Battle over tar sands dirty fuel label intensifies in Europe

[Oscar]

Battle over tar sands dirty fuel label intensifies in Europe

[ http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2013/10/bat ... tensifies/ ]

October 2, 2013

First Nations leader in London to counter Canadian government's pro-tar sands lobbying

London, UK - First Nations leader George Poitras has this week travelled to the UK, France and the Netherlands to testify to policymakers and MPs about the impacts of the Canadian tar sands industry on Indigenous Peoples in Alberta, and to encourage the EU to support the labelling of tar sands fuel as highly polluting in the EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) [1].

Today Poitras, former Chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, will meet the UK's Transport Minister Norman Baker - who is responsible for the UK government's position on the FQD, and speak in a UK Parliamentary event, alongside energy expert Jeremy Leggett and Greenpeace EU transport policy adviser Franziska Achterberg. [2]

At the same time as Poitras' visit, two Albertan ministers, Environment Minister Diana McQueen and International Relations Minister Cal Dallas, have been deployed to promote the tar sands industry and undermine the directive across Europe [3]. Poitras met with the cabinet of the Environment Minister in Paris, just days after the Alberta lobby mission.

The prolonged lobbying offensive by the Canadian government has already succeeded in delaying the implementation of the directive for several years.

Just yesterday, a group of twenty-one Nobel peace and science laureates, including prominent Canadian environmental economist Mark Jaccard, sent a letter to European Commission president José Manuel Barroso urging him and European Union environment ministers to immediately implement the FQD [4].

"The government of Alberta's pro-tar sands tour of Europe is taking place at the same time that I am advocating for the EU to take action to stop tar sands imports," said Poitras, who lives in the community of Fort Chipewyan, downstream from tar sands developments. "The Alberta government will try to emphasize their efforts on environmental monitoring, greenhouse gas reduction, and investment in alternative energy technologies. However, the truth is that tar sands are devastating First Nations communities and the environment, and having far reaching impacts on the global climate."

The Canadian government has maintained that the FQD is not based on "science" and unfairly discriminates against Canadian tar sands. It also claims that technical innovations in the industry will cut emissions and reduce the associated environmental footprint. [5] All these claims have been disproved by independent research. [6] Meanwhile, regulation of the tar sands remains inadequate, First Nations are not adequately consulted and spills are lasting for months [7]. The Alberta government also fails to recognise the cumulative impacts of all tar sands projects on the climate and local environment.

Currently the EU imports very little tar sands fuel, but the amount is likely to grow significantly with major pipelines already in development such as the Transcanada Energy East [8] and Keystone XL, and refiners, such as Valero in Pembrokeshire, Wales, preparing to import the fuel [9]. Last week US trade lobbyist Michael Froman joined Canadian government efforts to dismantle the FQD, citing concerns that the directive would negatively impact the US Gulf Coast refining industry's ability to export fuel to Europe that had originated from the tar sands [10].

"This EU legislation would label tar sands as what they are: severely polluting and a threat to the global climate," said Franziska Achterberg, EU transport policy director of Greenpeace's European Unit. "The FQD would effectively close the EU market for fuels produced from tar sands and make investment in this destructive process much less attractive. The law is not designed to discriminate against Canada or any other nation, but rather to protect the climate, human health and the natural environment."

Jeremy Leggett, who chairs the financial think-tank Carbon Tracker, [11] and has recently released a book, The Energy of Nations, [12] said, "With
climate scientists now 95% convinced that humans are contributing to climate change, there is nothing glamorous about the high-carbon tar sands industry. The IPCC report released last week [13] presented clear evidence, consistent with the research of Carbon Tracker, of the need to identify unburnable carbon, wasted capital and stranded assets in the capital markets. We can now expect stranded carbon-asset risk to become a standard agenda item in boardrooms of companies and regulators alike. Those who invest in the tar sands, or stay invested in the tar sands, are going to be losing an awful lot of money because of all this. Smart politics for the EU would be to run as far away from the tar sands industry as possible."

The final proposal by the EU Commission, including its decision on whether or not to label tar sands fuel as highly polluting, is due to be released any day now. Member States must receive the proposal by early October to ensure adequate time to reach a position before they vote at the scheduled mid-December meeting. Campaigners are worried that the vote may further slip, as it has in the past, and are urging the Commission to release the proposal as soon as possible.

NOTES:

[1] The EU is negotiating a Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) which aims to encourage the use of low-carbon transport fuels and discourage the use of high-emission fuels. The target of reducing Europe's greenhouse gas emissions from road transport by 6% before 2020 has been agreed, as part of the EU's emission reductions targets. The debate now is over the implementation of that target, and specifically over whether tar sands-derived fuel should be labelled as on average 23% more carbon-intensive than conventional fuel.
See [ http://keeptarsandsoutofeurope.org/fqd-101/ ]. Tar sands are a highly polluting form of unconventional oil. See [ http://no-tar-sands.org/what-are-the-tar-sands ] for more information.

[2] The public parliamentary event, featuring Indigenous Leader George Poitras, Greenpeace transport policy expert Franziska Achterberg and energy expert and chair of the financial sector think-tank CarbonTracker Jeremy Leggett, will be held on Thursday 3rd October form 3pm-5pm in the Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Bridge St, London, SW1A 2LW.
For full biographies of the speakers, see [ http://keeptarsandsoutofeurope.org/events ]. Poitras will also meet with Transport, Minister Norman Baker, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Deputy Prime Minister's office urging the UK government to listen to the science and to support the regulation of tar sands.

[3] This week, Alberta's ministers of International Relations and Environment were sent to Europe in a final push to dismantle legislation
which they see as a threat to the future profits of the highly
carbon-intensive tar sands industry.
[ http://globalnews.ca/news/862154/albert ... ands-vote/ ]

[4] The letter, and full list of signatories, is available here:
[ http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/2013/1 ... s/?ref=204 ]

[5] Canada defends tar sands on EU visit -
[ http://business.financialpost.com/2013/ ... =6f10-5deb ]

[6] For a detailed, fully referenced briefing, dispelling the Canadian government's concerns, see

[ http://www.transportenvironment.org/sit ... _final.pdf ]

[7] Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Spill on-going for 5 months
[ http://globalnews.ca/news/865578/five-m ... -concerns/ ]

[8] For more information on the Transcanada Energy East Project see -
[ http://business.financialpost.com/2013/ ... =8064-2312 ]

[9] For more information about Valero's plans for imports to the UK, see:
[ http://www.no-tar-sands.org/wp-content/ ... t_4web.pdf ]

[10] This flies in the face of previous claims by the US government that oil from Alberta would be destined for US domestic markets, rather than export. For more information on US lobbying, see
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/2 ... _hp_ref=tw ]

[11] See [ http://www.carbontracker.org/ ]

[12] See [ http://www.jeremyleggett.net/books/ ]

[13] The IPCC summary is available here
[ http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/ ]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clayton Thomas-Muller
National Campaigner, Idle No More/ Defenders of the Land
Co-Director, Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign
Twitter: @CreeClayton
Skype: monsterredlight

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please visit Idle No More:
http://idlenomore.ca/

Please visit Polaris Institute:
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/

Please visit Defenders of the Land:
http://www.defendersoftheland.org

Please visit Black Mesa Water Coalition:
http://www.blackmesawatercoalition.org/

Please visit Global Justice Ecology Project:
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/

Please visit Raven Trust:
http://www.raventrust.com/

--