“Texting while driving - Tulsa World” plus 4 more

Texting while driving - Tulsa World
GM exec reassures truck buyers on availability - detnews.com
The Queen of the Road: Get that SUV out of the compact space - Contra Costa Times
Detroit’s Mr. Fix-It Takes On Saturn - Star News Online
Business News - Am770chqr.com

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:14 AM PDT

City Councilor G.T. Bynum uses himself as Exhibit A on how driving while "intexticated" can be just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. Both involve distracted behavior.

In Oklahoma and elsewhere in the nation driving while intoxicated is illegal. While a driver can be cited in Oklahoma for inattentive driving, text messaging while driving is not a specific offense — yet.

It should be. Let's spell it out for those who should know better. The Legislature should have addressed the issue last session. This is not a problem that needs more backbone than it does extensive studying and debate. Even a cell phone lobbying group concedes that taking your eyes off the road to tap out a message on a keyboard smaller than a snack box of raisins is dangerous and indefensible behavior.

Bynum, a busy man, learned his lesson the hard way earlier this year. After an excellent 15-year driving record Bynum rear-ended another car while texting. The accident was only a fender-bender that occurred at a low speed. But he decided immediately afterward that it would not happen again.

So, he's approaching the issue on two fronts. The first is by working with Mayor Kathy Taylor to ban text messaging for drivers of city vehicles. The second is to ask lawmakers to change a law they passed in 2001. Oklahoma is one of eight states that specifically prohibits local governments from enacting local laws to restrict the use of cell phones and related devices. As Bynum points out, the law was enacted before text messaging

became a national pastime.

The hurdles

During a council committee meeting Tuesday, Bynum shared his accident experience with fellow councilors. He also related to them a New York Times article featuring Oklahoma and the difficulties advocates have had trying to change the state law to ban texting while driving. The article focused on an Oklahoman who had a perfect driving record before he killed someone because he was texting while driving.

Then there was the temporarily dim-witted teen who while texting drove his car into a power pole dimming the lights in a neighborhood. Fortunately, he survived and I hope smartened up from the episode.

Bynum also plans to work with other councilors on a resolution to be sent to state lawmakers asking them to ban the practice statewide, or at least to allow cities to take up the issue.

"I'm cognizant that this issue has run into a real buzz saw in the past at the state Legislature, but every effort and group that steps forward in trying to end this brings us closer," he said.

"Really, what it comes down to is, if you think people shouldn't be able to drive drunk, consider that this is twice as dangerous as that and that kind of ends the debate for me," he said.

The issue isn't about restricting personal freedoms, he said.

"This isn't like motorcycle helmets or seat belts; this is about someone whose actions could kill someone else, not intending to, but it's happening because of texting while driving," he said.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, three-fourths of auto crashes, involve a driver distracted within the three seconds before an accident.

Bad news

Earlier this summer I wrote another column on the dangers of text messaging, the need for a state law and cited the findings of Car and Driver Magazine.

As an experiment, editor Eddie Alterman drove a car rigged with a red light to alert him when to brake. Alterman, driving the car at 70 mph, was tested sober, when legally drunk (.08 blood alcohol), when reading an e-mail and when texting.

These were the results:

Unimpaired: .54 seconds to brake, 13 feet reaction distance.

Legally drunk: Add four feet; 17 feet reaction distance.

Reading an e-mail: 129 feet.

Sending a text: 319 feet.

Alterman is an experienced driver. How long would the skid marks be from a car driven by a novice?

A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study found that the risks of texting generally apply to all drivers but that when big-rig truck drivers texted while driving, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.

All this begs the question of what Oklahoma — which so far has no specific bans on cell phone use or texting — is doing to protect the public from inattentive drivers. The answer, unfortunately, is not nearly enough. The issue has generated a few stalled bills in the Legislature and some requests for interim studies. Legislation banning text messaging while behind the wheel — particularly for younger drivers — should be a major objective of all lawmakers come February when the session convenes. The state's broad inattentive driving law is not enough.

So far, 16 states and the District of Columbia — which probably also had inattentive driving laws on their books — have banned text messaging for all drivers; nine states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers.

The issue could end up a federal matter. Four U.S. senators have proposed legislation to impose a national ban on texting while driving. States would be required to enforce the ban or lose 25 percent of their federal highway money. Similar tactics in years past brought about greater seat-belt use and stiffer penalties for drunk driving.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is convening a summit of transportation experts, safety advocates, law enforcement types, members of Congress and academics to figure out what do about driver cell phone use and texting.

