Oil sands feels the heat in Washington

Shawn McCarthy, June 4, 2009, Globe and Mail, OTTAWA — Environmental groups are turning up the heat in Washington on Alberta oil sands producers as Congress debates climate change bills that will set the bar for Canadian regulations.

In a first-ever summit, Canadian and U.S. environmental leaders met for two days in Washington to lobby Congress to get tough on Canada's "dirty oil" and issued a statement demanding a moratorium on further oil sands development.

Earlier this week, however, Energy Secretary Steven Chu appeared to reject calls for a moratorium or punitive measures that would stall development, saying the environmental problems could be addressed through technology.

But the opponents of oil sands development believe that Democratic members of Congress and President Barack Obama remain committed to reducing U.S. reliance on carbon-intensive sources of energy, and paint the oil sands as the worst offender.

The Canadian and U.S. governments should "declare a moratorium on expansion of tar sands development and halt further approval of infrastructure that would lock us into using dirty liquid fuels," said a statement to be released today by leaders of 21 U.S. environmental groups and nine Canadian ones.

"Tar sands oil production is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas pollution in Canada and is having a devastating impact on boreal ecosystems, migratory birds, and air and water quality."

The groups are hoping that stiffer opposition to oil sands development will be reflected in U.S. climate change legislation now working its way through Congress, and will force the Harper government to introduce tough standards.

They are also urging the U.S. government to halt the development of pipelines and refineries in the United States that are needed to transport and process the bitumen from the oil sands.

"If there is expansion in the oil sands, it will necessitate the expansion of a large amount of damaging new infrastructure in the United States - new pipelines, new refineries, the likes of which we haven't seen in 50 years," said Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence Canada.

"That is a real concern for the United States."

Tom Huffaker, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the anti-oil-sands campaign by the environmental groups has skewed understanding among policy makers there.

But he said the Obama administration remains committed to ensuring the U.S. has secure sources of energy, and the oil sands represent one such source.

In Washington this week, Mr. Chu acknowledged that there are environmental concerns associated with the oil sands, but suggested they could be solve through the application of technology.

"It's a complicated issue, because certainly Canada is a close and trusted neighbour and the oil from Canada has all sorts of good things. But there is this environmental concern, so I think we're going to have to work our way through that," he told Reuters news service.

"But I'm a big believer in technology."

Mr. Huffaker said oil producers accept the need to reduce emissions through technological innovation and an emissions cap that will effectively put a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

But environmental groups complain that Ottawa appears to be ready to follow the lead of Alberta in setting emission prices too low to force major or rapid reductions.