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Gold/Mining/Energy : KERM'S KORNER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (13461)	11/12/1998 12:58:00 PM
From: Kerm Yerman	Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Texas clout Lone Star State goes its own way CALGARY SUN SAN ANTONIO, Tex. -- Here, at the home of the Alamo, the message is still clear: "Don't Mess With Texas." It's a message the oilpatch in Calgary would love to utter. But Texas and Alberta -- so similar in so many ways -- have one vast difference. Political clout. And thousands of miles away in Argentina that truth is being played out. As the Canadian oilpatch waits with bated breath to see if Ottawa will again sell them down the river in the name of climate change, here in Texas the world conference on global warming rates barely a shrug. The reason is simple. As officials in the oddly-named Railway Commission, which regulates the oil industry, explained, Washington won't dare challenge Texas. "If, by some bizarre chance, the president goes ahead and signs some environmental measure that will hurt this industry then there ain't a hope in hell of it passing the Senate. It will be vetoed into Kingdon come," said one industry insider. In those few words we see the reality of political power. And the reality of what an elected Senate really means for a province such as Alberta. While we wait to see what Chretien and his cohorts will come up with next to make themselves look good on the world's stage, the oil barons in Houston chuckle and worry about more pressing matters, such as how to regain an NFL team. To them Kyoto is less than even a minor irritant. Like many companies in Alberta they've faced internal pressure to make environmental changes and they've responded. But some "Damn Yankees" making a deal that they will have to live with? David Crockett and the rest of the men who died here in the name of Texas in one of history's most courageous last stands would surely roll in their graves. No, Texas goes its own way. Especially when it comes to oil. Though not as major a part of the economy as it was during the desperate mid-80s the energy business is still Texas' biggest industry. And, as in Calgary, they've learned to make a go of things at $15-a-barrel, though new wells have been few and far between in the past three months. Just like Alberta those oil revenues have helped Texas build a budget surplus, standing at about five billion bucks. Now there's all sorts of pressure on one side to spend more on education and on reducing the price of prescription drugs while on the other many are calling for a rainy-day fund. Yet, if those rainy days do arrive again with a vengeance in the Lone Star State it will be worldwide economic forces which will be to blame. Not some grand-standing politician from thousands of miles away. So while in Texas they cry "Remember the Alamo," in Alberta we're forced to whisper "Remember the National Energy Program." What a shame.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (13461)	11/12/1998 1:01:00 PM
From: Kerm Yerman	Read Replies (24) \| Respond to of 15196

IN THE NEWS / Deal 'em out - Imperial Oil opposes Kyoto plan By CP OTTAWA -- Canada's largest oil producer says Ottawa should not ratify the Kyoto climate treaty. Imperial Oil is believed to be the first Canadian company to go public with outright opposition to ratification of the treaty, which the federal government endorsed in principle last December. "This is the first position of this type that I've seen," said Michael Barluk, spokesman for Environment Minister Christine Stewart, referring to the new Imperial position paper. The Imperial Oil analysis says compliance with the treaty would cost as much as $140 billion by 2010, and massive government intervention would be required to meet its targets. "Potential actions would likely have to include a doubling of consumption taxes on transportation fuels as well as limiting families to no more than one small, fuel-efficient vehicle." Under the Kyoto protocol, Canada committed itself to cutting its greenhouse emissions 6% from 1990 levels by the year 2010. The largest source of greenhouse emissions is the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gasoline. Environmentalists say the alarming analysis prepared by Imperial is based on worst-case assumptions. Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace said Imperial's position contrasts sharply with that of other major energy companies which have been accepting climate change as an issue to be addressed and ignores benefits of compliance. British Petroleum and Shell have been moving aggressively into solar energy. TransAlta, the major supplier of electricity in Alberta, has just won an award at a U.N. climate conference in Buenos Aires for its innovative work in cutting greenhouse emissions.