In the past, safety initiatives such as the promotion of seat-belt use have proved that a simple ban often isn't enough to get drivers to change their habits unless the initiative is combined with education and enforcement.

Over the past decade, more than 170 studies have filled in where common sense left off about distracted driving: It can kill, and does with regularity.

G.T. Bynum knows that and the lawmakers know that. We wish him well in trying to get the Legislature to spell it out in a law next session.

Julie DelCour, 581-8379
julie.delcour@tulsaworld.com

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GM exec reassures truck buyers on availability - detnews.com

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:06 AM PDT

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

General Motors Co. will stay ahead of future federal regulations regarding vehicle fuel economy to make sure customers will be able to buy the vehicles they want, the company's top product planner said this week.

Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman and head of global product development, assured future pickup buyers that GM, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, would continue to meet the new federal standards.

When the new proposal was announced, GM spokesman Scott Fosgard said many GM customers became worried that the automaker would limit pickup sales to make the fleet numbers. But Stephens said GM will not have to limit anything.

"We won't restrict customer choice as a result of the regulations," Stephens said. "We intend to be ahead of the new fuel regulations."

Stephens said GM would meet the 2016 requirements with traditional gasoline engines.

The new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would require a fleet average of 35.5 miles per gallon in the next six years; however, those rules vary depending upon how many kinds of vehicles a manufacturer builds.

The rules were heralded by consumer and environmental groups as being able to clean up tailpipe emissions and save fuel costs.

"This historic proposal moves America further down the road to cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles," said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the National Resource Development Council, an environmental special interest group.

"Working together, the Obama administration, states, the auto industry and environmental leaders have come to an agreement that will enable carmakers to meet the challenges of the 21st century, while protecting our planet and our health."

Carmakers will employ a variety of technologies to improve fleet fuel economy, such as using smaller-displacement engines and building hybrids and electric vehicles, experts said, and this will mean future vehicles will have higher price tags.

Stephens said the additional costs would be "north of $1,000."

The driving concern for GM's future products, he added, was to continue to prepare for higher fuel prices, which influence consumers.

"That's what really is driving my thought process of putting this technology in the new vehicles: higher fuel prices," he said. "That's going to push people into smaller vehicles more than any government regulation."

Next year, GM will introduce the Chevrolet Cruze, a compact car with a fuel economy near 40 mpg, to replace the compact Chevy Cobalt. Additionally, GM recently launched the Chevrolet Equinox and its brother, the GMC Terrain, which offer the best highway mileage in the compact crossover segment.

GM has seen its market share erode over the past decade. Its product revival, which started under the guidance of Bob Lutz, current vice chairman of marketing, lost much of its momentum when the U.S. economy collapsed last year and the car market plummeted, industry experts said.

Now, freshly emerged from bankruptcy in July, it needs a hit streak as long as Joe DiMaggio's.

"GM has a lot going for it and a very strong lineup right now," Joe Phillippi, an industry analyst for Auto Trends Consulting Inc.

The company also will launch the electric Chevrolet Volt at the end of 2010 with a range-extending gas generator on board. The four-passenger car has collected a lot of praise, but it remains to be seen if it will be a success. It will cost around $40,000 and be able to travel 40 miles on a full charge before the gas operated generator turns on.

The Volt, Stephens said, needs to be launched on schedule so the company can refine it and make it more affordable.

"The Volt isn't going to have a big impact until we can lower its costs, and that's going to take time," he said.

Until then, Stephens said, "we will continue to offer a full line of vehicles to everyone."

sburgess@detnews.com (313) 223-3217

The Queen of the Road: Get that SUV out of the compact space - Contra Costa Times

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 07:31 AM PDT

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Commuter: I know in the past you have allowed your readers to vent, but I have never seen anyone talk about my biggest frustration: drivers who insist on parking their giant cars in a compact car parking space. Maybe they are unclear about what the ...

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Detroit’s Mr. Fix-It Takes On Saturn - Star News Online

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 07:38 AM PDT

Over the last 30 years, he's also succeeded where corporate giants have failed. He turned around truck leasing for Hertz, revived General Motors' diesel-engine operations, and gave new life to Daimler's micro-car franchise, Smart. And when his struggling hometown, Detroit, had to make sure that Super Bowl XL went off without a hitch in 2006, the city turned to Mr. Penske to run it.

