[R-G] Canada's Oil Sands a Political Hot Potato

[Anthony Fenton]

ENERGY:  Canada's Oil Sands a Political Hot Potato
By Am Johal
 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41111

 Oil sands mining equipment in Alberta, Canada. 
VANCOUVER,
Feb 7 (IPS) - Alberta's Parkland Institute and the Polaris Institute
have a released a report calling for an emergency strategic petroleum
reserve for Canada, as well as for tougher policies to cut fossil fuel
consumption and revise the country's oil export regime.

The
oil-rich province of Alberta is currently in the middle of a provincial
election where the environment and oil sands development will be a
heated political topic of national importance in Canada. The
historically conservative province has been dragging its feet on
national initiatives related to climate change.


Producing one barrel of oil from oil sands is a water- and
energy-intensive process that emits three times more greenhouse gases
than production of conventional light or medium crude oil. 


The report, "Freezing in the Dark: Why Canada Needs Strategic Petroleum
Reserves", cites the volatility of the Middle East region and the
strategic implications for Canada having to import close to one million
barrels a day to supply the central and eastern parts of the country.
Canada imports 40 percent of its oil needs, with half coming from OPEC
countries and annually diminished supplies from the North Sea where
production is falling. 


The Alberta oil sands have pipelines which can send oil to the United States but not to Eastern Canada. 



The principal author of the report, Dr. Gordon Laxer, founding director
of the Parkland Institute and Political Economy Professor at the
University Alberta, told IPS in an interview, "We live in a northern
climate. We export two-thirds of our oil. We import 40 percent of
national needs. Quebec and Atlantic Canada get 90 percent and Ontario
one-third. Almost half of that comes from places like Algeria, Iraq and
Saudi Arabia -- none of which are politically stable. The 40 percent we
get from the North Sea is diminishing."


"We are in a vulnerable position to the United States. The
difference is that the U.S. has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve which can
account for two months of a supply shortage. Mexico has strategic
petroleum reserves, as do most developed countries including the
European Union. All 26 of the countries that belong to the
International Energy Agency have strategic petroleum reserves -- which
are the main industrial countries in the world -- except for Canada." 


Laxer added, "I think the prime minister thinks we're an energy
superpower. It is a ridiculous misnomer. In reality, we're an energy
satellite of the United States. No one is looking after energy security
in Canada. It's a total dereliction of duty by federal authorities. In
a northern country like Canada, people can freeze in the dark. It's a
disgrace. The government is so concerned with exports and fear of
taking on the oil industry in Alberta that they are not taking care of
Canadians." 


Laxer added that when then Prime Minister Jean Chretien refused to send
Canadian forces to the war in Iraq, Premier Phillip Klein of Alberta
apologised to the U.S. 


"We have a security and prosperity partnership which is dealing with a
kind of de facto annexation that drives Canadian public policy. With
the Oil Sands Working Group, there was a meeting in Houston, Texas,
where they recommended that the oil sands should increase their
production five-fold, the day after Stephen Harper became prime
minister," he said, noting that three-quarters of that production goes
to the United States.


"This is burning up natural gas and causing environmental
damage. Canada will not meet Kyoto [Protocol] and post-Kyoto targets of
meeting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the present rate."


Laxer also raised the possibility of more production in the
oil sands leading to further exports to the United States. "Here is the
really perverse situation between Canada and the United States -- if we
reduce our consumption, it reduces our dependence on Middle Eastern
oil. But if we reduce our consumption, under NAFTA [the North American
Free Trade Agreement], we are forced to maintain production levels and
will inevitably send more oil to the United States."


"Our production level is totally unrelated to the consumption
levels inside Canada," he said. "We have to bring production back in
line with consumption. We need tough policies to cut fossil fuel
consumption. We have huge policy impediments in place right now that
are not beneficial for the environment."


In January, the Alberta-based Pembina Institute and World
Wildlife Fund-Canada released "Under-Mining the Environment, the Oil
Sands Report Card". It is the most comprehensive assessment of 10
operating, approved or applied for oil sands mines. 


The report found that while the majority of oil sands operations have
comprehensive environmental policies in place, only two companies
provided evidence of having an independently-accredited environmental
management system.


With the exception of the existing Albian Muskeg River Mine,
no operation has voluntary targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
No project or company has publicly reported targets to reduce water
usage from Athabaska River.


And despite more than 40 years of oil sands development, not a
single hectare of land has been certified as reclaimed under government
of Alberta guidelines, the report said.


Simon Dyer, lead author of the Pembina report, told IPS, "The
report card was a year-long process, with 20 different questions. We
found that environmental issues were not being properly addressed,
there is a lack of regulation and enforcement is clearly not happening.
It seems that the Alberta government is willing to pass old
technologies that are harmful to the environment."


Dyer added, "When it comes to Canada meeting climate change
initiatives, clearly, the oil sands is the elephant in the room.
Alberta doesn't have a plan and doesn't take seriously what needs to
happen. It is a case of 'greenwash' based on lack of action."


"Albertans want action on climate change with real emission
targets and the polling suggests that they prefer to see absolute
reduction targets set up. The oil sands is rapidly becoming an issue
based on social and environmental implications of the production
process. If we slow down, there is the potential doing this properly
which would make for interesting times in Alberta given the national
interest in this issue," he said.



 (END/2008)