant productions. But just because someone isn’t stupid doesn’t mean they [Read more]