Toro
Diamond Member
A battle over whether the U.S. should curb its use of oil produced from Canada's oil sands is straining ties between the countries and comes amid a wider debate about the safest and cleanest ways to extract fossil fuels.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), chairman of the House energy committee, this week urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to veto the expansion of a giant pipeline that would roughly double the amount of oil-sands crude Canada ships to the U.S., calling it a "multi-billion dollar investment to expand our reliance on the dirtiest source of transportation fuel currently available."
Environmental groups are planning protests Thursday at the Canadian embassy in Washington, consulates and along the route of the proposed extension, sections of which run from Canada to Texas. A spokesman for TransCanada Corp., which is building the pipeline, said TransCanada disagreed with Mr. Waxman's assertions and that the project would create jobs and revenue for states.
The northeastern part of the Canadian province of Alberta is home to a vast deposit of oil sands, also known as tar sands, that produces a densely compacted petroleum called bitumen, which is difficult to extract and energy-intensive to refine. Environmental groups say production of crude from the sludge can emit about three times the greenhouse gas that more conventional operations do. Oil-sands companies counter that when emissions from burning the gasoline refined from the crude are included, their oil is only 5% to 15% more carbon-intensive.
Mr. Waxman's statement follows a similar letter last week signed by 50 members of Congress, and is the latest volley in a struggle between environmentalists, lawmakers and Canadian oil producers over the rising amount of fuel imported from Canada's oil-sands reserves. The groups are already clashing in U.S. courts over everything from permits to ship or refine oil-sands oil to legislation that could effectively prevent the federal government from buying Canadian oil. ...
Attacks on oil-sands production could complicate relations with Canada, the U.S.'s biggest trading partner, where energy makes up about a quarter of exports. Canadian oil-sands executives and politicians have said if the U.S. doesn't take the fuel, nations like China will. The government of Alberta last week took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post defending the oil sands, stating "A good neighbour lends you a cup of sugar. A great neighbour supplies you with 1.4 million barrels of oil per day."
Fight Over Oil-Sands Imports Heats Up - WSJ.com
Well, if America won't take oil from the tar sands, the Canadians will just sell it to the Chinese.
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