MONTREAL - The era of oil gushing from ground wells is over and can only be replaced by costly and complex refining of deposits such as Canada's oil sands to satisfy rising global energy needs, said a senior oil executive.
Pressed about the high cost of oil sands extraction and attacks by environmentalists worried about its contribution to global warming, Jean-Michel Gires, president of French-based Total's Canadian subsidiary, told AFP he is optimistic specifically about the future of Canada's oil sands development.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's long awaited plan for
drilling in the Marcellus Shale was just released. The Shale, which
stretches from Ohio to New York is believed to be the country's largest
remaining reservoir of natural gas. Drilling has begun in Pennsylvania
and West Virginia and there have already been reports of contaminated wells.
PAVILLION, Wyoming - Louis Meeks, a burly 59-year-old
alfalfa farmer, fills a metal trough with water from his well and
watches an oily sheen form on the surface which gives off a faint odor
of paint.
He points to small bubbles that appear in the water, and a thin ring of foam around the edge.
Meeks is convinced that energy companies drilling for natural gas in
this central Wyoming farming community have poisoned his water and
ruined his health.
Why is Afghanistan so important?
A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.
Afghanistan is adjacent to Middle Eastern countries that are rich in oil and natural gas. And though Afghanistan may have little petroleum itself, it borders both Iran and Turkmenistan, countries with the second and third largest natural gas reserves in the world. (Russia is first.)
Four years after Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded a massive
energy bill that exempted natural gas drilling from federal clean water
laws, Congress is having second thoughts about the environmental
dangers posed by the burgeoning industry.
As Barack Obama heads into his second hundred days in office, let's
head for the big picture ourselves, the ultimate global plot line, the
tumultuous rush towards a new, polycentric world order. In its first
hundred days, the Obama presidency introduced us to a brand new
acronym, OCO for Overseas Contingency Operations, formerly known as
GWOT (as in Global War on Terror). Use either name, or anything else
you want, and what you're really talking about is what's happening on
the immense energy battlefield that extends from Iran to the Pacific
Ocean.
