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Page added on August 25, 2012
A continental energy strategy? Bring it on
Speaking in New Mexico on Thursday, Mitt Romney announced an energy plan that promised energy independence — not for the United States only — but also for Canada and Mexico.
“I’m going to establish an energy partnership with Canada and Mexico,” he said. “We need to work together with these guys, work collaboratively. And we need a fast-track process to make sure that infrastructure projects are approved. And particularly, we’re going to get that Keystone Pipeline built as one of those first infrastructure projects that take advantage of their resources.”
In the past, American talk of “continental energy strategies” provoked furious reactions in Canada. The prospect of continental energy sharing was a major argument against the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement back in the 1980s. And now the issue is being raised again, and the reaction from Canada is … quiet.
I see two reasons for this change of view among Canadians.
The first is a great sustained rise in national self-confidence. Canada has enjoyed a long run of national success, not only economic, but also social and political. The days when Canadians feared that they must inevitably be outmaneuvered in any negotiation with the Americans, that Canadian businesses would always be outcompeted, that Canadian sovereignty would be subverted by American power-plays — those days have been left behind. Canadians are ceasing to mentally insert the word “junior” whenever they hear an American pronounce the word “partner.”
The second, and maybe more important, reason is that the rising importance of the oil sands has altered the way many Canadians think about resources.
An earlier generation imagined resources as if they were some kind of legacy in a Victorian novel: inherited wealth that, once frittered away, would be lost forever. The vast scale of the oil sands, and the advanced technology necessary to put them to use, has inspired a different vision of resources. The extracted oil from the oil sands is the work of human beings, the product of knowledge and massive capital investment. The old distinction between primary extractive industries and new high-tech industries is fading away. The oil industry is high-tech, you could even say the very highest tech of all.
The oil produced in this new way is not remotely a legacy that human beings only happened to tap into. It is a creation of human skill and ingenuity, a creation on a planetary scale. The investment necessary to develop the resource must be global, and so must the sales necessary to repay the investment. Exporting oil from the oil sands does not dissipate a rare and irreplaceable treasure; exporting oil from the oil sands is essential to making the oil sands available in the first place.
When an American politician talks of the joint development of this resource, Canadians do not wince — especially as Americans are developing at the same time a fabulous new natural gas resource of their own, using the fracking technologies pioneered in Canada, by Canadians.
Investment and know-how are flowing south from the oil sands to the gas boom in North Dakota and along the Appalachian mountains. Canadian companies are active players in the new industry — and a source of self-confidence for Canadian citizens and voters.
A generation ago, Canadians heard talk of continental energy as an American plot to relieve American scarcities at Canadian expense. But as the continent moves into a new era of energy abundance — based on new technologies that promise new jobs and higher standards of living on both sides of the border — Canadians no longer wince at continentalist talk. If anything, the surest way for an American president to get on the wrong side of Canadian opinion is to try and draw a line along the border to keep Canadian oil out.
It’s a new energy world out there – and it is enabling a new Canadian spirit.
12 Comments on "A continental energy strategy? Bring it on"
BillT on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 2:51 pm
Ah, the BS gets piled higher and higher as November approaches. This is pure BS!
Arthur on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 3:05 pm
Ah David Frum – “the Canadian” – is at it again. He was one of the main trumpeteers to let the US stumble into the Iraq desaster and it was him who designed the phrase ‘axis of evil’. It looks like he is now moving into energy consultancy, with predictable results.
“But as the continent moves into a new era of energy abundance”
The guy is a total joke.
Gale Whitaker on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 7:58 pm
He is a joke! There is another joke on the right wing turkeys, the oil companies want the XL pipe line so that they can ship oil and gasoline to Mexico and South America. The pipe line will cause local gasoline prices to go up, not down because refineries will have compete with the rest of the world for the oil.
