Clean up your own backyard, Stelmach tells Gore
Oilpatch driven by U.S. thirst for oil: premier
Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore steered his climate change caravan -- and criticism of the province's environmental record -- into the heart of the oilpatch on Monday, but Premier Ed Stelmach suggests Gore look south of the border before preaching to Albertans.
While Gore has been extremely critical of Alberta's largely unabated oilsands development, the CEO of petroleum giant Nexen said industry is doing its part to lessen its environmental footprint, but insisted the public should do more.
Gore was in Calgary speaking at a sold-out Jack Singer Concert Hall about his Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which argues global warming, spurred by the use of carbon-based fuels such as oil and coal, is the biggest threat facing the world.
He has targeted the oilsands, suggesting far too much natural gas is burned processing northern Alberta's bitumen.
But Stelmach, who hasn't seen the documentary, said Monday in Calgary the province is merely feeding Americans' insatiable demand for energy, so perhaps Gore should look closer to home.
"Where do you think we're selling the oil? Right to his own country," Stelmach, who attended the $159-a-ticket show, told reporters earlier Monday.
He insisted Alberta's energy-based economy is as critical to the rest of Canada as it is to the United States, and must not be crippled by environmental regulations.
"Any changes to Alberta's economic growth will have a significant impact to Ontario, Quebec and other provinces," he said.
"So we've got to work together and think this through very carefully."
Although Gore never answered Stelmach's request to meet to chat about energy and environmental issues, the premier said he'd be happy to "find some time" for the man still rumoured to be considering a run at the Democratic presidential nomination.
Gore raised eyebrows across Alberta last year when he accused the oil industry of bankrolling the Conservatives and their "ultra-conservative leader," Stephen Harper, to protect its stake in the oilsands.
In an issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Gore said "for every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days. And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape."
Going to those lengths for oil "is truly nuts," he said. "But you know, junkies find veins in their toes."
Yet, Charlie Fischer, the CEO of oil and gas giant Nexen Inc., said industry agrees with Gore on many fronts, including the need for society -- not just industry -- to use less energy.
"Industry is really engaged in this. I think it's the individuals who aren't," Fischer told the Herald. "The rhetoric I hear is, 'Cause industry to change.' I don't hear people say, 'Let's change behaviour.' "
Fischer said he finds it interesting most of the environmental legislation coming from different levels of government targets the oil and gas industry, but doesn't focus on consumption.
The public drives the demand for energy, he said, which shapes industry's business decisions.
"The population is behind the curve in terms of actually individually getting engaged in behavioural changes that consume less energy," he said.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
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