Oil Lobby "Hopes Bad Times Chase Away Green Blues"
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.23.08
Above is what they say on their website, but in interview in the National Post, the new head of the oil sands producers' lobby Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers sings a different tune. New CAPP head Dave Collier thinks the United States will likely soften its stance on environmental issues tied to the much-criticized oil and gas industry as that country faces tough economic times.
"Our experience has been when there are significant economic challenges, as there are particularly in the U. S. at the moment, the environment tends to be a somewhat lower priority in the minds of voters and probably then in the minds of policy-makers," Mr. Collyer said in an interview.
Dave Collier
"The interplay between the economic challenges and the environment will be interesting post-election, particularly in the U.S. given the economic challenges and the current uncertainty in the financial markets that they face."
Carrie Tait writes in the Post:
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has also said he wants to wean the United States off "dirty, dwindling and expensive oil." Mayors of large U. S. cities have also pointed to Alberta's oil sands as a major factor in global warming.
But the economy could trump the environment. "People are concerned about their jobs and their own economic well-being" as the U. S. economy struggles, Mr. Collyer said. "The environmental side of the equation becomes more discretionary ... During the period of tough economic challenges, the environment tends to slide down the list a little bit."
Unfortunately, I think he is right. ::National Post
Collier's new gig is to peddle this:
Gates and Buffet Visit Oil Sands, Home of Two-Headed Fish
Library Late Fees in Alberta Are 16 Times Bigger than Environmental Fines at the Alberta Tar Sands
Explore Alberta's Latest Tourist Attraction: The Tar Sands Resort
Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth
Oil Companies and Alberta Government Go After Little Old Lady
The Tar Sands Are Eating Our Dinner
Solar-Powered Spectra Watermaker for When You Head for the Hills
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The Tide’s Rising For Wave Power: Power Buoys Installed Off the Spanish Coast
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The smirk says it all. Same old thing, jobs and prosperity Vs the environment. Obama has pledged to go against 'dirty oil' - which by any account the Oil Sands oil surely must be. So if Obama does get in, it could get interesting.
The whole economy vs. ecology mind-set is completely fallacious to begin with; witness Denmark's move in the late 70's towards self sufficiency and the attendant 70% growth in GDP since (versus our completely flatlined economic growth in the same period, with adjusted per capita GDP actually moving in the wrong direction for the last decade!) The old model is broken, and despite how Mr. Collier feels about the death throes of his industry, it does not change the fact that it is dying and more and more people are aware of that daily. We must stop putting "growth" above change, as without the change we will not get growth. If we wish to let the rest of the world leave us behind in a cloud of water vapor as they speed away in their alternative economies, then Mr. Collier makes great sense...
Unfortnately, Collier is probably right, in the short term anyway.. Looks like the US will allow additional drilling leases offshore, and maybe even in ANWR. If these leases displaced some tarsands production, maybe there would even be less net environmental impact.
Short term, weeks and months, that may be necessary. Longer term, months, years, decades, we've (North America especially, but the whole world too) gotta greatly reduce all fossil fuel usage. Suspending liscencing of all new coal fired power plants and more stringent CAFE standards should be a bare beginning.