McCain and Obama Agree – No to Tar Sands

McCain and Obama Stand United on Canada’s Oil Sands

2 Jul 08

Barack Obama made headlines across Canada last week over his proposed national “low carbon fuel standard.” Such a proposal, if implemented, would be a serious hit to Canada’s oil sands operations, which emit about 3 times the amount of greenhouse gas to produce when compared to the production of a conventional barrel of oil.

Not nearly as prominent in the Canadian press was an article in the Washington Times the week before reporting that presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain shares a similar view as Obama on a “low carbon fuel standard.” The Washington Times reported that:

Mr. McCain, who just this week praised Canada as a secure source of oil, embraced a national fuel standard plan last year at a press conference with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. McCain has made his support for environmental issues a major part of his presidential campaign, and uses it as a key issue where he breaks with many other Republicans.”

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From Canada’s Financial Post comes Peter Foster’s article “Obama plays ‘dirty’ oil card”.

On Tuesday, orotund Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed to break the U. S. addiction to “dirty, dwindling and dangerously expensive” oil. An advisor said it was an open question whether Canada’s oil sands were Mr. Obama’s prime target, but the word “dirty” is a dead giveaway.

Mr. Obama, speaking in Las Vegas, implied that the U. S. might somehow do without the oil sands. “[T]he possibilities of renewable energy are limitless,” he declared. “We’ve heard promises about it in every State of the Union for the last three decades. But each and every year, we become more, not less, addicted to oil–a 19th-century fossil fuel.”

[. . .]

When it comes to picking on oil sands, Mr. Obama is fad surfing a popular wave. In December the U. S. government adopted a law to ban federal procurement of fuels that generate more greenhouse gases than “conventional sources.” California has also adopted low-carbon fuel standards. On Monday, a meeting of mayors in Miami slapped a Scarlet Letter on oil sands production, demanding “full life-cycle” accounting for such fuels.