Energy Interdependence in North America: The New World Faces a New World

Dramatic adjustments in energy and environment offer new challenges, but also opportunities for freshly creative collaboration among Mexico, Canada, and the United States. They could build on the new us President’s hope to address climate change issues while emphasizing efficient energy use and “clean energy” cooperation. These three nations are a continental energy market—not only for oil and petroleum products, but also for natural gas and electricity moving in both directions across each border. With “conventional” hydrocarbon reserves dwindling, each country needs liquefied natural gas imports. Environmentally acceptable investment is also needed in deepwater offshore drilling, Canadian oil sands, and us shale gas. Yet global eco- nomic distress and uncertainty about future oil costs and prices discourage risk-taking. Suggestions include coordination of energy and environmental policy within each nation under an international umbrella, regional cooperation, trilateral meetings of federal legislators, and a biennial North American Energy Outlook based on official data with projections to the future. Leaders of all three countries are urged to make such activities “as transparent to the public as possible, to avoid misunderstanding of their intentions and to help improve public understanding and support.”