A few weeks ago, the Ethical Oil website drew some attention - and criticism - for its simplistic and propagandtastic portrayal of oil from Canada's tarsands.
The basic argument goes like this: The US needs oil. Right now, the US gets some oil from countries that violate human rights, support terrorism, and do other unpleasant things. Canada doesn't do those unpleasant things, therefore, the US should get more oil from Canada and stop buying it from the "conflict oil" countries.
Superficially, that's a reasonable argument. Like buying a car with good gas mileage is better than buying a car with poor gas mileage. Or buying Twinkies from the local independent convenience store is better than buying them from Wal-Mart.
Of course, if you stop to think about it at all, you'll realize that this argument pretends that a non-renewable, environmentally destructive, polluting energy source can be ethical at all, while ignoring the fact that the real ethical choice is to reduce, and eventually eliminate, our need for petroleum products.
Here's an excellent rebuttal of all of the points raised by the Ethical Oil poster campaign and blog. (Which, by the way, used a lot of photography without getting permission from the photographers. Or from one of the people in the photos. Which is probably why those graphics no longer appeal on its website, but you can see a slideshow of them here.)
But not only does this argument ignore the fact that there are alternatives to oil, it frames the argument as "give money to Canada or give it to other countries," and doesn't address who else is getting money in the deal: the oil companies. And who gets money from the oil companies? Whatever country they are working in.
While it is true that Canada's got a pretty good record regarding human rights and protection of the environment, the oil companies - well, let's have a look at a few examples.
First off, there are over two dozen companies working in the tarsands. Some of them are Canadian companies that are working nowhere else in the world. But about half of them are very large companies that are working elsewhere. Including in many of the "conflict oil" countries.
Now that they're working in Canada, I'm sure they'll stop all of that work in "conflict oil" countries, right?
One of the most blatant conflicts there is China, which the author of the Ethical Oil blogs - a Canadian conservative - has complained about as a "conflict oil" country. But at least two of China's state-owned companies have worked out deals to extract oil from Alberta, including Sinopec (also active in Sudan). And CNPC, the parent of PetroChina, is going to work with Shell on tarsands projects, adding Canada to the long list of countries in which it works.
But I'm sure that China won't use of the money it makes off of Albertan oil to repress free speech in China, or do anything else unethical.
Just like I'm sure ExxonMobil will stop being so awful about LGBT rights, and someday stop earning a score of 0 on the HRC's Corporate Equality Index. And maybe Murphy Oil will improve their dismal score of 15, too.
Chevron's history pretty much speaks for itself, beginning with buying and removing streetcars to increase bus, and therefore oil, use, and continuing with a long list of unethical and illegal behavior, including tax evasion, environmental damage, shooting activists in Nigeria, and discussions as recently as 2009 regarding work involving Iran.
Chevron and Shell are both active in Nigeria, where the impact of oil extraction on the environment and the majority of the population is simply horrific. This recent diary has several good links on Nigeria, including in the comments.
Sudan is another country where the majority of people have not benefited from oil extraction, and China's oil companies are interested in continuing their business there. Companies working in Sudan have ignored attacks by the Sudanese government on the Sudanese people, even as oil became an aggravating factor in the country's civil war. Some companies eventually left Sudan - where by "left" I mean "were pressured by the US, and sold their shares to other companies" - but China's still got a stake there.
Maybe all of these major players will be on their best behavior in Canada, but I'm not going to hold my breath expecting them to clean up their act in the rest of the world.
A list of companies working in the Athabasca oil sands can be seen here. There are two other oil sands deposits in Alberta - Cold Lake and Peace River - which I have not looked into. Information for this diary came from that list, the oil companies' websites, and other sources as linked.
For more on the tarsands, I recommend starting here, and checking out as many of the diaries listed in the blogathon calendar as you can.
If you want to get involved, you can sign up to join the protest in DC or make a donation or sign the petition.