For the first time since president, President Obama traveled across the border and into Canada. He met, for the first time ever, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to talk about the slumping economy, trade, energy and the war in Afghanistan. From the article Obama touched down in Ottawa with a list of things for discussion, some of which were - a promise of a new strategy in Afghanistan as Canada moves to pull out all its troops there; and talk of clean-energy cooperation as controversy hangs over Canada's massive oil-rich tar sands.
These oil-rich tar sands are estimated to have 175 million barrels of oil just sitting there. This along would make Canada second to Saudi Arabi with the most crude oil resources. The only problem for Canada to get to these resources is that they would have to produce a lot of greenhouse gases. This is one thing that environmental activists will not allow to happen, they are pushing to have Obama not allow such a thing.
From the oil in the past, Obama has criticized America on its dependence from the Middle East for oil. According to the above link, Canada (especially Alberta where these oil-rich tar sands are located) has warned Washington that their oil security there in Canada may be lost. Daily production of 1.2 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to nearly triple to 3.3 million barrels in 2020.
According to his visit to Canada and talk with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama's economic stimulus plan has put aside money to help out environmental issues. These issues are carbon capture and sequestration technology, in which Obama has set 3 billion aside for that, and smart grid efforts which has 11 billion put aside for that.
From the article about President Obama traveling into Canada I saw this, which is very interesting to me - "Canada and the United States have the largest trading relationship between any two countries in the world. And for all the talk of ending a dangerous reliance on foreign oil, the U.S. depends more on Canada for imported oil than it does any other country."
For Obama's image, this is really good for him. To go up to Canada, have an audience and have a good talk with Canada's Prime Minister. This not only helps him, but makes America look good too. Because ultimately, it was America who picked this guy to run the country.
I think it is a HUGE move for the US to stop depending so heavily on foriegn crude oil supplies and focus the dependency closer to home. Our relationship with Canada has been pretty solid, as far as I am informed, and I think it's a great thing that our newly elected president is working on building that up to an even stronger status. I think it stinks that the green-house gas emissions will increase but it depends on the percentage and to what extent that increase will carry-out to when we talk about the pros and cons of these oil-rich tar sands.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see the US stop depending on middle-eastern countries for oil. An agreement with Canada would be great but what would be better if our Congress would let us use our own oil reserves in Alaska. Then look at many other options for alternative energy. Lets stop putting all of our eggs in one basket!
ReplyDeleteEven more upsetting to me is that what isn’t being publicized is the breakdown on all the taxes on oil / fuel that is why the cost of gas is so high. I can travel 1 mile to another county and pay .10 cents less a gallon – that county has less taxes on a gallon of gas.
Somewhere I want some to publish an itemized listing of exactly what and how much each item is that goes into the cost of a gallon of gas.
The public relations team for the President is certainly a well-oiled machine! To be able to jump from topic to topic and country to country while keeping it all straight is just amazing. From the sound of your post, it appears that President Obama is going to keep his team hopping.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of being environmentally conscious is certainly a hot button one. Every corporation is under fire to do everything they can to be green or to go green. Obama is shining a light on the entire country to show how we can all go green.
By tapping the resources of Canada, the United States is taking a big step in the right direction. I hope Obama’s PR team keeps this issue in the spotlight and therefore at the head of everyone’s thoughts.