The season’s opening pair of little yellow, black-headed Wilson’s warblers arrived this morning, right on time, end of April for Western Canada, in the lilac rammage by the fence.

Hitting the wall

In energy news, the Alberta oilsands seeks public money to make it work. Imperial Oil scientist and advisor to the Alberta government, Clement Bowman — an accomplished oil-field expert, credited with "unlocking the commercial potential" of the tarsands — is lobbying the Canadian government to come up with the money to solve "the huge environmental problems associated with the resource," namely, carbon dioxide emissions, massive water divergence, a nuclear power plant, and an obliterated prairie ecosystem. He adds that unless these environmental issues are solved, "the oil sands have almost hit the wall."

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