[R-G] U.S. official says oilsands need not fear energy policy

[Anthony Fenton]

U.S. official says oilsands need not fear energy policy
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=6d435b3b-e09b-4a99-9392-20c394c816d1
Dina O'Meara
Calgary Herald

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Jeff Kupfer, acting deputy U.S. energy secretary, says the oilsands  
are "environmentally sound" and Canada's flow of oil south is safe.
CREDIT: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald
Jeff Kupfer, acting deputy U.S. energy secretary, says the oilsands  
are "environmentally sound" and Canada's flow of oil south is safe.

Canadian oilsands producers are dealing with environmental issues in a  
straightforward and sound way, a senior official with the United  
States Department of Energy told the Herald on Monday.

"It's nice to see a country investing so much in its own domestic  
supplies and doing it in a way that's environmentally sound," said  
acting deputy secretary of energy Jeff Kupfer, who was invited to  
Calgary by the C.D. Howe Institute.

Alberta's massive bitumen reserves play a key role in U.S. energy  
security, Kupfer said, after spending the day touring Syncrude  
facilities with provincial Energy Minister Mel Knight.

The spectre of "dirty oil" continues to shadow talks between Canada  
and the U.S. on concerns over a clause in the U.S. Energy Independence  
and Security Act that requires federal agencies to only import fuel in  
which the greenhouse gas emissions are "less than or equal to such  
emissions from the equivalent conventional fuel produced from  
conventional petroleum sources."

In late September, an attempt to amend an energy bill that appears to  
ban the sale of "dirty oil" products -- including those originating in  
the Canadian oilsands -- to U.S. federal government agencies failed in  
Washington.

Section 526 of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007  
bars U.S. federal agencies such as the military and the postal service  
from buying alternative fuels if the production creates more  
greenhouse gases than conventional fuels.

Kupfer said Canadians shouldn't be concerned about American  
administrations limiting their exports of oilsands products into the  
U.S.

"They should feel comfortable in the decisions they have made in terms  
of expansions and that there will continue to be a strong market for  
their product," Kupfer said.

Canada represents the largest single source of imported crude oil to  
the U.S., shipping approximately 2.4 million barrels per day of oil  
and refined products south of the border in 2007.

The U.S. consumes slightly more than half of Canada's 2.6 million  
barrel-per-day oil production and considers its northern neighbour a  
"friendly source" of energy, as opposed to other major producers such  
as Venezuela and several Middle Eastern countries.

domeara at theherald.canwest.com
© The Calgary Herald 2008