Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Update on Gas Shortage

OK, it appears I was wrong, sort of, about a gas shortage. Some stations have actually closed down cuz they was outta gas. The Minister for Lack of Energy in Ontariario, Duncan Donut, says about 10% are experiencing a squeeze at any given time. His reaction to people driving about looking for a station with gas? So What!

"You have to put things in perspective," he says.

OK. Here's the perspective. Two events, a fire at a refinery and a simultaneous rail strike, have put the entire province into a furor, cost industry a lot of money, made people a little panicky, and incidentally cost the operators of those empty gas stations a good portion of their yearly income...

So what. Eh?

Do you think the Minister for Lack of Energy might deign to come up with a contingency plan for the future? After all, this was not a major catastrophe. Only a couple of events coinciding.

Premier Faulton McGuilty called it "the perfect storm," implying it was a sequence of events that was so unlikely it could never be repeated. Come on! If the province is vulnerable as a result of these two events, how would we survive a more concerted effort to disrupt supply?

Gee! Maybe it's time to introduce new and stiffer anti-terrorist laws, hold gas guzzlers in detention without counsel until they surrender their pipelines, and send them to a Middle East country where they might be tortured if they don't reveal the source of their gas...

Or we could examine the gas distribution system in the province and figure out how to make it more reliable. Which would be a job for Minister Duncan (So What) Donut. God help us.

Digg! diigo it

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