Brian Crossman: Hollywood. They Know Best

Brian Crossman

Brian Crossman is a partner in Estevan-based Independent Well Servicing. The opinions expressed in this column are the opinions of the author and not necessarily the opinions of Independent Well Servicing.

It sure seems like Leonardo DiCaprio has no problems use high full consumption helicopters and private jets.

I have been working hard (well, kinda) on my next article to be fun and light-hearted. You know, it’s spring-time, we’ve had lots of bad news from the Ukraine (Don’t forget to donate to a good organization to help the refugees) and the patch has potential to be busy this year. I want to be that positive influence on everything around me.

Of course something has to pop up to piss me off and ruin my good intentions (rant begins here). I am sure you have all heard that some of our friends in Hollywood have decided again (for the umpteenth time) that they should stick their plastic-surgeon altered noses into other people’s business. These Hollywood “elites” are demanding that Royal Bank of Canada (note: CANADA) divest from the Costal GasLink Pipeline. They feel that the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en territory need their support. However, our movie star friends neglect to tell us that the ELECTED chiefs (remember democracy?) are in favor of this and other projects as a way to bring their people out of poverty and support clean energy projects in the future. Could you imagine as a Canadian doing the same to the Navaho First Nation in the USA? I didn’t think so.

Personally, I have no dog in this hunt. I work in Southeast Saskatchewan, and while I support First Nations projects and self-sufficiency, I am not First Nations myself. But I strongly believe that we should support them when they work toward making the most of the natural resources they own. Projects such as this are a great opportunity for future generations of the First Nations.

But let’s get back to Hollywood. What is it that makes them so self-important that they need to protest a pipeline that will supply a product that is 60 per cent cleaner than coal to Asia? I thought they were interested in a greener planet? Some of them feel that driving a Tesla and installing solar panels on several of their expensive homes (In a warm, sunnier climate I will add) gives them a free pass on all the fuel they use when jet-setting around the world, sailing on yachts and, of course, making movies. Private jets burn anywhere from 50 to 600 gallons of fuel per hour, just a tad more than an F-150.

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I’m just trying to wrap my roughneck brain around their logic. They feel Canada and its people shouldn’t be allowed to expand oil and gas facilities. They would be happier if we had no fossil fuels at all. But, right there in California there is a large oilfield that pumps some very low-quality crude. In 1910 there was a blow-out on Lakeview #1 that spewed out 9.4 million barrels of oil over 544 days. Less than half of the oil was recovered from the valley. It remains to this day the largest oil spill in the history of the world. And it happened in California. Google “California oilpatch” and you will learn what is in DeCaprio’s and Ruffalo’s backyard.  My good friend Matt Cugnet from Weyburn (really smart guy) has studied it extensively and he spoke about it at a Senate Committee hearing we both participated in. It was an eye-opener to be sure. I promise you with today’s standards, the Coastal Link will be safe, clean and profitable.

My opinion, for whatever its worth is maybe, just maybe these elites with the huge banks accounts (DeCaprio is worth about $260 million alone) should focus on the problems close to home, instead of creating problems that don’t exist in another country. I don’t know about you, but I could easily live off of $5 million (that’s US dollars!) and donate the other 255 million to expedite the research and development of green technologies. For these elites that don’t go all in truly demonstrates the level of their so-called commitment. What’s that, Hollywood? Yeah, didn’t think so.

So what exactly are these guys fighting, then? They are against the opportunity to provide clean, ethical energy to the world. Hollywood is rallying against the opportunity for 35 First Nations to lift themselves out of poverty and provide generational security for themselves and energy security for Canada and the world. Oh yeah, and the USA, if Biden doesn’t pull his head out of his ass. This would be a non-issue if the clean green technology existed and was working. But we are not there yet. Personally, I’m all-in when the solution arrives. But in the meantime let’s continue to work with the cleanest possible solutions at hand. I just don’t understand how these Hollywood Jackwagons think that they have any skin in this game. If you ever want to read some real common-sense opinion on this subject, look up Chris Sankey. He is an Indigenous leader and businessman from Prince Rupert. He is wise and has the best interests of his people and Canada front and centre.

I’m going to close with this: All you Actors and such that are making Canada’s energy business your business, here’s my advice. Make your movies and television shows. Make us laugh, make us cry. Entertain us. But don’t lecture us. The world owes you nothing. We owe you nothing. The same technology being used to make the future better, is also improving CGI to the point we won’t need actors anymore. Some kid learning to code right now will probably make that happen and sooner than you think.

Brian Crossman is a partner with Independent Well Servicing in Estevan. If DeCaprio, Ruffalo or anyone from Hollywood wants to sit down and discuss this over lunch, Brian will fly down to LA. On his dime. On a commercial flight.

• 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
  0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
• 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
  0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click
• 0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
  0082 CsHM 2024 Pipeline
• 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
  0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
• 0076 Latus only
  0076 Latus only
• 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
  0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
  0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
  0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
• 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0011
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0002 gilliss casing services
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• 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
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• 9001