SOS on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 9:54 pm
The joke is what is happening right now.1 Billion in weath transferred from the taxpayers to Solindra and others like them. Big business men return a portion of it to the democrates and the rest disappears after a “valiant” manufacturing effort undermined by the Chinese.
At the same time the federal government has all but shut down exploration on federal lands, even from the previous low levels, and is waging war against the industry up and down the entire supply chain.
Stopping the keystone was a terrible political deal for all of us. The idea of energy independence for North America by 2020 is a very realistic goal. Conservation is a big part of it because after all it would be counter productive not to be conservative.
Enery is short now because of bad politics. Peak politics = Peak oil. Peak politics is bad politics.
What is being offered is a change: Government will work with its neighbors and the industry to assure oderly development of our resources and maximization of wealth for all of us.
If we are energy independent by 2020 the wealth created will certainly balance our national budget, fund social security, assure lower energy costs for all us and gurantee reliable supples.
PrestonSturges on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 9:56 pm
The neocon energy policy did not work out so well in the mid-east, so the same inbred brain trust now has its sights set on the American West.
They want to knock down the Rockies to did up the not-quite-really-“oil” shale, essentially nuking Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah and leaving these areas permanently uninhabitable and without water.
So of course Romney wants to eliminate wind power in places like Colorado so nothing can interfere with leveling the Rockies.
PrestonSturges on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 9:58 pm
And nobody points out the obvious – we are drilling more than ever in the US, but we are only producing half the oil we did in the 1970s.
It’s not like when we used to have oil seeps and ponds just lying around like the colonial era of California, Texas, and PA.
PrestonSturges on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 10:20 pm
This a a taste of the Romney Propaganda Presidency. Essentially, people like Frum would say “Energy? SOLVED!!!!” and the average stupid consumer would be saying “Sure gas is now $8 a gallon, but at least the problems have been solved!”
Romney should be able to chug along for a couple years on nothing but slogans.
DC on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 10:51 pm
Frum is a retard and the NP is just a NYT or WP clone for the Toronto\Bay street crowd. Rest assured, plenty of Canadians are plenty mad about amerikan control over the energy sector and are very un-happy about tar-pipes and keystone. The corporate control of media mirrors that of the US, so anything upsetting to the oil companies rosy world view doest get a lot of air-time these days.
Q/The first is a great sustained rise in national self-confidence. Canada has enjoyed a long run of national success, not only economic, but also social and political. The days when Canadians feared that they must inevitably be outmaneuvered in any negotiation with the Americans, that Canadian businesses would always be outcompeted, that Canadian sovereignty would be subverted by American power-plays — those days have been left behind. Canadians are ceasing to mentally insert the word “junior” whenever they hear an American pronounce the word “partner.”
Now ThATS Delusion with a capital D. Everything he pretends hasnt happened, HAS and IS happening. Something like 90% of NAFTA adjudications go in amerikas favor, not Canada or Mexico. Unemployment is high in Canada too, for the same reasons its high in the US, and the housing bubble is going to crash there too, only a matter of time…
SOS on Sat, 25th Aug 2012 11:35 pm
All hyperbolie aside – “knock down the rockies”, yea right – can anyone tell me why an energy independent North America by 2020 would be a bad thing? Conservation is key because after all it would be counter productinve not to be conservative.
VP on Sun, 26th Aug 2012 2:10 am
Energy independence? One has to take into account not only the energy produced but also the energy expended to obtain this resource. The energy return on energy expended for the tar sands is 5:1, which is extremely low. At the same time, conventional oil resources (with a 20:1 – or higher – energy return) are undergoing depletion, since millions of barrels are are being used every day, and equivalent amounts of conventional oil are not being found. Do the math.
MrEnergyCzar on Sun, 26th Aug 2012 2:43 am
I guess we’ll just keep digging the hole deeper with more shovels…people will believe anything…
MrEnergyCzar
Plantagenet on Sun, 26th Aug 2012 5:30 am
America needs oil—Canada wants to sell oil.
Its a win-win situation.