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发帖数: 29846 | 1 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Even if President Barack Obama approved the
controversial Keystone XL pipeline tomorrow, at least some Canadian oil
would still flow to Asia, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In a public one-on-one interview here with Jane Harman, head of the Wilson
Centre think-tank, Harper said Obama's rejection of the controversial
pipeline -- even temporarily -- stressed Canada's need to find other buyers
for oilsands crude.
And that wouldn't change even if the president's mind did.
"Look, the very fact that a 'no' could even be said underscores to our
country that we must diversify our energy export markets," Harper told
Harman in front of a live audience of businesspeople, scholars, diplomats,
and journalists.
"We cannot be, as a country, in a situation where our one and, in many cases
, only energy partner could say no to our energy products. We just cannot be
in that position."
His wide-ranging question-and-answer at the influential non-partisan think-
tank -- which also touched on border security, trade, the Arctic and Syria
among other topics -- followed a meeting with Obama and Mexican President
Felipe Calderon at the White House for the sixth North American Leaders'
Summit.
Harper also told Harman that Canada has been selling its oil to the United
States at a discounted price.
So not only will America be able to buy less Canadian oil even if Keystone
is eventually approved, the U.S. will also have to pay more for it because
the market for oilsands crude will be more competitive.
"We have taken a significant price hit by virtue of the fact that we are a
captive supplier and that just does not make sense in terms of the broader
interests of the Canadian economy," Harper said. "We're still going to be a
major supplier of the United States. It will be a long time, if ever, before
the United States isn't our number one export market, but for us the United
States cannot be our only export market.
"That is not in our interest, either commercially or in terms of pricing."
Earlier this year, Obama rejected TransCanada's bid to build the $7 billion
pipeline that would carry crude from Alberta to refineries in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Obama blamed Republicans in Congress for imposing an arbitrary timeline on
him to decide on the project, which he said did not allow enough time for
sufficient reviews even though Keystone had been under review for three
years already.
Supporters of the project, which include big labour unions and the business
community, estimate construction jobs alone to build the pipeline would be
in the thousands at a time when the U.S. economy is struggling to recover
from the recession.
Polls show some 60% of Americans also support building the pipeline.
But opponents argue developing Canada's oilsands cause high greenhouse gas
emissions and worry the pipeline could leak in sensitive environmental areas
along the route.
Last month, Obama tried to take credit for expediting the southern leg of
the pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas that is going ahead, but the White House
has no jurisdiction over the pipeline except where it crosses an
international border. |
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