Oil Rules!

"When oil is at stake, the United States always plays for keeps. Our task is much easier if no one knows just how much oil there is." Rob Huebert, University of Calgary.

The Arctic boundary dispute between Canada and the United States is not yet settled, although recent discussions have gone some way to satisfying both countries, without yet reaching a firm conclusion. The five Arctic coastal nations are all salivating at the thought of the presumed vast stores of petroleum fuels to be extracted from huge resources within the Arctic. If Russia had presumed to announce it was prepared to begin drilling for oil, there would be an enraged outcry heard world-wide.

The new American administration under President Barack Obama, which has been very cozy with environmentalists and which is preparing its own federal environmental program, has now announced its intention to open the country's offshore areas - including the Beaufort Sea, which both Canada and the U.S. claim, to intensive development. The exploitation of undersea deposits north of Alaska is also in the picture.

Environmentalists were caught off guard, for this is, after all, the very man whom they supported in his drive for the White House, allowing sanctimonious glimpses of his environmental credentials and commitments every step of the way. This was the "yes we can" president who vowed to show Americans a new direction, a new way to step forward into the future. The reality of economic imperatives and the collapse of the economy evidently conspired to sober his thought processes.

"This is not a decision that I've made lightly. But the bottom line is this: Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we're going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy." From Delaware to central Florida, the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, the hunt is on.

Hey, you there, remember us? We've got huge deposits in Alberta, remember that? Dirty stuff, it sure is, but Alberta's cleaning it up. Expensive, yes it is. But it's a vast reservoir, and it's already being exploited. Not, obviously, to the benefit of the environment. Listen, before you go along to get going, how about settling this Canada-U.S. Arctic sovereignty dispute, so we can remain friendly neighbours.

And while we're at it, good neighbour, let's talk about the Northwest Passage as well. There, Canada rules. It's history, it's fact, it's ours.