America is the land of "freedom of choice," right? Well how do you like this choice: either process low quality, heavy crude – the stuff that’s normally left in the ground because it’s too polluting and too expensive to extract, or pay even more for the good quality gas, of which there’s less and less and …less.
"You choose" say the drilling companies. OPEC is not raising its production quotas. Canada says they’ve got lots of sub-standard heavy stuff to pump – so how about it?
Environmentalists are fighting back. So far, drilling plans by Conoco, Chevron and BP have all been stopped. But Big Oil still says choose: pollution and heavy crude, or more ways to go broke. Environmentalists point out that you can’t drive if you can’t breath the air. So let’s get serious – there are other options. It’s also part of the American tradition (isn’t it?) Let’s choose to come up with a better idea.
The F Word is a daily commentary by Laura Flanders.
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