The Canadian Coal Industry: Challenge in the Years Ahead

Peter Victor was Associate Professor with the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Downsview, Ontario.

Since World War II petroleum has been the primary source of energy on which industrialized economies have come to depend. In the past ten years, the world price of oil has risen sharply and the security of some major supply sources has been called into question. As a result, the oil importing countries, of which Canada is one, have looked to alternative energy supplies and conservation to reduce their dependence on imported oil.

This book considers the prospects in Canada for an increased utilization of coal as part of an overall energy strategy. It begins with a plea by the author for the application of some basic economic principles which, in layman’s terms, can be stated as follows: proceed with an energy option only after a careful assessment of the benefits and costs of doing so. While Professor Anton is aware of the difficulties of applying this principle in practice, he is a firm believer that the careful interpretation of dollar figures can be most helpful in avoiding a wasteful use of our limited resources. While this reviewer would have preferred a stronger treatment of the possible inequities involved in such analyses, the general thrust of the argument is refreshing. Too often, government energy priorities and programs seem directed toward the fulfillment of narrow political goals and the continuation of practices that have never been subjected to a benefit-cost analysis.

It is to the author’s credit that, in this comparatively brief book, he deals not only with the economics of coal but also the broad environmental and socioeconomic problems to which its production and use give rise. He is also quite realistic in his expectations about the possibility of overcoming these problems. On balance, he believes they can be overcome but only if a concerted effort is made to do so.

The one thing that detracts from this otherwise informative and insightful book is its poor production. Not only does it lack an index, but it displays irritating inconsistencies of type face and spacing. This book and its readers deserved better than that.