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« Why Does Congress Want to Know About Your eBay Purchases? | Main | Yes We Did » June 26, 2008Dr. No Strikes AgainI read yesterday in Canada's National Post that Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama flunked economics. Well, it didn't say it that directly, but that's about the only conclusion you can draw from the story, which reports that Obama opposes increased importation of oil produced from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, because - wait for it - getting the oil out of the oil sands produces "greenhouse gas" emissions and uses a lot of water. As the newspaper reports, Canada is the largest supplier of oil and gas to the U.S. and the Canadian government "has spent several years - particularly since the 9-11 terrorist attacks - promoting the country as a safe and secure source of energy for the American market." The Alberta oil industry is is planning to boost production from 1.3 million barrels a day to 3.5 million barrels over the next decade. Obama thinks that's bad for the environment, so he opposes importing it. Here's where Obama's logic falls apart: If the the United States doesn't import that 2.2 million barrels of oil per day - roughly 10 percent of our overall daily oil consumption and almost one fifth of our daily oil imports - Canada's oil industry isn't going to just leave it in the ground. They are still going to produce it, and sell it. Which means that, even if he is right about the environmental issue, Obama's policy does precisely nothing to benefit the environment. Here is what it does: It leaves America buying that 2.2 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela rather than from our friendly neighbor to the north. And it damages the United States' relationship with Canada, traditionally one of our closest allies. And the cost could be huge. The oil sands of Alberta (also known as "tar sands") contain an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of oil, of which 10 percent - 170 billion barrels - is recoverable using today's technology. That 170 billion barrels is the second-largest proven reserve in the world after Saudi Arabia. I would think most Americans would rather we bought our oil from friendly Canadians than from Middle Eastern countries from which the Islamofacist terrorists come, or from the hostile regime in Venezuela. Posted in Energy
Comments
BHO is a political/economic suicide bomber. He just declared sanctions against one of our allies. Whether the U.S. buys a product from another country does not have any affect on the production of that product. Especially a resource as valuable and strategic as oil. I'm sure China would gladly accept the embargoed oil considering in 15-20 years China's total need is expected to outstrip current use by the rest of the world today. An agreement has been signed between PetroChina and Enbridge to build a 400,000 barrels per day pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta, to the west coast port of Kitimat, British Columbia, to export synthetic crude oil from the oil sands to China, plus a 150-million-barrel-per-day pipeline running the other way to import condensate to dilute the bitumen so it will flow. Sinopec, China's largest refining and chemical company, and China National Petroleum Corporation have bought or are planning to buy shares in major oil sands development. Other countries developing at sands include France, Japan, Norway and Korea. Currently most of the oil is exported to the U.S. Last December BP contributed it's Toledo, OH refinery in a joint sands venture that will be for nothing. First the Dems criticize "Big Oil" for not going after the oil. Yet when they go after it the Dems want to cut it off. With policies like that why would oil companies want to do business in the U.S.? Could that be a motivation for Exxon to sell off it's retail market in the U.S? Could it be that Exxon is tired of being the whipping boy of Congress and is going to focus on the increased demand of the foreign market and to hell with the U.S.? Posted by: Rick Forman at June 27, 2008 11:00 AMI would think most Americans would rather we bought our oil from friendly Canadians than from Middle Eastern countries from which the Islamofacist terrorists come, or from the hostile regime in Venezuela. Or from Mexico. The conditions of that deal haven't worked out well for us. Posted by: Donna Locke at June 27, 2008 3:52 PMPost a comment
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