Juno News - February 11, 2024


Energy CEO reacts to NDP bill to jail oil and gas advocates


Episode Stats


Length

6 minutes

Words per minute

193.87

Word count

1,209

Sentence count

3


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of the Andrew Lawton Show, we talk to Michael Binyan about the proposed bill from Charlie Angus that would ban the promotion of fossil fuels and promote natural gas as a replacement for fossil fuels.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 you're tuned in to the andrew lawton show
00:00:05.920 uh it's fitting although it was not anticipated before i saw this bill from charlie angus that
00:00:13.460 we have on michael binyan who we started this series with and and now we uh inadvertently
00:00:19.060 get to end it with him as well uh from the modern miracle network michael it's always
00:00:23.360 good to talk to you thanks for coming on today glad to be here i'm actually down in in houston
00:00:28.500 and the nape show so big big oil and gas conference and i've just managed to get out i don't think i've
00:00:34.060 got the perfect quiet place but i'm but i'm happy all right well we'll we'll take in the uh the
00:00:38.880 sites of houston where i would much rather be from a weather perspective right now i just this bill
00:00:44.360 that has been proposed i mean it's bonkers and most private members bills don't get a a hearing and and
00:00:50.520 are unlikely to pass but but it reflects i think an attitude which is very pervasive among people
00:00:57.520 that do have tremendous influence here and i just wanted to get your take on this first i mean is
00:01:01.780 this have you ever heard of anything going after your industry as aggressively as this you know this
00:01:08.780 they've been signaling this idea for quite some time that somehow fossil fuels are similar to
00:01:13.940 cigarettes and of course this whole bill is patterned on the the you know the advertising
00:01:18.460 and warning labels and everything that has to go on on cigarettes on on the basis that i think that
00:01:23.360 there was back in the 70s or whenever there was in fact uh some cigarette companies that were caught
00:01:29.020 doing some uh promotion of their product without maybe talking about some of the risks of their
00:01:33.840 product so i think that's the analogy they're trying to create the problem the problem that i have with
00:01:38.620 this bill is one is the whole preamble is based not on mainstream science like as the international
00:01:44.020 panel on climate change doesn't agree with almost everything in their preamble this is a
00:01:48.860 this is a extreme extreme view of apocalyptic uh apocalyptic warnings about the possibility of
00:01:56.140 climate change which i don't as i said the mainstream science i don't think agrees with
00:01:59.520 the other thing is fossil fuels have saved millions and millions if not billions of people
00:02:04.340 uh and made everybody's life better we it it it's net very positive for human health as we've seen
00:02:10.800 and you know since we started using fossil fuels in the 1800s and in child mortality rates and
00:02:16.200 longevity and and health outcomes and equality all these all these things are literally miraculous
00:02:21.960 in society and so that that obviously is completely different than the cigarettes um and and then i
00:02:27.640 guess to finalize it i think you know if they were to go ahead with what they're saying to say
00:02:31.000 you know you're not allowed to say that natural gas has less emissions than coal because that would be
00:02:38.820 promoting a fossil fuel well the environmental damage of not being able to pick the best fuel and the
00:02:44.920 best energy in its best place has been already well demonstrated for example by our project in
00:02:49.800 quebec where you know hundreds and thousands of megatons have have you know would have been saved
00:02:55.680 if only would have been allowed to go ahead with a fuel that is that has lower environmental impacts
00:03:00.080 it's all it's like you said at the beginning it's bonkers yeah and and i would point out as well
00:03:04.720 when with that tobacco comparison that this bill doesn't go after deceptive advertising can i be i'd be
00:03:10.080 completely on board with some uh measured regulation on deceptive or dishonest advertising this goes
00:03:15.980 after truthful uh advertising and promotion of the sector and and one that that i find particularly
00:03:21.680 jarring especially for charlie angus who's from northern ontario and and should know indigenous
00:03:26.400 communities quite well is that you cannot even promote how these projects can benefit indigenous
00:03:32.960 people and i've met through through introductions from from you uh indigenous advocates for the energy
00:03:38.240 sector that don't just support it as a canadian economic project but specifically for indigenous
00:03:43.040 communities and these people could literally be jailed for having these same conversations publicly
00:03:49.360 i know you know i i've often said that the problem with the energy debate that we've had
00:03:53.840 and this is you know this is our one of our modern miracle network uh messages is we've been for too
00:03:59.040 long comparing the benefits of one kind of energy alternatives with the negative impacts of another kind of energy fossil
00:04:05.920 fuels but what about the benefits of fossil fuels which literally are miraculous and and why are we
00:04:11.760 not talking about some of the impacts of alternatives which are pretty large like and i and i and we're we're
00:04:17.200 we're all of the above and put the best energy in its best place but we're also for a reasoned conversation
00:04:22.800 on energy where we talk about benefits and the impacts not just one or the other and and as you said
00:04:28.800 this bill would say we're going to make it illegal illegal to talk about the benefits of fossil fuels
00:04:34.080 yeah i mean i mean your entire initiative at modern miracle network is to promote the miracle of
00:04:41.440 hydrocarbon so so you're you and your board are getting thrown in the slammer when this bill passes
00:04:46.320 if it passes right well if we were to dare to advertise i guess it's yeah it's crazy right it's it's
00:04:51.760 crazy anyway so we're we're trying to promote i think a rational conversation not not to ignore the
00:04:58.400 impacts that fossil fuels are just the opposite we're we're big promoters of of technology to to
00:05:04.400 deal with the impacts of fossil fuels but we're just saying let's not throw out a product that has
00:05:09.280 created the miracle of modern society with you know without any thought or or consideration and by the
00:05:14.720 way as we're looking at you know the impacts of of alternatives in terms of um landscape and i mean
00:05:21.760 they're the worst energies there are in terms of land use and materials use per gigajoule or
00:05:27.840 kilowatt of energy and so you know there as i say wind and solar you've got some work to do to really
00:05:34.400 become a uh environmentally friendly energy and by the way so do fossil fuels we've got a lot of work
00:05:39.920 to do too so uh let's let's have that honest conversation about the work that we need to do
00:05:44.880 and let's have an honest conversation about the benefits that are brought to people yeah and and
00:05:49.280 that's the thing i mean if you want to talk about the negatives in your eyes fine with me but no one
00:05:53.600 should be barred from discussing the positives as well so uh well said i'll let you get back to your
00:05:58.080 conference there michael but always good to check in with you thank you so much for coming thanks
00:06:02.560 for listening to the andrew lawton show support the program by donating to true north at www.tnc.news