Worthwhile Canadian Initiative--Really

Ft. McMurray, Alberta

Canada feels unappreciated. Recall the winner of the New Republic's contest for the world's most boring headline. It was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Okay, I doubt Prime Minister Stephen Harper had that particular American slight in mind as he sat next to President Obama in the Oval Office last month. But when reporters were ushered into the room, he made a pitch for American gratitude. "I remind all our American friends," he said, "that Canada is by far the largest supplier of energy to the United States." Who knew?

Harper was putting it mildly. Canada is singularly capable of improving America's energy security and reducing our reliance on oil from unfriendly or unreliable countries like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Nigeria. The government of Canada is also doing something most American politicians wouldn't dare: openly defying the environmental movement. Environmental activists--especially American ones--are riveted on one mission in Canada: stopping production from the oil sands of northern Alberta. The ostensible reason is it pollutes the atmosphere. The real reason is it produces oil, the use of which environmentalists wish to stamp out. And because most of the oil from this remote region is exported to the United States--and much more will be in the future--the initial goal of environmentalists is to bar the oil from reaching the vast American market.

A decade ago, Canada provided 15 percent of America's oil imports. Last year, the figure was 19 percent. Now it's probably more than 20 percent. As production in the oil sands increases, that share should eventually double. And there's a strategic point: The more we get from the oil sands, the less America will import from hostile countries. Already this past July, Canada sent 1 million more barrels of oil a day to the United States than did Saudi Arabia, our number two source of imported oil.

The oil sands (also known as tar sands) cover an area roughly the size of Florida. The oil, or bitumen, is mixed with sand, and it took decades for experts to figure how to separate the two profitably. The total deposit is estimated at 1.7 trillion barrels, but it could be even larger. That's trillion, compared with which U.S. daily oil consumption of nearly 20 million barrels is minuscule, a trifle, a speck. Only one-tenth of the deposit is economically recoverable today, and I emphasize today. It's all but certain that more of the oil will become extractable as energy technology, which is anything but static, continues to develop. The sands are likely to be a secure, accessible, and growing source of oil for decades. As a Canadian might put it, that's a national security hat trick, benefiting the United States.

With Barack Obama in the White House, we'll need every barrel the oil sands can produce. America's consumption of energy is certain to grow over the next two decades. But the Obama administration has balked at new development of domestic oil resources. Obama revoked President Bush's order permitting oil companies to drill off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and he opposes new drilling in Alaska. His minions have cancelled oil leases in the West and declined to approve new ones in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since more oil will have to be imported whether Obama and the environmental lobby like it or not, better from the oil sands than anywhere else. Oil from Canada comes to the United States by pipeline. This has many advantages. There's far less chance of spills than when oil is imported by tanker. Pipelines are secure. The supply lines are short. The oil goes directly to refineries. Also, Canada and the United States are as tightly intertwined as economic partners can get. The flow of oil from Canada won't be disrupted by political disputes.

The chief threat of disruption comes from environmentalists, mostly American ones. Canadian environmentalists loathe the oil sands and they're good at stunts, like unfurling "Stop the Oil Sands" banners in public places. Two dozen Greenpeace protesters recently broke into the Shell Albian Sands facility north of Ft. McMurray, where 15 of them chained themselves to heavy equipment. But Canadian environmental groups lack political clout. For them, the good news is that reinforcements from the States have arrived.

American groups have made the oil sands a top target. They've set up shop in Alberta to push the cause. When Harper came to Washington last month, protesters showed up across from the White House to denounce exploitation of the oil sands. More important, American environmentalists have made the oil sands a big media story in the United States. And they have many friends and former colleagues in the Obama administration.