Dinosaur Farts?

Alberta premier doesn't like Al Gore talkin' smack about oil sands

Al Gore has pushed the buttons of Ralph Klein, premier of Canada's conservative Alberta province (think North Dakota, but even norther). Interviewed in the latest Rolling Stone, Gore disparaged Alberta's oil-sands industry: "For every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days. And they have to tear up four tons of landscape, all for one barrel of oil. It is truly nuts." (The vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers confirmed Gore's figures, but demurred on the "truly nuts" part.) Klein -- who once suggested that ancient global-warming trends may have been caused by dinosaur farts -- called Gore "about as far left as you can go," and sputtered, "I don't know what [Gore] proposes the world run on, maybe hot air. ... The simple fact is America needs oil." It's a beautiful day for enabling.