Why it matters:
Because the cost of energy freedom shouldn’t be our health and that of our environment.
Recap:
To mark yesterday’s first official meeting between President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, American environmental activists from the Rainforest Action Network unfurled a 70-foot tall banner from the observation deck of Niagara falls. But rather than extending a cordial international greeting, the banner expressed, in no uncertain terms, disapproval over the development of Canada’s tar sands oil.
For the Canadian government, the banner might just be par for the course. Despite the fact that America purchases the majority of its oil from the Canucks (a full 19%), the White House limited the meeting to one hour, a gesture some called a “slap in the face.”
But Harper rolled with the punches (or slaps, as the case may be) and the two leaders were expected to use the hour to discuss climate change and energy policy in anticipation of the upcoming G20 summit.
Commentary:
America has an addiction: “The Biggest Loser: Frienemies Edition”. Wait, no, oil. America is addicted to oil. This presents quite the dilemma, since many oil-rich countries aren’t exactly card-carrying members of the America fan-club. Then along came the panacea: Canada’s tar sands! What could be better? Oil from our own back yard, delivered by guys who are basically Americans in touks and beards.
Except it wasn’t a panacea. Oil is filthy stuff, even the delicious-sounding “light sweet crude.” But the far less appetizing “tar sand” is downright horrifying. Extracting a barrel of crude from tar sand emits three times the greenhouse gases as slurping one from a traditional well, and the fuel itself is as much as 40% dirtier (containing higher concentrations of sulfur, nickel, and lead). And the extraction process is not exactly surgical: five story high shovels first scour the ground into oblivion, then the bitumen (the source compound that contains the oil) is “cleaned” using hot water and caustic soda (that’s lye to you and me), and the leftovers have to go somewhere. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, eh? (<- Canadian). True, but in this case we’re talking about an egg the size of Florida.
America currently receives 10% of its oil from Canadian Tar Sands. But with the Canadian government attempting to secure subsidies for 22 new and expanded refineries and pipelines that number is expected to grow. As a result, Canada is forecasted to miss its Kyoto Protocol goals by 30%.
So boiling greasy sand to extract oil isn’t nearly as perfect a solution as it sounds. Maybe it’s time we take alternative energy solutions seriously, instead of looking backward. The Rainforest Action Network banner puts it simply enough, “<- Tar Sands Oil ; Clean Energy Future ->.”
