NAFTA and the Tar Sands

Bitten by the deal that once fed us

Canadians should hope for an Obama presidency and the reopening of NAFTA

GORDON LAXER

From Monday’s Globe and Mail

June 23, 2008 at 8:44 AM EDT

John McCain’s visit to Canada on Friday was a preview of just how important the issue of renegotiating the North American free-trade agreement will be in this fall’s U.S. presidential election. The prospect of a Barack Obama presidency has sparked a lot of “will he or won’t he” worry in Canada. You can feel the fear of the business-as-usual crowd trying to reassure themselves that Mr. Obama won’t really reopen NAFTA.

He now says he won’t unilaterally withdraw, and that his rhetoric got a little overheated, but Mr. Obama still promises to open up a dialogue on NAFTA. Instead of wringing hands and holding on to the past, Canada should seize the opportunity that renegotiation could bring.

Dirty Oil to Receive PR Makeover

Oil sands tries image makeover

Already under the microscope for greenhouse gas emissions, oil sands companies suffered a major public relations setback when images of ducks soaked in tailing pond oil emerged. Now, they’re striking back with a campaign to show how they can produce oil and manage the environmental impact

SHAWN MCCARTHY

From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail

June 24, 2008 at 12:25 AM EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s oil sands producers are tired of their image as environmental bad boys and are fighting back. As their critics get more vocal, the companies have decided to band together to get out the message that they are committed to reducing the environmental damage that results from oil sands development.

In an interview Monday, Imperial Oil Ltd. chief executive officer Bruce March said the oil companies are making major investments in new technology that will dramatically reduce the oil sands’ impact on water, land and air.

Mr. March spoke in the interview as part of the industry’s kickoff of an aggressive communications campaign that includes a new website and a series of national advertisements that, the industry says, are designed to engage Canadians in a dialogue about the controversial projects.

The Imperial Oil CEO said the development of the oil sands is a national project, similar in scope to the building of the railway in the 19th century.

Hundreds Pack Upgrader Hearing

Hundreds of concerned residents from Stratcona and Sturgeon counties pack a Fort Saskchewan hearing into a Petro Canada upgrader on June 23, 2008.

Hundreds flock to upgrader hearing in Fort Sask.

Amanda Ferguson, Updated: Mon Jun. 23 2008 17:10:26

ctvedmonton.ca

Hundreds of people packed a Fort Saskatchewan hall Monday knowing they won’t be able to have their say on a potential new oilsands upgrader for days.

Yet as they crowded into the room to sit in front of a three-member panel for the Energy Resources Conservation Board, they knew they were already getting their point across.

Armed with signs, masks and cheers — more than one hundred people took their cause to a local hotel to protest the latest in a growing list of upgrader projects slated for the Fort Hills area.

“I can’t even comprehend what that’s going to be,” local resident Wayne Groot said. “It’s just massive. We’re going to be inundated with huge amounts of traffic, noise, lights.”

More Heat for the Tar Sands

New pressure on oilsands TheStar.com – Business – New pressure on oilsands

JEFF MCINTOSH/CP FILE PHOTO

The processing plant at the Suncor oilsands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta, is seen in this file photo.

June 23, 2008

THE CANADIAN PRESS

U.S. mayors have become the latest group trying to reduce the use of gasoline made with oil from Alberta’s oilsands.

A resolution has passed at their annual conference in Miami that urges cities to forbid the use of such gasoline in municipal vehicles.

The resolution says development of fuel from the oilsands threatens forests and releases three times as much greenhouse gases as conventional oil.

U.S. Mayors Denouce Tarsands

U.S. mayors denounce oilsands

Mike De Souza

Canwest News Service

Monday, June 23, 200

CREDIT: Chris Schwarz/Edmonton Journal Syncrude’s Mildred Lake plant north of Fort McMurray, Alta, is the largest oilsands crude oil production facility in the world.

Mayors from the U.S.’s largest cities singled out Western Canada’s oilsands sector on Monday as they called for a crackdown on fuels that could cause catastrophic global warming.

In a resolution adopted in Miami at the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting, municipal leaders called for new national guidelines to track the life-cycle impact of different types of fossil fuels. They also urged their member cities to stop using unconventional sources of energy with a large carbon footprint such as liquid coal or oil shale for their own municipal operations.

“The production of tarsands oil from Canada emits approximately three times the carbon dioxide pollution per barrel as does conventional oil production and significantly damages Canada’s Boreal forest ecosystem – the world’s largest carbon storehouse,” said the resolution.