Now, at age 72, the silver-haired former race car driver is about to take on the ultimate problem child of the auto industry — G.M.'s Saturn division.

Since its creation in 1985 as what G.M. anointed "a different kind of car company," Saturn has been one of Detroit's biggest disappointments. Instead of a shining example of G.M.'s foresight, it ended up epitomizing the slow, downward spiral of what was once the world's dominant automaker.

Its early promise faded amid weak sales, years of bland cars and a marketing message that was lost in G.M.'s overstocked inventory of brands. G.M. threw money at Saturn, but never made a profit even during its best times. Analysts estimate that Saturn has lost as much as $20 billion over the last 24 years.

"It may well be the biggest fiasco in automotive history since Ford brought out the Edsel," said Jerome York, a former G.M. director and an aide to Kirk Kerkorian, the investor who has made and lost hefty sums investing in G.M., Chrysler and Ford. "Saturn has been a huge money loser for G.M. for a long, long time."

In Mr. Penske's view, however, Saturn is a potential jewel to be plucked from the scrap heap of G.M.'s bankruptcy.

By early next month, his company, the Penske Automotive Group, is expected to complete its acquisition of Saturn from G.M. After that, it plans to try to reinvent the brand as an independent chain of dealerships. That experiment hinges on attracting a foreign car manufacturer that will supply Saturn with vehicles after G.M. stops producing its current line of Saturns in 2011.

The foray sets the stage for a classic business drama involving a self-made perfectionist who seldom tastes defeat and a tarnished brand that struggled to meet expectations under the heavy hand of a slow-moving and entrenched corporate behemoth. All of which has analysts, competitors and auto buffs placing bets on whether or not Mr. Penske met his match in Saturn.

His efforts to restore Saturn's credibility and improve its sales mirror, in a much smaller way, G.M.'s own uphill battle to come back — as a 60-percent-owned government entity backed by $50 billion in federal loans.

"My guess is that Penske has a shot at it," says David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "But I'm not sure I could say that about anyone else except Roger."

MR. Penske, citing the pending deal with G.M., declined to comment on his plans for Saturn. People inside G.M. who have knowledge of the transaction — but who requested anonymity because the negotiations are confidential — say that the acquisition should close early next month and that G.M.'s new board of directors wants to move forward with the Saturn divestiture. Penske Automotive has already sent Saturn dealers two-year agreements to review and sign.

A G.M. spokesman, Thomas J. Pyden, says the automaker is eager for the deal to close. "We certainly remain hopeful that the sale will proceed," he says. "In terms of Penske, we don't think you could find a better buyer for the brand."

Indeed, G.M. has few other options for Saturn. The company has been forced to jettison huge chunks of its global organization to meet government conditions to become a smaller, more nimble competitor so it can ensure its longevity and earn enough money to repay the federal loans that have kept it afloat.

Members of G.M.'s sprawling corporate family like Saab, Hummer and Opel are slated to be sold to foreign buyers, and the venerable Pontiac division will shut down completely. Saturn too looked to become extinct until Mr. Penske surprised the auto industry by making his bid in early June, just two weeks after his race team took home the championship at the Indy 500.

Mr. Penske controls 40 percent of Penske Automotive's stock, giving him a stake worth about $600 million. The company lost $403 million last year, on revenue of $11.6 billion, during a seismic downturn that slammed all sectors of the auto industry.

In earlier years, Penske Automotive was reliably profitable as it became one of the largest car dealers in the world, with 150 franchises in the United States and an additional 160 in international markets. Mr. Penske's holdings also include several Toyota dealerships in California.

When G.M. put Saturn up for sale this past spring, there were few suitors. The idea, at the time, was that a foreign automaker without a presence here would snap up Saturn as a turn-key distribution channel. But with the American market in its worst sales slump in 25 years, there were no takers, especially for an already troubled enterprise. Saturn is on track to sell fewer than 100,000 cars this year, down from 286,000 in 1994.

The core of the Saturn lineup consists of three vehicles — the midsize Aura sedan and two S.U.V.-like crossovers, the Outlook and the Vue. None have captured the fancy of skittish car buyers. Through the first eight months of this year, overall sales for the division have dropped 58 percent.

It appeared that G.M. might be forced to shut down the division entirely. But Mr. Penske is intrigued by the potential of Saturn's 350 dealerships, regardless of whether G.M. could supply them with cars indefinitely.

