Will an American Surge Win the War for Oil?

Posted:

April 10, 2007


Section:

by Macdonald Stainsby; Originally published on Znet on March 25, 2007

Alright, so a plan that was developed with questionable science and selective readings of intelligence has, after initially being supported by a population that trusted what they were told, become exceedingly unpopular. Despite the fact that the normally timid opposition has been uncharacteristically emboldened into questioning the goals of the policy, this same opposition states “We have to stay the course,” while mumbling about finding alternatives that will help the economy wean off dependence on this oil-producing region. The noises being made by politicians on the matter is simply reflective of the over-all population who say time and again, when asked, that reversing the dangerous course we are on is their top priority. So the neoconservatives in power have, after their secret plans were leaked, begun to escalate operations in a massive ‘Surge!’

Of course, the surge I am talking about is the five fold surge that is being called for in tarsand petroleum production in what are being rebranded by energy companies the ‘oilsands’ of Alberta. This level of production, to energy analysts, will be notable in that it will leave more than a quarter of all American oil every day coming from tarsands pits in a decade. Much like how Baghdad is seeing the largest embassy in the world built to house the US ambassador , the infrastructure of “facts-on-the-ground” that one can see puts the lie to all the yammer about Kyoto, tackling climate change or someday leaving the region entirely. Like the huge military bases under construction throughout Iraq , places like Fort McMurray are signals that the road charted so far is a permanent one—as an emergency injection of $400 million was just approved by the province in order to provide immediate housing, health care, sewage and public schools. Residents of this exploding city say it’s just scratching the surface. Also just scratching the surface is focusing narrowly on Alberta.

The discussions between the US Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada were also attended by the executives of the major oil companies. Though the meetings were held over a year ago and the minutes were leaked in the latter half of January 2007, the contents have neither been denied nor altered by any of those involved. Instead of backtracking since the release of these papers, the Albertan government has streamlined the application of the Kearl Project, yet another massive tarsand—some would say “tar pit” describes it better—operation when the community of Fort Muck barely can operate as is. These meetings lay down an energy “plan”.

Instead of studying the carefully crafted greenwash that come with the statements of any and all politicians, let us look to the market analysts to see what the plans are. According to Cargill Power and Gas:

"Natural gas used for either on-site cogeneration facilities, steam assisted gravity drainage, or other extraction and heavy oil processing techniques is expected to total 1.5 to 2.0 Bcf/d by 2010, far surpassing the 1 Bcf/d [billion cubic feet a day] capacity of the proposed Mackenzie Delta Pipeline."

This is a monstrously significant statement....

Read the rest of this article on Znet, HERE

 

Macdonald Stainsby is a freelance journalist, writer, social justice activist and professional hitchhiker looking for a ride to the better world. He can be reached at mstainsby@resist.ca and he is the coordinator of http://oilsandstruth.org