Tar Sands Sign-On Letter
Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:55 pmTar Sands Sign-On Letter
December 12, 2008
This is a message to all the endorsers of the tar sands letter. Thank you for your support. I have attached the final version of the letter that was given to both Minister Prentice and Minister Renner, and the media advisory is pasted in below.
The letter was extremely successful in drawing attention to the tar sands issue at the Poznan conference and pre-empted the sales pitch that would have been made otherwise by Alberta and Canada.
The Canadian Youth Delegation did a tar sands photo exhibit in the main hall, and the Canadian delegation complained to the UN secretariat that it unfairly targeted Canada, and forced its removal – that just garnered more bad press for Canada, which is now a candidate for the “colossal fossil” award of the conference – awarded for governments that are the worst of the worst!
Thanks again for your support.
Sincerely,
Dave Martin
Greenpeace Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MEDIA STATEMENT
Thursday December 11, 2008
International Climate Advocates Slam Canadian Tar Sands Promotion
Poznan, Poland – Over 60 organizations participating in the United Nations climate change talks in Poznan and other groups around the world today called on Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Alberta’s Environment Minister Rob Renner to stop promoting the Canadian tar sands – one of the world’s dirtiest sources of oil. Prentice and Renner are in Poznan to participate in the climate talks.
In a letter to the ministers, leading non-governmental environmental organizations in Canada, the United States, Europe, and the developing world, stated “As ministers charged with protecting the environment, it is your responsibility to put the brakes on tar sands expansion.”
Tar sands oil production generates three to five times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil due to the massive amounts of energy needed to extract, upgrade and refine the oil. A halt of the tar sands is vital in order to make progress on climate change both globally and in Canada.
The full text of the letter to Minister Prentice and Minister Renner can be found (below) or at:
http://www.cydpoznan.org/files/Internat ... tement.pdf
The following organizations are available for comment:
Dave Martin, Greenpeace Canada - Tel: (In Poznan) +48-500-878-359
Christel Hyshka, Canadian Youth Delegation - Tel: (In Poznan)+48-500-445-656
Simon Dyer, Pembina Institute - Tel: (Alberta, Canada) +403-322-3937
Stephen Guilbeault, Equiterre - Tel: (In Poznan) +48-693-263-743
Graham Saul, Climate Action Network-Canada - Tel:(In Poznan) +48-783-227-705
-----------------------------------------
December 11, 2008
The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of the Environment, Canada
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec Canada K1A 0H3
The Honourable Rob Renner
Minister of Environment, Alberta
#425 Legislature Building
10800 - 97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5K 2B6
Dear Minister Prentice and Minister Renner:
Our organizations and Indigenous Peoples are participating in the United Nations climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, and we represent concerned citizens around the world. We are writing to protest your promotion of the world’s dirtiest oil—the Canadian tar sands. Tar sands oil production generates 3-5 times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil due to the massive amounts of energy needed to extract, upgrade and refine the oil. The tar sands are becoming internationally known as a form of development that is violating the human rights of Indigenous Peoples of Alberta, Canada.
Emissions from tar sands are so much greater than conventional oil, that producing more of this oil will significantly undermine the global commitment to combat climate change.
While climate negotiators from around the world gather in Poznan to discuss the steps necessary to curb global climate change, the Canadian federal government has set a target that is less than 3% below 1990 levels by 2020 C a target that falls far short of the level needed for Canada to do its fair share in avoiding dangerous climate change. But if Alberta increases its emissions as planned, it would make it extremely difficult for Canada to reach even that inadequate national emissions target.
Alberta intends to allow its emissions to remain well above the 1990 level (and above the Kyoto target level) as late as 2050 – while climate science shows that industrialized countries need to reduce their emissions by at least 80% during the same period.
Time is limited and we need action now. The bottom line is that as ministers charged with protecting the environment, it is your responsibility to put the brakes on tar sands expansion.
This is vital in order to make progress on climate change both globally and in Canada. At the Poznan conference, Canada has been vilified for trying to justify a less aggressive emissions target because of tar sands production for export.