He envisioned Saturn as a larger version of the business model he first set up last year for Smart, the little, egg-shaped commuter car that Daimler, the German automaker, manufactures. With Smart, Mr. Penske assumed control of all aspects of sales, marketing and service, and contracted with Daimler only for production of the cars.

Saturn will theoretically work the same way, with G.M. supplying vehicles for a brief interlude while Mr. Penske acts as the middle man between the factory and the independently owned Saturn stores.

"This is a distribution business, not a manufacturing business," Mr. Penske told auto analysts in a conference call in late July. "So, it's similar to what we have at Smart."

Analysts believe Mr. Penske can make money primarily by selling parts to service the more than three million Saturn cars already on the road. "The economics for dealers are more on the service side of the business," says Scott Tuhy, an analyst with Moody's. "It's not so much selling new cars as servicing the base of the vehicles that's already out there."

Mr. Penske also hopes to capitalize on the essential ingredients that once set Saturn apart from G.M.'s other divisions.

The promise of Saturn, from its inception, was how it conducted business rather than the specific models it sold. Its dealers covered large geographic areas with minimal overlap. Customers received personal attention usually found only in luxury showrooms. A no-haggle, one-price policy took the strain out of negotiating deals, and new buyers were treated like royalty. As a matter of policy, employees would drop what they were doing and cheer in the showroom when a customer received the keys to a new Saturn.

That friendly vibe was Saturn's hallmark. New buyers received photos of them picking up their cars ("Welcome to the family!" read the captions), and attended workshops on how to do everything from program the stereo to change a tire. In 1994 and 1999, thousands of owners traveled to the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., for a "homecoming" party that celebrated the bond with their cars.

Saturn's owner-loyalty rate exceeded other G.M. divisions'. "I never thought of getting another type of car than a Saturn," says Richard Ludwig of Des Plaines, Ill., whose family has owned a dozen Saturn models since 1993. His wife, Gloria, says the relationship with their dealer was so positive they never shopped elsewhere.

"We just kept going back to Saturn," she says. "We had a terrific saleslady. If you went in thinking you're not going to walk out with a car, within a few hours you walk out with a car."

When G.M. announced it might sell Saturn to a foreign manufacturer, dealers worried that the brand would lose its unique connection with its devotees.

"I didn't want that to happen," says Mary McHugh, an executive with a dealership group that once had four Saturn stores in the Chicago area. Two of the showrooms closed this year, but Ms. McHugh says the sale to Mr. Penske offers hope for the remaining outlets.

"There's trepidation on the one hand, but there's excitement on the other," she says. "It's sort of a renaissance, going back to our original ideas. That's the part that got watered down with G.M."

HOWEVER much it inspired brand loyalty with Saturn, G.M. still managed to seriously lose its way when it came to developing and constantly refreshing cars that carried the Saturn logo.

Originally, Saturn's mission was to specialize in small, affordable, high-quality autos assembled in a single, dedicated factory. Much was made of the flexible labor agreement signed with the United Automobile Workers that set Saturn's Spring Hill plant apart from other G.M. factories.

But jockeying for financial and creative resources within the G.M. mothership put Saturn in competition with the parent company's other divisions, particularly Chevrolet. The first Saturn cars, called the S-series, were produced for more than a decade before being replaced. Subsequent models, notably the Ion subcompact, fell far short of the refinement and reliability of competing cars from Asian manufacturers.

"Saturn never had what I call an irresistible product," says John Wolkonowicz, an analyst with the research firm IHS Global Insight. "And when G.M. tried to expand the brand into minivans and sport utility vehicles, it was too little and too late."

Still, G.M. executives were loath to part with Saturn when the company's finances collapsed late last year. The brand reached a younger demographic than its other divisions, and was moderately successful in luring buyers who traditionally bought Toyotas, Hondas and other foreign nameplates.

"Saturn's focus has never been to take sales from General Motors," says Todd Ingersoll, who owns two Saturn dealerships in Connecticut. "Our customers, the majority of them, would not have purchased another domestic automobile had Saturn not been around."

The proposed deal with Mr. Penske won't change Saturn's lineup for now. G.M. has agreed to supply Saturn with the Aura, the Vue and the Outlook for two years while Mr. Penske courts other manufacturers to stock his new flock of dealerships. Yet so far, Mr. Penske hasn't found that partner.

