hypocritexposer
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Canada's Oil Bonanza
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, May 18, 2009 4:20 PM PT
Energy Policy: Talk about alternative energy! Canada has the oil the American economy desperately needs — and then some. So why do we treat this and other energy allies like pariahs?
The next Saudi Arabia? Why, Canada. Don't believe it? A new study by the respected energy consultancy IHS-CERA (formerly Cambridge Energy Associates) says Canada's oil sands could provide the U.S. with billions of barrels of oil — oil we must have or our economy will shudder to a halt.
In 2000, Canada's sands produced just 600,000 barrels of oil a day; today, it produces 1.3 million. By 2030, it could be producing as much as 6 million.
It's a good thing they're doing it, because we'll need it — despite all the blather you hear about so-called alternative energy picking up the slack. It won't. It can't.
Virtually no major reputable forecaster sees anything other than a very minor role for alternative energy over the next three decades. Like it or not, fossil fuels are the name of the game.
Both the U.S. Energy Department and the American Petroleum Institute forecast that, barring some miracle breakthrough, at least until 2030 oil, coal and natural gas will be needed for at least 80% of our energy output — even as our own oil production shrinks.
To keep our economy growing, we must have more oil. Weirdly, however, the U.S. seems bent on making it harder to get it here. The budget unveiled by the White House earlier this year contained a slew of taxes, regulations and punishments for our domestic oil industry. This makes no sense.
The U.S. has taken more than 31 billion barrels of oil, 154 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion tons of coal off the market intentionally through laws that make it difficult, if not impossible, to prospect and produce energy on federal lands. Years from now, people will scratch their heads in wonder at such foolishness.
Never mind that a study by ICF International last year said tapping our own energy resources could generate $1.7 trillion in federal revenues, create thousands of jobs and make us more energy secure. Instead, our sick obsession with the chimera of global warming keeps us from doing what's economically sensible.
Meanwhile, we've gone after energy-rich Canada — already our No. 1 supplier of oil — with "buy American" provisions in our recently passed stimulus plan.
Rubbing sand in the wound, U.S. officials have even suggested we might not want Canada's oil, since it's so "dirty" and likely to increase our carbon footprint.
Here's a little yellow Post-It for U.S. policymakers: Make nice with Canada. Given our ridiculous refusal to exploit our own vast energy resources, it's going to be the best friend we can have.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=327540838239093