Thankfully, Canada has multiple opportunities to reign in its emissions and to end its status as a laggard in the climate negotiations. The single most important domestic policy option to pursue is an economy-wide price on greenhouse gas emissions that reaches $50/tonne in 2010 and increases quickly thereafter.
Canada’s Climate Change Opportunities
Alberta is already Canada's global warming capital – producing 30 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gases, but having only ten per cent of the population. Alberta has an opportunity to become a clean energy superpower. Green economic stimulus providing support for sustainable energy could help diversify Alberta’s economy and take advantage of the province’s significant renewable energy resources. A recent economic assessment demonstrates that Canada is fully capable of doing its fair share in avoiding dangerous climate change while maintaining a healthy level of economic and employment growth.1
Tar Sands Oil: Environmental Disaster
o In Canada, an area the size of Florida could be directly affected by strip mining and drilling for the tar-like substance that is turned into synthetic crude oil.
o The tar sands are the fastest growing single point source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada.
o Production is expected to grow from the current 1.2 million barrels of oil per day to between three and five million barrels per day by 2020.
o Currently tar sands are responsible for 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions; nearly the emissions of the Czech Republic – and may double by 2015.
o By 2020 tar sands GHGs are projected to increase to 141 million tonnes, double the current emissions of all cars and trucks in Canada.
o Producing oil from tar sands uses three to five barrels of water to get a barrel of oil. Tarsands production is licensed to use more water a day than Alberta's two major cities---Calgary and Edmonton---combined.
o Every day tar sands producers burn 600 million cubic feet of natural gas to produce tar sands oil, enough natural gas to heat three million Canadian homes.
o Tailings ponds adjacent to rivers, that already cover 50 square kilometers, pose an enormous threat of contamination of fresh water and destruction of wildlife.
o Tar sands are located in Alberta’s northern boreal forest, part of the world’s largest terrestrial storehouse of climate regulating carbon and the home of millions of songbirds and waterfowl.
o Indigenous communities are most at risk of health effects because they eat food from the land and water. The remote Fort Chipewyan community has an 80% subsistence diet. Many Fort Chipewyan residents are concerned that toxics from tar sands mining are contributing to recent increases in diseases and cancers in the community and region.
Taken together, it becomes clear why Canada’s tar sands have been called the most destructive project on earth. In the interest of protecting the planet for our children, we urge you to reign in this destructive industry.
Sincerely,
[Organization; contact person; email; telephone]
----------------------------------------------------------
1 MK Jaccard and Associates Inc. “Exploration of a policy package to reduce Canadian greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.” December 3, 2008 (http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/2020-prelim-full-e.pdf)
Organizational Endorsements:
Alliance for Global Justice
American Indian Movement
Campaign for Alternative Industry Network (CAIN)
Canadian Youth Delegation
Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE)
Center on Race, Poverty & The Environment
Christopher Reynolds Foundation
Climate Action Network- Canada
Concerned Citizens against Climate Change
Dakota Resource Council
David Suzuki Foundation
Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment
Dooda (NO) Desert Rock
Earthworks
Ecology Action Center
Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA)
Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education (EAGLE)
Equiterre
Eyak Preservation Council
GEZEN Foundation for Massive Scale Solar Energy
Global Forest Coalition
Global Justice Ecology Project
Grandmothers for Peace/San Luis Obispo County Chapter
Green Brigade
Greenpeace Canada
Greenpeace International
Haisla Hereditary Chiefs Strategic Action Committee
Heartwood
Hague Environmental Center ('Haags Milieucentrum')
Honor the Earth
I- 4-C (Cross-Cultural Competency Consortium)
Indigenous Environmental Network
Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network
INTERCONNECT
International Indian Treaty Council
International Presentation Association
Members of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition
Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin
NANAI Foundation, (Netherlands Association for North American Indians)
Natural Resources Defense Council
North American Water Office
Oil Change International
Oil Sands truth
Pembina Institute
Plains Justice
Polaris Institute
Public Interest Alberta
Public Trust Alliance
Quill Plains Chapter, Council of Canadians
Rainforest Action Network
Root Force
Save the Wild UP
Save Union County
Science and Environmental Health Network
Science for Peace
Sierra Club Canada
Sierra Club US
Society for Threatened Peoples/Germany
Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC)
Students Against Climate Change
World Rainforest Movement
================================
December 12, 2008
This is a message to all the endorsers of the tar sands letter. Thank you for your support. I have attached the final version of the letter that was given to both Minister Prentice and Minister Renner, and the media advisory is pasted in below.
