Friends of Science

.@OSFICanada @bankofcanada @CSA_News @ASCUpdates @aimcoinvests @ABDanielleSmith @PremierScottMoe @TMXmoney @FRASCanada @BizCouncilofCan @taxpayerDOTcom OPEN LETTER TO @OSFICanada and @bankofcanada on the US Rescission of the EPA CO2 Endangerment Finding and Implications for Canada blog.friendsofscience.org/2026/02/19/ope…

Electricity is a secondary source of power - generated usually by coal, natural gas, biomass, or hydro or nuclear - both of which require LOTS of oil, gas and coal to make a hydro dam or nuclear plant... ppl just don't know how things are made anymore. Wind and solar, too - as you point out. youtu.be/TVJZdJZ6PwQ

Both solar panels and wind turbines contain significant amounts of plastic. Where do you think plastic comes from?

@TallGirlCan @FoodProfessor 😂😂😂Let's ask @GasPriceWizard about that. Dan, do Clean Fuel Regs lower the cost of gas?

@FriendsOScience @FoodProfessor Clean fuel regs lower the cost of gas

"My guess is that most Canadians think the carbon tax is gone—but it isn’t. And many still don’t fully understand how it works. That uncertainty creates space for pro–carbon tax advocates to promote a policy that has never been properly evaluated for its impact on food affordability in Canada."

@ABDanielleSmith Beware of the climate fanatics who want 'keep it in the ground' to count as emissions avoidance on the climate file. 😵‍💫 Yes. It's a thing. nature.org/content/dam/tn…

I have said it for years: Canada will not regulate itself into prosperity. It’s time to build. In the midst of grave global instability, Canada needs a real economic boost and this new report shows exactly where it can come from. New oil pipelines and the production to fill them could generate about $31 billion a year for Canada. Read Chris Varcoe’s full analysis here: calgaryherald.com/opinion/column…

Unsettled premiers on Sunday, March 29 at 9:00 PM on Newsmax! Featuring Steve Koonin, Chris Wright, John Clauser, Will Happer and Gregory Wrightstone

@ryangerritsen Don't forget the role of foreign funders and the Tar Sands Campaign.... blog.friendsofscience.org/wp-content/upl…

And people wonder why companies aren’t rushing to Canada to get a pipeline built. Northern Gateway president says they spent 600 million dollars to get a pipeline approved only to result in a NO.

@ExnerPirot No modern medicine. From 2018 Climate Change and Health Questioning the Lancet Report youtu.be/3WA46iOc4Z0

Some of you still seem to think oil is only used for gasoline for light duty vehicles, because that’s the only time you’ve physically encountered it. Expensive and scarce oil is an omnicrisis for the global economy. It cannot be replaced by electrons from solar panels.

@JJNicholl @FoodProfessor @joxley @RealAndyLeeShow and her boots-on-the-ground ppl found the the Cdn Climate Institute's office is EMPTY! x.com/RealAndyLeeSho…

@FoodProfessor @joxley @FriendsOScience might have something to say about the Canadian Climate Institute

Ever notice... That when the carbon tax gets credibly challenged, the Canadian Climate Institute and its allies suddenly appear with open letters or press releases reinforcing Ottawa’s narrative? Timing is everything. Follow the money. Someone is always calling someone.

@JJNicholl @FoodProfessor @joxley Oh, you mean that government funded 'charity'? This is from a couple of years ago, now I think the funding from gov't is 'only' ~76%...

@LegacyofCRSmith /2 Many OTHER climate factors drive warming/cooling cycles. Hot blobs -Oceanic Geothermal Heat: Out of Sight, Out of Mind youtu.be/MknctPTkGjo

@FriendsOScience New u.s.DOE climate report from the tRump regime, oh, got it 😉. Btw greenhouse effect on trapping heat is undisputed.

The debate is BACK. A new U.S. DOE climate report just detonated the “science-is-settled” myth—forcing even the media to admit there’s… an actual debate. Key takeaways: - CO₂ greens the planet & warming saves lives - Mid-troposphere temps match zero-CO₂ models, not the “crisis” ones - Ghost stations & sloppy data inflate “record heat” - Climate policies cost MORE than climate change Translation: the “existential threat” narrative is policy-driven, not data-driven. Read the Heartland Institute’s full takedown: heartland.org/opinion/climat… #ClimateDebate #DOEreport #ScienceIsNeverSettled

@LegacyofCRSmith As @curryja has said, the greenhouse effect exists but its magnitude is uncertain. She has also pointed out, based on the evidence, that CO2 is not the control knob that can fine tune climate. She said that many years before Trump was anywhere near politics. /2

@GlobalCalgary @atbfinancial Thank you for your common sense report.

Canada may have the ability to substantially raise its GDP and add thousands of new jobs by building more oil pipeline infrastructure, a new study suggests. globalnews.ca/news/11739635/…

Imagine thinking we can add EVs, heat pumps, and electrify office heating (instead of using natural gas) when we are already importing LOTS of electricity, esp in BC. See Net Zero and the Future Power Grid, with Randy Stubbings, P. Eng. friendsofscience.org/library/events… Then imagine the US decides they need their power more than they want to send it to us. download.schneider-electric.com/files?p_Doc_Re…

2. Canada is now a net importer of electricity. /3

The electricity abundance and affordability that Canada has enjoyed for decades are ending. Generation is down, exports are now imports, and investment is flat. Canada’s impending electricity shortage is not just an affordability crisis; it is an economic and security one as well. Pleased to launch this paper at @ippsaconference today /1 macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/upl…

@EVCurveFuturist China. Powered by COAL.

