Peter Foster -
Oil sands industry risks death sentence if it climbs into bed with its enemies.
The industry has been the subject of a global campaign of demonization,
disinformation and intimidation, executed by a wide range of interlinked
environmental non-governmental organizations, ENGOs. That campaign has been based on false or grossly exaggerated allegations
of toxicity, sickness and environmental destruction, in particular
regarding the significance of the oil sands for global warming.
... Some are now proposing that rather than counter misinformation, the
industry should legitimize it by sitting down with its ENGO tormentors.
Even more bizarre is the suggestion that the industry might use the
Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, CBFA, as a model.
... The CBFA, does indeed offer lessons, but rather of which path to avoid. ... the final months [of the agreement] were marked by ... Greenpeace’s assault on one of
the corporate signatories, Resolute Forest Products. Resolute fought back ... sued
for “defamation, malicious falsehood and intentional interference with
economic relations.”
Some shills for the ENGOs, such as Avrim Lazar ... suggest that it doesn’t matter how the ENGOs came by their power. Since they have it, they have to be dealt with. [Sure, ends justify means. It doesn't matter how the Mafia comes by its power - murder, extortion, drugs, prostitution, robbery - you still have to negotiate with and appease them.]
Does the industry really want to sit down with these judges and negotiate its own death sentence?
Let's hope the oil industry unites and shows some backbone. Resolute Forest Products has shown the way for it to fight the ENGO thugs.
Sue their asses off for
“defamation, malicious falsehood and intentional interference with
economic relations.”. Surely the entire oil sands industry can come up with the bucks needed to fight that war.