The letter was extremely successful in drawing attention to the tar sands issue at the Poznan conference and pre-empted the sales pitch that would have been made otherwise by Alberta and Canada.
The Canadian Youth Delegation did a tar sands photo exhibit in the main hall, and the Canadian delegation complained to the UN secretariat that it unfairly targeted Canada, and forced its removal – that just garnered more bad press for Canada, which is now a candidate for the “colossal fossil” award of the conference – awarded for governments that are the worst of the worst!
Thanks again for your support.
Sincerely,
Dave Martin
Greenpeace Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MEDIA STATEMENT
Thursday December 11, 2008
International Climate Advocates Slam Canadian Tar Sands Promotion
Poznan, Poland – Over 60 organizations participating in the United Nations climate change talks in Poznan and other groups around the world today called on Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Alberta’s Environment Minister Rob Renner to stop promoting the Canadian tar sands – one of the world’s dirtiest sources of oil. Prentice and Renner are in Poznan to participate in the climate talks.
In a letter to the ministers, leading non-governmental environmental organizations in Canada, the United States, Europe, and the developing world, stated “As ministers charged with protecting the environment, it is your responsibility to put the brakes on tar sands expansion.”
Tar sands oil production generates three to five times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil due to the massive amounts of energy needed to extract, upgrade and refine the oil. A halt of the tar sands is vital in order to make progress on climate change both globally and in Canada.
The full text of the letter to Minister Prentice and Minister Renner can be found (below) or at:
http://www.cydpoznan.org/files/Internat ... tement.pdf
The following organizations are available for comment:
Dave Martin, Greenpeace Canada - Tel: (In Poznan) +48-500-878-359
Christel Hyshka, Canadian Youth Delegation - Tel: (In Poznan)+48-500-445-656
Simon Dyer, Pembina Institute - Tel: (Alberta, Canada) +403-322-3937
Stephen Guilbeault, Equiterre - Tel: (In Poznan) +48-693-263-743
Graham Saul, Climate Action Network-Canada - Tel:(In Poznan) +48-783-227-705
-----------------------------------------
December 11, 2008
The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of the Environment, Canada
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec Canada K1A 0H3
The Honourable Rob Renner
Minister of Environment, Alberta
#425 Legislature Building
10800 - 97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5K 2B6
Dear Minister Prentice and Minister Renner:
Our organizations and Indigenous Peoples are participating in the United Nations climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, and we represent concerned citizens around the world. We are writing to protest your promotion of the world’s dirtiest oil—the Canadian tar sands. Tar sands oil production generates 3-5 times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil due to the massive amounts of energy needed to extract, upgrade and refine the oil. The tar sands are becoming internationally known as a form of development that is violating the human rights of Indigenous Peoples of Alberta, Canada.
Emissions from tar sands are so much greater than conventional oil, that producing more of this oil will significantly undermine the global commitment to combat climate change.
While climate negotiators from around the world gather in Poznan to discuss the steps necessary to curb global climate change, the Canadian federal government has set a target that is less than 3% below 1990 levels by 2020 C a target that falls far short of the level needed for Canada to do its fair share in avoiding dangerous climate change. But if Alberta increases its emissions as planned, it would make it extremely difficult for Canada to reach even that inadequate national emissions target.
Alberta intends to allow its emissions to remain well above the 1990 level (and above the Kyoto target level) as late as 2050 – while climate science shows that industrialized countries need to reduce their emissions by at least 80% during the same period.
Time is limited and we need action now. The bottom line is that as ministers charged with protecting the environment, it is your responsibility to put the brakes on tar sands expansion.
This is vital in order to make progress on climate change both globally and in Canada. At the Poznan conference, Canada has been vilified for trying to justify a less aggressive emissions target because of tar sands production for export.
Thankfully, Canada has multiple opportunities to reign in its emissions and to end its status as a laggard in the climate negotiations. The single most important domestic policy option to pursue is an economy-wide price on greenhouse gas emissions that reaches $50/tonne in 2010 and increases quickly thereafter.
