The North American Institute

Obama’s Energy Department.

2008-11-07T18:17:00-06:00

Washington Post, November 6, 2008 - “Let the speculating begin. Not oil speculation, but job speculation for the new Obama administration. Here’s what I’m hearing, and thinking. First, the Energy Department is an odd beast. Thirty six percent of its $25 billion budget is related to national security, dealing with nuclear materials from things like decommissioned nuclear weapons and naval reactors.” Read More.

Mexico-US: Reaching Out to Obama.

2008-11-07T18:03:00-06:00

IPS, November 6, 2008 - “Following President-elect Barack Obama’s triumph in the U.S. elections, the Mexican government hopes to enter a new stage in the country’s relations with its northern neighbour. But it will be no easy task, especially considering that Obama has said he is interested in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which links the United States, Canada and Mexico, in order to improve its labour and environmental standards. He also voted for the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which authorised the construction of 700 additional miles (1,100 kilometres) of walls and fences along the lengthy U.S.-Mexican border, although since then he has softened his support for the barrier.” Read more.

Water Innovations Alliance Launches to Support the Development of New Technologies.

2008-10-23T18:01:01-06:00

MarketWatch, October 21, 2008 - “A leading group of entrepreneurs, investors and policy experts today announced the launch of the Water Innovations Alliance—an international trade association for emerging watertechnology companies and the organizations and communities they support—during the fourth annual Lux Executive Summit. The Washington, D.C.-based Alliance will work to expand markets, increase research funding, strengthen research and development, create a collaboratory environment, and improve education and outreach for water industry professionals. A huge gap currently exists between global water needs and global water solutions.” Read more.

Pemex Enters Gulf Ultra Deepwater in Search of Oil.

2008-10-23T17:55:01-06:00

Bloomberg, October 22, 2008 - “Petroleos Mexicanos has started seismic studies for oil under seas three times deeper than anything it has drilled, marking its entry into ultra deepwater as it seeks to offset an almost five-year decline in output. Pemex, as the state-owned oil company is known, began laying seismic cables in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 18, according to a bulletin on Mexico’s Merchant Marine Web site. The study of the area just west of the Mexican side of the Gulf’s El Perdido Foldbelt will last until April and provide two-dimensional data on deposits in water as deep as 3,500 meters (11,484 feet).” Read more.

China report warns of greenhouse gas leap.

2008-10-23T17:54:00-06:00

Reuters, October 22, 2008 - “China’s greenhouse gas pollution could double or more in two decades says a new Chinese state think-tank study that casts stark light on the industrial giant’s role in stoking global warming. Beijing has not released recent official data on greenhouse gas from the nation’s fast-growing use of coal, oil and gas. Researchers abroad estimate China’s carbon dioxide emissions now easily outstrip that of the United States, long the biggest emitter.” Read more.

Spain’s ex-prime minister blasts ‘new religion’ of climate change.

2008-10-23T17:52:01-06:00

Yahoo News, October 22, 2008 - “Former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar Wednesday dismissed climate change as a “new religion” that is drawing hundreds of billions of euros at a time of economic crisis. Aznar made the remarks at the presentation of a book by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, “Blue Planet in Green Shackles”, in which he also questions the widely held theories about climate change.” Read more.

OPEC Struggles to Respond to Slumping Demand for Oil.

2008-10-23T17:30:01-06:00

NY Times, October 22, 2008 - “At the beginning of the year, OPEC producers felt confident that strong economic growth and tight supplies would keep oil prices high. When oil crossed the $100-a-barrel threshold in February, the cartel’s president blamed speculators and said there was not much OPEC could do. But now, panic is gripping producers as prices drop. They are down by half since July, and the speed of the decline has stunned oil-rich governments that have become dependent on high prices.” Read more.

Reconsidering a long tradition.

2008-10-23T17:20:01-06:00

Houston Chronicle, October 22, 2008 - “The worldwide economic slump is causing more Mexicans to consider allowing private investment in Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., said Tuesday. ‘I think that we do see the beginnings of a thaw in the way Mexicans of different political persuasions understand how reforming the energy sector in Mexico is going to be critical, not only in terms of what has happened these past two months in the world economy, but our ability to continue growing,’ said Sarukhan, during a visit with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board. ‘I think that the global slowdown has forced many in Congress of different political persuasions that the status quo of Pemex cannot stand and that something has to be done.’” Read more.

New Union With Canada And Mexico: Open Borders For US.

2008-10-18T18:03:00-06:00

Amero Weblog, October 18, 2008 - “The Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. is underway at this moment. Why such a massive international cooperative trade program has not been promoted by our government, may seem a mystery. It is touted as an arrangement to ‘increase security and enhance prosperity’ through ‘greater cooperation and information sharing.’ Why so little fanfare if it’s such a great thing?” Read more.

Immigrants follow U.S.-borns’ path — often to Sun Belt.

2008-09-22T17:55:00-06:00

USA Today, September 22, 2008 - “Foreign-born Americans are moving from place to place in patterns similar to those of the U.S.-born, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census data out today offering the first detailed look at migration since the beginning of the decade. The foreign-born, who in the 1990s concentrated in enclaves in large metropolitan areas, are increasingly following the same trajectory as natives. They’re often leaving congested, expensive coastal cities for smaller, middle-class metro areas where schools are better and housing is cheaper.” Read more.