Canadian Diplomats Soliciting Help From Oil Companies To Kill Any Climate Action By US

[hatrack]

anadian diplomats in Washington have quietly asked such oil-industry players as Exxon Mobil and BP to help "kill" U.S. global-warming policies in order to ensure that "the oil keeps a-flowing" from Alberta into the U.S. marketplace, Postmedia News has learned. In a series of newly released correspondence from Canada's Washington embassy, the Canadian diplomats describe recommendations from Environment Canada to clean up the oilsands as "simply nutty," proposing instead to "kill any interpretation" of U.S. energy legislation that would apply to the industry.

"We hope that we can find a solution to ensure that the oil keeps a-flowing," wrote Jason Tolland, from the Canadian Embassy in an exchange of emails with government trade lawyers on Feb. 8, 2008. The correspondence, released to the Pembina Institute, an environmental research group that obtained it through access-to-information legislation, comes as the international community gathers in Cancun, Mexico, for the annual United Nations summit on global warming.

EDIT

One email sent by Paul Connors, who at the time was an energy counsellor at the embassy, encouraged an official with Exxon Mobil to get involved in the political debate against the legislation. "I would encourage your firm to make its views known to DOE (U. S. Department of Energy) and the Hill (politicians)," wrote Connors to Susan E. Carter from Exxon Mobil on Jan. 22, 2008. "I would be most grateful for your company's views on the issue." According to Article 41 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, visiting diplomats in a receiving state "have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State."

In a separate email, Connors also rejected a recommendation from Helen Ryan, a senior Environment Canada official responsible for oil, gas and alternative energy, that the Canadian government needed to convey -in a letter from the ambassador to members of the U.S. cabinet urging the American government to protect the oilsands from the new energy legislation -the importance of putting "more pressure" on the oilsands industry to invest in technology to clean up their pollution. "If intended for the letter, (this point) is simply nutty," wrote Connors on Feb. 19, 2008.

EDIT

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Canadian%20diplomats%20sought%20help%20from%20companies/3898255/story.html

[Nathanael]

1. Ugh...

Stories like this make it disappointing to be Canadian right now. Our government is definitely not being part of the "climate solution."

[Kennah]

5. I would point out ...

... that America still sucks the most when it comes to climate change.

We're #1! We're #1!

Triple ugh.

[GliderGuider]

2. Look no further for evidence of the "Guardians of Hierarchy" at work.

Oh, Canada! :eyes:

[whosinpower]

3. Climate change is here now

This is no longer a wild pie in the sky theory. Just this year, in 2010, Canadian grain farmers saw a 40 percent drop in wheat production...due to flooding.
Think we are alone? Think again. American farmers also saw significant decreases in grain production. Think it is North America only? Think again...Russia, for the first time...in history....has been reduced to importing wheat and corn to feed its people. Well, maybe that is only the northern hemispheres....think again.

South America also has experienced significant "climate" challenges which will affect food production. The Amazon burns with drought. Brazil orange belt has reduced forecasts up to 50 percent. Israel and the middle east are praying for rain....the one thing that seems to bridge long term divisions. Australia suffered with a 10 year drought that literally dried up whole lakes. Now the rain has returned, bringing with it hoards of locusts which can literally eat a field in hours.

What makes me angry....is that some politicians, up here in Canada, myopically believe that if the climate warmed, this would be a good thing for Canada, as we would have shorter winters.....duh! But, their short sightedness does not take into account how devastating this would be for food production...on a global scale. Keep that oil-a-flowing......I wonder if they would enjoy eating a hearty breakfast of oilsand...because as mother nature adapts to our pollution, we are left without.

The reality is that 2 more years of poor crop production as we have seen in 2010 will cause worldwide famine....2 years.

[GliderGuider]

4. I've seen reports of a 17% fall in Canadian wheat production, not 40%

I agree that the global food supply is increasingly at risk due to precipitation changes brought on by global warming. We're skating on thin ice right now, as you point out. Peak oil is making the situation ever harder to mitigate.