NIKIFORUK: The Fallacy of 'Ethical Oil'

[Oscar]

The Fallacy of 'Ethical Oil'

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/09/22/EthicalOilFallacy/

Better to describe Canada's oil sands crude as 'the devil's tears.'

By Andrew Nikiforuk, TheTyee.ca September 22, 2010

"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." -- Thomas Edison, 1931

Aided by small-minded extremists, Big Oil has a new argument to defend the shoddy management of Canada's oil sands. It goes like this: Canadian oil is fundamentally ethical compared to the world's worst oil producers.
Saudi oil barons may beat their women and whip foreign workers, but Canada happily employs aboriginals in open pit mines. Nigeria hangs its critics, but Canada just accuses them of being Greenpeace scum. Venezuela censors its media, but Ottawa will bring peace to the planet with the world's most expensive oil. And hey, bitumen has the consistency of peanut butter. It probably tastes good too.
In other words, a $200-billion project developed by the very same corporations that defrauded Nigeria, bloodied the Sudan, debunked climate change and polluted the Gulf of Mexico has suddenly become a supreme moral force making the world a better place. Only in Canada can CEOs as narcissistic as Tony Hayward morph into Mother Teresa, and companies as morally compromised as Shell play St Francis. Dig, Canada, dig.

MORE: http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/09/22/EthicalOilFallacy/

= = = = =

Related Articles:

Greenpeace Chief Compares Oil Sands to Apartheid
http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/09/01/OilSandsApartheid/
Kumi Naidoo tells Tyee Alberta should learn from Africa's injustices.

Canada Helps Create an Oil Sands World
http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/09/09/OilSandsWorld/
Alberta is showing the way for nations with similar reserves. Brace for a global 'age of tough oil.'

US town opens new front in oil sands battle
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2010/06/08/
bellingham-oil-sands/