Who is the largest supplier of oil to the United States? Canada, right...well maybe not for long. Are Canada's oil reserves drying up? No. Has the US found a better supplier of it's oil? No. Have Canadian oil companies offended their customers to the south? Not really...that is unless you count the US Congress...
Investor's Business Daily reports that Canada has taken some objection to some provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed by the holier-than-thou Democrats in Congress last year. Two provisions in the law make oil from our friends in Ft. Mac off limits for export to the US:
- Tar sands are considered "alternative fuel"
- Oil sold to the US Government from "alternative fuels" must emit fewer greenhouse gasses than conventional crude.
Anyone ever look at the process for extracting oil from tar sands? Put simply, they pump it full of steam and the heat and water serve to separate the oil from the sand. Producing that steam takes, you guessed it, energy...mostly from burning natural gas, and guess what burning natural gas does? It emits the dreaded "greenhouse gasses". Alternatively, they could produce steam from nuclear power (see http://commonsenseaintsocommon.blogspot.com/2006/06/albertas-nuclear-option.html), but that's years, if not decades away.
Congrats Speaker Pelossi...you now get to buy the oil for your strategic petroleum reserve from such good friends as Hugo Chavez, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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