Canada’s Climate Change Opportunities
Alberta is already Canada's global warming capital – producing 30 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gases, but having only ten per cent of the population. Alberta has an opportunity to become a clean energy superpower. Green economic stimulus providing support for sustainable energy could help diversify Alberta’s economy and take advantage of the province’s significant renewable energy resources. A recent economic assessment demonstrates that Canada is fully capable of doing its fair share in avoiding dangerous climate change while maintaining a healthy level of economic and employment growth.1
Tar Sands Oil: Environmental Disaster
o In Canada, an area the size of Florida could be directly affected by strip mining and drilling for the tar-like substance that is turned into synthetic crude oil.
o The tar sands are the fastest growing single point source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada.
o Production is expected to grow from the current 1.2 million barrels of oil per day to between three and five million barrels per day by 2020.
o Currently tar sands are responsible for 40 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions; nearly the emissions of the Czech Republic – and may double by 2015.
o By 2020 tar sands GHGs are projected to increase to 141 million tonnes, double the current emissions of all cars and trucks in Canada.
o Producing oil from tar sands uses three to five barrels of water to get a barrel of oil. Tarsands production is licensed to use more water a day than Alberta's two major cities---Calgary and Edmonton---combined.
o Every day tar sands producers burn 600 million cubic feet of natural gas to produce tar sands oil, enough natural gas to heat three million Canadian homes.
o Tailings ponds adjacent to rivers, that already cover 50 square kilometers, pose an enormous threat of contamination of fresh water and destruction of wildlife.
o Tar sands are located in Alberta’s northern boreal forest, part of the world’s largest terrestrial storehouse of climate regulating carbon and the home of millions of songbirds and waterfowl.
o Indigenous communities are most at risk of health effects because they eat food from the land and water. The remote Fort Chipewyan community has an 80% subsistence diet. Many Fort Chipewyan residents are concerned that toxics from tar sands mining are contributing to recent increases in diseases and cancers in the community and region.
Taken together, it becomes clear why Canada’s tar sands have been called the most destructive project on earth. In the interest of protecting the planet for our children, we urge you to reign in this destructive industry.
Sincerely,
[Organization; contact person; email; telephone]
----------------------------------------------------------
1 MK Jaccard and Associates Inc. “Exploration of a policy package to reduce Canadian greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020.” December 3, 2008 (http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/2020-prelim-full-e.pdf)
Organizational Endorsements:
Alliance for Global Justice
American Indian Movement
Campaign for Alternative Industry Network (CAIN)
Canadian Youth Delegation
Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE)
Center on Race, Poverty & The Environment
Christopher Reynolds Foundation
Climate Action Network- Canada
Concerned Citizens against Climate Change
Dakota Resource Council
David Suzuki Foundation
Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment
Dooda (NO) Desert Rock
Earthworks
Ecology Action Center
Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA)
Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education (EAGLE)
Equiterre
Eyak Preservation Council
GEZEN Foundation for Massive Scale Solar Energy
Global Forest Coalition
Global Justice Ecology Project
Grandmothers for Peace/San Luis Obispo County Chapter
Green Brigade
Greenpeace Canada
Greenpeace International
Haisla Hereditary Chiefs Strategic Action Committee
Heartwood
Hague Environmental Center ('Haags Milieucentrum')
Honor the Earth
I- 4-C (Cross-Cultural Competency Consortium)
Indigenous Environmental Network
Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network
INTERCONNECT
International Indian Treaty Council
International Presentation Association
Members of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition
Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin
NANAI Foundation, (Netherlands Association for North American Indians)
Natural Resources Defense Council
North American Water Office
Oil Change International
Oil Sands truth
Pembina Institute
Plains Justice
Polaris Institute
Public Interest Alberta
Public Trust Alliance
Quill Plains Chapter, Council of Canadians
Rainforest Action Network
Root Force
Save the Wild UP
Save Union County
Science and Environmental Health Network
Science for Peace
Sierra Club Canada
Sierra Club US
Society for Threatened Peoples/Germany
Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC)
Students Against Climate Change
World Rainforest Movement
================================