Montana Gov. Schweitzer whacks James Cameron over oil sands criticism

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) isn’t pleased with “Avatar” director James Cameron’s criticism of Canadian oil sands.

The Canadian Press reported Thursday that Schweitzer said he is “tired of environmentalists and Hollywood celebrities such as Cameron ‘blowing smoke’ when it comes to the oil sands.”

“I would say this is conflict-free oil and I don’t want to send one more son or daughter from Montana to defend an oil supply from one of these dictators and become dependent on that energy supply,” Schweitzer said.

Cameron toured Alberta’s oil sands earlier this week.

The Canadian-born director, in several interviews and press conferences, raised concerns about the health effects on native Canadians (called First Nations), the ecological footprint of the massive mining projects and carbon emissions.

“You see the devastation of the surface mining around Fort McMurray, just north of Fort McMurray, you know, it’s appalling. Then you see the efforts to restore that back to a mature boreal forest, and you see how difficult that is and certainly how expensive that’s going to be,” Cameron told the Globe and Mail. Fort McMurray is the Albertan town that’s at the center of the oil sands industry.

“Then you see the efforts to restore that back to a mature boreal forest, and you see how difficult that is and certainly how expensive that’s going to be,” Cameron said.

Cameron, however, is not calling for a halt to oil sands development. He told the Globe and Mail that it should slow, noting, “It’s what you do when you see a hazard ahead. You slow down, you don’t charge into it.”

Citing the money that future development will bring Canada’s economy, he said, “Why not spend the money now to do the right research?

“And I mean independent research, not research that’s done by the oil companies, but independent research that can assure the public that this is going to be safe when done with best practices,” Cameron said.

He told Time magazine that mining should be halted and only the in-situ projects — which separate hydrocarbons from the surrounding water, sand and clay underground — should proceed. Total oil sands production is roughly 1.3 million barrels per day.

Cameron doubles as an environmental advocate and recently called climate skeptics “swine.”

And “Avatar” had a heavy eco-tinge. Cameron’s 2009 film tells the tale of a close-to-nature alien race fighting a mining company from Earth that’s ravaging its planet in pursuit of mineral wealth.

The film has drawn comparisons to mountaintop-removal coal mining and development of Canada’s oil sands, and Cameron has talked up the movie’s eco-themes.