OTTAWA, Jan. 18 The Bush administration wants Canada to bypass environmental rules to quintuple its export of oil sand crude to the United States.The two sides discussed the move during a January 2006 meeting in Houston, according to a transcript recently obtained and released by Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s French network.Canada's natural resources agency and the U.S. Energy Department organized the meeting of government officials and oil company executives from both countries.Canada, the No. 1 oil exporter to the United States already, was urged to increase its production of crude from oil sands from 1 million barrels a day to 5 million barrels a day.Oil sands are deep geological sands mixed with oil that is separated at high temperatures.But the process is energy intensive and is Canada's largest emitter of new greenhouse gases.A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday his government will not approve a fast track method for environmental assessments, which would be needed to quickly increase production as the Bush administration wants.Copyright 2007 by UPI
