Former Teacher Marin Katusa Dispels Energy Myths and Exaggerations

A frank conversation about the Keystone XL pipeline, fracking and nuclear energy.

We are pleased to share this interview with Casey Research's Chief Energy Investment Strategist, Marin Katusa. Marin is also a co-founding director of Copper Mountain Mining, Canada's third largest operating copper mine. Topics covered include the Keystone XL Pipeline (0:21), fracking (8:25) and nuclear energy (20:07). For those without the time to watch the entire interview, scroll down for memorable excerpts.



Fracking:

"From the earthquake standpoint, this is actually a blessing in disguise. There are scientic research reports written that in the San Andreas fault they wanted to frack it to release the accumulated stress. So think of it as a ruler, and if you have this ruler, you can bend it. And if you crack it, it can bend a little bit more and it eases the stress. These rocks are so deep that it has thousands of years of accumulated stress. And as you frack it, it's releasing the stress a bit and you're getting micro-quakes, the equivalent of a bus driving beside you on the street, or while you're driving in your car, a big rig drives beside you on a highway. These are releasing the stress that's accumulated rather than it building and building and building like the ruler just snaps, and then you have a much larger earthquake... So there is a science to it, and there's the media and emotion exaggeration of it all."

Keystone XL:

"Now let's look at the protestors, you have all these B-Rate actors coming out and saying, like Julia from Seinfeld came out and said, "Hey, this is bad." First of all, her family is worth billions of dollars. Second of all, she is not an energy expert. California produces more pollution than all of the oil sands combined. Before you come to Canada and knock our oil, remember that California's bitumen production produces more pollution than ours does. People call the Canadian oil sands a dirty oil. The reclamation makes this land look better afterthan it did before. Do you want bloody oil from the Middle East, or do you want Canadian oil sands? Make the choice."

Germany's nuclear irony:

"It's completely political lip service. For example, even Japan, where the disaster happened, they have rethought their focus and said, "Ah, we're probably going to need nuclear energy if we want to keep the lights on." You look at China, they came out and said, "It was a disaster what happened, but our technology is better, we're not going to allow that to happen." That's the government stance in China, and they are moving forward with nuclear. What Germany is doing, which I find so ironic, they said, "That's it, we're scaling out all of the nuclear production of electricity." But what are they doing? They're importing French nuke energy, which is right on the border with Germany… Nuclear is here to stay."

Electric cars:

"Uranium is a major part of the American energy matrix. North of 15% of all of the US households are powered by nuclear energy whether people like it or not. All of these Californian activists and actors who drive their Prius around or their electric car, you plug that car into the wall. And 50% of America's electricity is generated from coal, and I think the exact number is somewhere around 18% is nuclear. You're looking at two thirds of your electricity is generated from unpopular or dirty sources. When these activists drive around in their electric cars lets think back to where this energy is produced."

Personal investment style:

"I'm not a trader… What we like to do is get in early. I'm a big believer in investing in people. You can have a great project but average people will ruin great rocks. If you have great people, they will find great rocks."

Occupy Wall Street:

"If you're going to occupy public areas, and not have a defined argument, and create a mess, be respectful of public property, and be respectful of the people you are trying to get the attention to. And the Vancouver scene lost a lot of respect, with not just the garbage and the noise, the lack of respect for public property, and also, ODing on public property, they must really rethink and redefine what they're arguing for."

Learn more about Marin at CaseyResearch.com, and save JANUARY 22-23 in your calendar for the biggest investment conference in the history of Vancouver, the 2012 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference.