Kyoto is less about the environment than blatant anti-Americanism

By Alan Clark

    Albertans supported the Muldoon Tories in 1988 because of the Free Trade deal with the USA. While free trade didn't have much effect on our industry, the one thing that made it worthwhile is that the agreement specifically forbids the federal mafia from ever imposing the type of price or export restrictions that the Great Genius's National Energy Policy imposed.  Free trade, it was hoped, would forever free Alberta from the fear of an NEP II coming down the pipe. Unfortunately, the crafty Jean Cretin (no, that's not a spelling error) finally found a way to keep Albertans from cozying-up with our best friends, the Americans.

    It is fully evident to everyone that the world has become a much more dangerous place. With heightened danger comes a natural cocooning that, in the case of the Americans, has them looking for ways to reduce their dependency on nations or people who may well soon become enemies. Their most obvious fear is that the supply of oil from the middle-eastern states will slow causing severe effects in their national economy and perhaps even hamper their ability to fight wars.

    This energy paranoia has America looking to alternative sources for oil. One proposal has been for the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve (ANWP) to be opened-up to drilling activity. The main problem facing production from ANWP is that there are no wells and no existing infrastructure. Even if the legislation were passed tomorrow, it would take no less than a decade before the first black barrels were to hit the refineries in the lower forty-eight. Moreover, it is estimated that the ANWP contains perhaps 19 billion barrels of oil. The USA currently imports around 6 million barrels per day so 19 billion barrels isn't really that much oil. Not compared to the other alternative.

    The Athabasca Tar Sands are estimated to contain 2.5 trillion barrels of oil. More than all the conventional reserves world-wide. Alberta's Tar Sands make Saudi Arabia's 300 billion barrels look like a puddle. New technology has improved the production of the existing oil sands facilities to over 900,000 barrels per day. Additionally, the infrastructure to move the oil to refineries in the eastern and southern US is already in place.

    Investment in this fantastic resource has escalated in recent years and the result has seen production increase exponentially. This, more than any other factor, is why the Cretin liberals must implement Kyoto as quickly as possible.

    Scarcely a month has gone by in the past couple of years, which hasn't seen one company or another  announcing new investment in Alberta's oil sands. Over $20 billion has been invested in less than a decade. Left unfettered, investment by energy paranoid Americans might double, triple or even quadruple as production is pushed to exceed that which the Americans require to ensure North American oil self-sufficiency. The sky would be the limit.

    This situation simply cannot be allowed to develop, so far as American-hating, Marxists are concerned. Therefore, it's no surprise that all the American-haters, the U.N., all the African Marxist dictatorships, Russia, and of course Canada,  joined forces to deny America that which America truly needs to maintain her grip on world power. Namely, Alberta's oil sands.

    Owen Jones, who recently completed a study on the oil sands for The Committee for North American Energy Independence says, "The bottom line is that Alberta can and should become the largest and most reliable source for close to all of America's petroleum import needs...". As America's reliance on Alberta grows, so too would Alberta's wealth and power. Obviously, no self-respecting Marxist dictatorship can allow that to happen.