The same week he was elected, Harpers' government quietly met for two days in Houston Texas, with their US counterparts and oil industry executives. The apparent purpose of the meeting? Canada committing to a five-fold expansion in oil sands production in a “relatively short time span”.
A week later, George Bush makes his state of the union address, stating that the US is addicted to oil and that he wants to makes America's dependence Middle Eastern oil “a thing of the past” - now a national security objective of the US government. Where will this missing production come from? Apparently from us. Thanks for letting us know Stephen.
The Alberta oil sands development is already the largest source of new greenhouse gases in Canada. So energy intensive is this bitumen boondoggle, it takes up to 1,500 cubic feet of clean natural gas to produce one barrel of dirty crude. The oil sands now consume 600 million cubic feet of natural gas per day – enough to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes.
According to the minutes of the Houston meeting, this massive increase in the oil sands production will mean Canada will have to “streamline” environmental regulations for new energy projects.
