Greens to Obama: Don’t Buy Canadian “Dirty” Crude Oil
An international coalition of environmental groups called Obama2Canada Partners is urging US President Barack Obama not to shelter the Alberta, Canada, oil sands from gritty greenhouse gas regulations, reports the Calgary Herald.
“It’s a concern of ours that the Canadian government is still out of step with the international efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and climate change,” said Jean Langlois, as quoted by the Calgary Herald. Laglois is a campaign advisor for the Sierra Club, which is part of the environmental coalition. According to the coalition developing the oil sands would produce three times as many greenhouse gas emissions per barrel of oil recovered as conventional oil, and would consume an enormous amount of natural gas and fresh water.
The campaign marks the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between environmental groups and oil-hungry industries and government groups. The Alberta oil sands make up the second largest oil reserves in the world. “We believe that the oil sands are a secure source of energy well into the future,” said Environment Minster Rob Renner, as quoted by the Calgary Herald. “We can and we will develop those resources in an environmentally sustainable way and we’re committed to show President Obama and anyone else who cares to hear how we’re going to do it.”
Despite pressure from the environmentalists, President Obama chose to highlight areas of potential collaboration between the United States and Canada vis-à-vis the oil sands during his visit to Ottawa. The Globe and Mail reports that President Obama said the US and Canada need to cooperate to find technical answers to reduce the environmental damage resulting from energy production and consumption. The leading technological fixes, claims Obama, are not cost effective. A new US-Canada agreement commits both nations to cooperate on developing carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology for coal-fired power plants, but not for oil sands, which Canada will have to finance and develop on their own.
By Robert Pothier