WASHINGTON — Five prominent Canadian environmentalists told Washington lawmakers this week that the Keystone XL pipeline will lead to such a huge growth in oilsands’ carbon emissions, it will help tip the world into catastrophic climate change.
Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently told Americans that Canada would not take “no for an answer” on the pipeline, until the project is approved, the environmentalists said further expansion of the oilsands should be immediately stopped – followed by a gradual shutdown of all operations.
“The current trajectory for the growth of the tar sands is consistent with the International Energy Agency’s prediction of a six-degree (Celsius) growth in the temperature on the planet,” Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence Canada, told reporters Friday at a news conference. “That is a catastrophic scenario.”
“Most of the oil that remains in the ground in Alberta has to stay there,” he added.
The environmentalists, who included broadcaster and scientist David Suzuki, came to the U.S. capital to counter what they claim is a disinformation campaign waged over the last eight months by Canadian politicians.
The environmentalists met this week to try to persuade a handful of U.S. senators and congressmen, as well as Kerri-Ann Jones, the U.S. State Department assistant secretary in charge of the Keystone file, to stop the pipeline’s construction.
The environmentalists said that if U.S. President Barack Obama was sincere when he stated earlier this year that his decision on the cross border pipeline will be based on its potential impact on carbon emissions, he should reject the project.
The activists said the pipeline is a facilitator that will help triple oilsands output over the next 15 years, with the resultant tripling of carbon emissions.
They said they told U.S. lawmakers that the Canadian government has misled them by claiming that the pipeline is not a factor in expansion plans. (Some oilsands companies have stated that if the Keystone is not built they will have to curtail expansion plans.)
The 1,900-kilometre pipeline will transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day mainly from the oilsands to Midwest and Texas Gulf Coast refineries. The oilsands produces about 1.7 million barrels a day of bitumen. The Alberta government predicts that will more than double to 3.7 million by 2021.
The carbon emission increase will be so large it will negate emission decreases achieved by other sectors of the economy, Gray said.
For instance, carbon emission reductions from the closure of all the coal plants in the province of Ontario “will be completely wiped out by the growth of the tar sands,” he told reporters. He added that the growth of the oilsands alone would prevent Canada from reaching its 2020 emission reduction goals.
Tzeporah Berman, a veteran campaigner against the forestry industry’s clear-cutting practices, said the Canadian government’s “ruthless pursuit of oilsands development and pipelines” has led to the muzzling of scientists and the shutdown of scientific research into climate change and the oilsands’ regional environmental impact.
Through its million-dollar advertising campaigns, she said, the Canadian government has tried to deceive Canadians and the U.S. that oilsands projects are essentially clean and the Canadian government’s environmental record is exemplary.
She said the government co-opts critics by publicly labelling them “radical extremists” who don’t have Canada’s national interests at heart. She argued that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has enacted new regulations that discourage Canadians from participating in public hearings on pipeline construction.
She also noted that the federal government had passed an omnibus bill that repealed 70 federal environmental laws that removed protection for fisheries habitats, and Canada’s rivers and lakes.
“When we looked through access-to-information documents for why this had been done what we came up with were letters from the pipeline companies and the oil industry requesting our federal government remove those laws because they were in their way,” she said.
“We are seeing a Canada emerge that is difficult to recognize,” she said, adding that the “majority of Canadians want clean energy and climate leadership.”
Th environmentalists’ pleas came the same week North America’s business leaders tried to turn up the heat on Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. A letter to that effect was signed by more than 165 CEOs and presidents of companies ranging from Boeing and AT&T to Caterpillar Inc. and ExxonMobil.
The letter says it’s possible to manage the environmental risks of Keystone.
“We urge you to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to signal to the world that the necessary ingredients for a strengthened U.S. recovery are in place and bolster the foundations of U.S. competitiveness and energy security,” the letter concludes.
– With files from The Canadian Press
Related articles
- Canada lobbies against proposed European fuel law (o.canada.com)
- Keystone XL pipeline will some day get built, Prime Minister Stephen Harper predicts (o.canada.com)
- Stephen Harper hoping to garner support for pipeline projects in coming weeks (o.canada.com)
Clik here to view.
