Canadian Minister Attacks Leading Climate Scientist

Canada’s natural resources minister Joe Oliver is stepping up personal attacks against climate scientists. Oliver may be feeling insecure about the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline in the wake of the release of a recent EPA report that clearly outlines many concerns with the pipeline project which if completed will ferry unprecedented amounts of carbon-heavy tar sands bitumen from Alberta to Texas. In the face of a scientific consensus and growing popular support for efforts to combat global warming, Oliver appears to be pulling out all the stops to sell his government’s support for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project.

During a visit to a Washington DC Thinktank, Oliver lambasted NASA climatologist James Hansen, saying he should be “ashamed” of his warnings about the dangers of the tar sands and his opposition to the Keystone XL.

For more than a quarter century Hansen has been raising public awareness about climate change, more recently he has been focusing his efforts on opposing the Keystone XL. However, Oliver told the audience at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, “this is exaggerated rhetoric. It’s frankly nonsense. I don’t know why he said it but he should be ashamed of having said it.”

Oliver reflexively rejects criticisms of Alberta’s tar sands. Last year he wrote an open letter in which he denounced tar sands critics as “radicals” in the pay of foreign special interest groups.

The climate change denial from Oliver and other members of the ruling Conservatives have prompted Hansen to refer to this Canadian government as “Neanderthals,” while expressing the view that Canadians are far more advanced than their national leadership.