Data acquisition

The Telegram editorialist today makes an interesting and familiar comment which absolutely does not come straight out of an Eighth Floor polling-period talking point:

Even if the drilling turns out to be a bust, the core samples alone will provide invaluable geographic information.

A slight, if inadvertent, nuance from the official position of nominal Natural Resources Minister Kathy Blunderdale, who just a few days ago confouted traducers and counter-span negativity along much the same lines:

Minister Counters Liberal Criticism on West Coast Oil Exploration

Even if they don't find oil on the Northern Peninsula, the geological information will be very useful. That's the word from the Minister of Natural Resources in the wake of criticism from the Liberals that the province should not be risking taxpayers' money.

Who herself was echoing the sentiments of oil magnate and wind owner, Ed Martin:

(It) will provide access to new, valuable information and further assess the petroleum potential in this area

All of which is true: drilling a hole in the ground will yield valuable data on the stratigraphy and petroleum deposits (if any) in that area. That’s the geological information.

And by the time you’re done drilling that intellectually interesting hole, you should also have a pretty good idea where your drill rig is. That would be the invaluable geographic information that the Tellytorialist so looks forward to receiving.

Ed Martin looks forward to receiving data, too. To him, it’s imperative:

We know there’s oil there. We know there’s source there. We know from our seismic work that there are formations that should support oil. And the only thing we need now is information down-hole. We need to drill to get that data.

But you see, here’s the question which some people, though not, apparently, the optimistic and positive Tellytorialist, are asking themselves:

Is the expenditure of $20-million in public money the only way to obtain this geological (and geographical) information?

Do the magical animistic pixie-rocks near, and underneath, Parsons Pond, somehow know when it’s private money operating the rig, and, true to their socialist principles, clam up about their own stratigraphic history and petroleum potential?

Who is the “we” who needs to drill to get that data?