Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Klein On Gore

Ralph Klein, in response to Al Gore's criticisms of the tar sands:
Klein, who was recently in Washington to promote the oilsands as a reliable source of energy for the U.S., said Gore's views are simply not realistic.

"I don't know what he proposes the world run on, maybe hot air," Klein told reporters Tuesday. "I don't listen to Al Gore in particular because he's a Democrat. And not only that, he's about as far left as you can go.

"The simple fact is America needs oil. They need gas. And unless he can find some other source, fine."

Klein has stirred controversy in the past by rejecting scientific data suggesting industrial pollution is one of the leading causes of global warming.

He has even said global warming trends that occurred millions of years ago may have been caused by "dinosaur farts."

But the premier conceded for the first time Tuesday that the current causes of global warming are "man-made."

"I don't argue with the science that all of us - as we exhale, as the population grows, as there are more vehicles on the streets and more carbons produced - that we contribute to global warming."

Klein said although Alberta strongly rejected measures in the Kyoto accord to reduce global warming, he believes the province is taking a prudent approach in reducing emissions.

"We take the matter of global warming very seriously. We just don't think that the Kyoto Protocol is the way to go," he said. "As far as I know, we're the only jurisdiction in Canada to put in legislation to reduce greenhouse gases."

Interesting that Klein mentions automobiles and population growth, but fails to mention the single biggest contributor to rising emissions. The one thing I admire about Gore's approach is his argument that global warming is a moral issue and not a partisan one. Klein's dismissal of a "democrat" is convenient because it avoids the basic facts that Gore points out about the tar sands.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As far as I know, we're the only jurisdiction in Canada...

With this statement, do you get the impression that Klein's admitting he didn't bother to check?

Steve V said...

Someone should inform Ralph that Alberta now pukes out more emissions than Ontario, which makes his "reducing greenhouse gases" statement pretty much laughable.

Anonymous said...

"He has even said global warming trends that occurred millions of years ago may have been caused by "dinosaur farts."

And the sad part is this guy will go down as one of Alberta's great leaders.

Anonymous said...

Facts be dambed.... Gore forgot to tell us that amount of natual gas that heats the house for 4 days ... now a barrel of oil, has the energy to heat the house about 14 times longer!!