"We're going to have G.M. to start with in this business, and then we're going to move on to another manufacturer in the future," he said in his call with analysts.

Speculation in the industry has centered on the French carmaker Renault, which has ties to both Nissan in Japan and Samsung in South Korea, and several Chinese auto companies as possible partners for Mr. Penske in the venture. But would Saturn loyalists consider a Chinese-made car a Saturn?

"That's a tall order," Mr. Wolkonowicz says. "If it was as good as a Honda Civic, they might."

Until a new manufacturer steps up, Saturn will have to survive on a diet of G.M. models that are neither new nor noteworthy.

Even so, with Mr. Penske in the mix there will unquestionably be other significant and interesting changes afoot. His racing team is known for its meticulous planning, its spit-and-polish appearance and, above all, its discipline. He has applied the same principles in other parts of his automotive empire, and gotten sterling results.

"Roger does his homework and always has," says Mr. Cole, who has known Mr. Penske since he was a champion driver in the 1960s. "He runs his businesses like he prepares for a race. It's in his DNA to sweat all the details."

In 1988, Mr. Penske formed a joint venture with G.M., called Detroit Diesel, to run the automaker's diesel engine operations. He smoothed what were tense relations with its unionized work force by settling outstanding grievances, updating the cafeteria, building a fitness center at the main plant in Detroit, and inviting employees to racing events at his Michigan International Speedway.

After years of labor squabbles with G.M., workers warmed to Mr. Penske's team-first approach. Productivity improved, and Detroit Diesel became profitable within two years. The company eventually went public and later was sold to Daimler.

The positive outcome of the diesel-engine venture laid a foundation with G.M. executives that Mr. Penske has said helped cement the Saturn deal.

"Our relationship with G.M. has never been better," he told analysts in July. "Twenty years ago, we had the opportunity to do the Detroit Diesel deal with them, which went well. And I think that some of the benefit is getting us to do this transaction."

Still, the future of Saturn won't necessarily be determined by how well Mr. Penske improves productivity in its dealerships, or whether he can entice a low-cost foreign manufacturer to sell its cars as Saturns.

The domestic market for new cars isn't expected to recover any time soon, and most analysts predict it will be years before the industry can achieve 16 million annual vehicle sales, which it averaged before the market crashed last year.

Where Saturn fits into that landscape is anyone's guess. Other, newer brands like Hyundai are capturing buyers who once gravitated to Saturn, and G.M. itself is pushing hard to lure Saturn owners into its Chevrolet showrooms. The novelty of the Saturn sales experience may have worn thin, and there's little to distinguish the products from models in other G.M. dealerships.

The Spring Hill plant now makes Chevrolets, while the current Saturn lineup is built in Kansas, Michigan and Mexico.

Mr. York, the former G.M. director, says he pushed the automaker to unload Saturn three years ago but the company resisted selling off any brands for fear of losing more market share.

Now Saturn has even less value in an increasingly crowded marketplace, Mr. York notes.

"It's like you go to the grocery store and you have 40 brands of toothpaste," he says. "Well, the world doesn't need 40 brands of toothpaste. I think Saturn falls into the same category. The world doesn't need it."

MR. PENSKE may beg to differ. He's expected to pay a minimal purchase price for the Saturn brand, according to people inside G.M., and he has a two-year window to find another auto company to work with before the G.M. spigot gets turned off.

The biggest risk, should Mr. Penske fail, will probably be to his reputation rather than his bank account. Saturn dealers, most of which have been with the division since its inception, see Mr. Penske as nothing less than their savior. Unlike the proposed buyers for Hummer and Saab, Mr. Penske is a known quantity and a successful megadealer on his own.

Above all, Mr. Penske wants Saturn when it appears that no one else does.

"Of all the possibilities that could have happened for Saturn, and what is happening to other brands, I think we're the luckiest of them all," says Mr. Ingersoll, the Saturn dealer. "We're rewriting the story of automotive retailing."

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Business News - Am770chqr.com

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 07:45 AM PDT

A pickup truck passes a mining shovel filling a haul truck at the Shell Albian Sands oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alta. While the oilsands industry tries to calm any frayed nerves after a splashy protest by Greenpeace at a Shell work site in northern Alberta, some analysts say the infiltration of such a huge operation should serve as a warning about the security of energy installations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh"

EDMONTON - While the oilsands industry tries to calm any frayed nerves after a splashy protest by Greenpeace at a Shell work site in northern Alberta, some analysts say the infiltration of such a huge operation should serve as a warning about the security of energy installations.