Oil companies in the West: still debating whether EVs are viable. Oil companies in China: building charging hubs the size of fuel terminals. Shell’s biggest EV station on Earth: 📍 Shenzhen ⚡ 258 fast chargers The future isn’t waiting for Western think tanks. #Bettrification

@carlosfonzeca @tonyannett When you have to mine and process MORE rare metals for wind/solar, and produce with coal-fired power and thermal processes, you will end up using more and more fossil fuels! Mining already consumers 10% of the world's energy. @JohnLeePettim13

@FriendsOScience @tonyannett í have the impression that at the cúrrent pace of installation of solar and wind energy humanity is starting to curve the trend.

Renewables are now the cheapest form of energy in electricity generation. People who claim otherwise still think it’s 2010…

Take the carbon tax, light it on fire, and then dig a hole so deep to put the ashes that it will never ever be found again.

@MarcScottEmery Oil is always prices in global terms, right? (With domestic variations according to delivries, etc) @GasPriceWizard

I don’t understand why gasoline is priced at Strait of Hermoz blockade prices $1.90/liter when Canada produces enough oil to supply Canada. Why are we on World Prices? Why can’t oil/gasoline be priced at one fixed Canadian price? This is the most expensive gas has ever been in 🇨🇦

@gothburz We can hardly wait for Deep Fake Doctors in Our Future? 🙄 youtu.be/MWl_ZYjyVms

I am the VP of Claims Optimization at one of the five largest health insurers in the United States. I do not practice medicine. I have never practiced medicine. I have an MBA from Wharton and a background in supply chain logistics. Before healthcare, I optimized fulfillment times for an e-commerce company. The transition was seamless. In e-commerce, the product is a package. In healthcare, the product is a claim. Both are routed, processed, and occasionally denied. The denial rate for packages was 0.3%. The denial rate for claims is 34%. The margins are better in healthcare. The algorithm is called nH Predict. We did not name it. The vendor named it. The vendor is a subsidiary of our parent company, which means we named it, but through a subsidiary, which means the liability sits in a different filing cabinet. nH Predict processes a claim in 1.2 seconds. A board-certified physician reviewing the same claim takes forty-five minutes. We replaced the forty-five minutes. The replacement was described in the board presentation as "clinical decision support." It supports the decision to deny. My team processes 1.4 million claims per quarter. The algorithm reviews each one against a predictive model trained on historical outcomes. The model predicts how long a patient will need post-acute care — rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health. Then it recommends a coverage duration. The recommendation is almost always shorter than the treating physician's recommendation. The physician sees the patient. The algorithm sees the data. We trust the data. The data is cheaper. Here is what I am not supposed to tell you. We know the reversal rate. We have always known the reversal rate. When a patient appeals a denial, 90% of denials are reversed. Ninety percent. This means nine out of ten times, the algorithm was wrong. Not arguably wrong. Not borderline wrong. Reversed-on-appeal wrong. The appeal is reviewed by a human physician. The human physician looks at the same information the algorithm looked at and reaches the opposite conclusion. This has been happening for three years. We have not recalibrated the algorithm. Recalibration would increase the approval rate. An increased approval rate would decrease the margin. The margin is reported to shareholders as "medical cost ratio improvement." Nobody asks what the words mean. The business model is the gap between denial and appeal. Sixty-three percent of patients do not appeal. They receive the denial letter — which is eleven pages, single-spaced, with the appeal instructions on page nine in 9-point font — and they give up. They pay out of pocket. They skip the rehabilitation. They go home early. Some of them fall. Some of them are readmitted. The readmission is a new claim. The new claim is processed by nH Predict. The 37% who appeal wait an average of 43 days for a decision. Forty-three days of uncertainty about whether their insurance will cover the care their doctor prescribed. During those 43 days, many of them have already been discharged. The appeal is retroactive. The care is not. I have a dashboard. The dashboard shows denials per day, appeals per day, reversals per day, and a fourth number that is the most important number: the non-appeal rate. The non-appeal rate is 63%. I report this number weekly. It has never been described as a problem. It has been described as "patient engagement efficiency." When the non-appeal rate rises, I am congratulated. When it falls, I am asked what happened. The class action lawsuit uses the phrase "bad faith." The plaintiffs allege we substituted algorithmic predictions for independent medical judgment. This is accurate. The substitution saves $2.1 billion annually. The lawsuit seeks $1.3 billion. Even if we lose, the math works. Three years of $2.1 billion is $6.3 billion. Minus $1.3 billion is $5 billion. The settlement will include the phrase "without admitting wrongdoing." The settlement always includes that phrase. I am the Vice President of Claims Optimization. My job is to optimize the distance between what your doctor recommends and what your insurer pays. The distance is the product. I have been optimizing it for three years. The algorithm gets faster. The appeals process gets longer. The font on page nine gets smaller. The margin gets wider. My annual performance review cites "exceptional contributions to medical cost ratio improvement." The review does not mention the 90% reversal rate. The review does not mention the 63% non-appeal rate. The review does not mention the patients. The algorithm does not practice medicine. I want to be clear about that. It predicts. It denies. It profits. The prediction, the denial, and the profit are three separate functions. The separation is important. For legal purposes.