If demonstrators can get into the site, so could terrorists intent on doing real damage, says Tom Flanagan, a University of Calgary political science professor and author of a report about groups opposed to development of Western Canada's resource sector.

"It does raise concerns," Flanagan says. "It would be wise to take this as a warning of the importance of reviewing procedures to make sure this kind of thing couldn't happen again."

About two dozen protesters from Canada, the United States and France gained access to Shell's (NYSE:RDS.D) Muskeg River mine site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., last Tuesday, chaining themselves to giant dump trucks and a four-storey-tall shovel that scoops oily sand from the bottom of a massive pit.

After unfurling a banner which read, "Tarsands: Climate Crime" and spending 31 hours at the mine, the protesters left the fenced and gated site without any charges laid.

Fred Lindsay, Alberta's solicitor general and minister of public security, says he'd also like to know how the Greenpeace protesters gained access to the tightly controlled site.

But he notes that Alberta's energy infrastructure is spread over a vast area and not all incidents can be prevented.

"You look at the amount of infrastructure we have in this province, the large resource developments and the miles and miles of pipeline - obviously we can't fence it all in," Lindsay says.

"This particular case with Greenpeace has turned out to be a publicity stunt but nonetheless, they gained access which created safety concerns for them as well as the site. So we're going to mark that to see what we can do to make those sites more secure."

The province watches for any possible terrorist threats and has counter-terrorism protocols in place.

Canada has a stable political climate and has few violent incidents directed at the resource sector. Lindsay doesn't expect this latest incident will affect the country's reputation as a secure supplier of energy.

Toronto-based security analyst Mercedes Stephenson says the Greenpeace action likely took time to plan and noted that the group specializes in such actions.

"I was surprised they got into the facility... but it's Greenpeace," Stephenson says. "It has a history of being able to get into all kinds of places that nobody expects them to be able to."

Oilsands operations likely wouldn't be the first target of terrorists determined to halt the flow of oil or gas from Alberta, she says.

It's more likely those groups would choose a vulnerable area along the thousands of kilometres of pipelines that snake across the province.

In recent months pipelines in northeastern British Columbia owned by EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) have been the target of explosions and police have yet to make any arrests.

"If somebody really wanted to do damage, they probably wouldn't go to an oilsands mining facility," Stephenson says. "You'd be far more effective if you actually disrupted the flow. Because the flow is what supplying energy."

Alberta's oilsands currently produce about 1.2 million barrels per day and the United States has called the Canadian oilsands "critically important" to energy security in North America.

Shell hasn't determined where the Greenpeace protesters gained access to the mine.

Paul Hagel, a spokesman for Shell Canada, says the incident has prompted a full-scale security review which includes its adjacent Albian Sands site.

"We're talking about 155,000 barrel a day operation and so obviously, to ensure the future security of it is paramount," Hagel says.

Hagel calls this latest incident a "blip," but added Shell will learn from it.

"These sorts of events call for wild speculation. People get the what ifs: 'What if this happened, what if that happened.' Our oilsands operation is safe and secure and I would challenge anyone who would say otherwise."

Cheryl Robb, a spokeswoman with Syncrude, which operates two oilsands mines in the same region about 450 kilometres north of Edmonton, says the company has stepped up security in the wake of the Greenpeace action.

The incident has also renewed Syncrude's efforts to seek a court injunction that would prevent Greenpeace activists from coming near company property. In July 2008, Greenpeace protesters gained access to Syncrude's Aurora mine site, netting each of them a fine for trespassing.

Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist who took part in the latest action, refused to discuss how the protesters gained access to the Shell site.

This latest incident doesn't change Canada's international reputation as a reliable supplier, said Greg Stringham, a spokesman with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, based in Calgary.

Between conventional production and oilsands mining, there's quite a lot of diversity in how Canada supplies oil to the North American market, he said. About half of all oil production in Canada comes from the oilsands, he said.

That diversity is partly what ensures that energy supplies are secure. If an incident does occur at a specific site, there are always other production facilities and other pipelines or storage facilities that can ensure the delivery of oil to market, Stringham said.

"The individual site access is something that companies will deal with, but the overall reliability of Canada as a friendly and reliable supplier of energy I don't think has changed because of an event like this."

Content Provided By Canadian Press.