Proposals are being advanced in Washington – with the not-so-implicit backing of President Obama – that would effectively halt safe, secure, affordable, reliable and much-needed Canadian energy supplies from reaching American consumers. Coined a low-carbon fuel standard, or LCFS, such a one-size-fits-all regime would block secure sources of North American energy from entering the US market. Proponents claim an LCFS would lower greenhouse gas emissions (not true) and lessen our energy dependence on unstable regions of the world (false again).
David Holt, president of Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization made up of nearly 120 affiliates and almost 200,000 grassroots supporters laid out the fact in a Washington Examiner column over the weekend entitled “Why are we conceding Canadian oil to China?”:
Consumer Energy Alliance, of which I’m proud to serve as president, has started a nationwide campaign to educate the American public on the perils of a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard – a policy that some in Washington believe would kill off the Canadian oil sands market for good, by depriving the market of its primary buyer and consumer (us). No Canadian oil sands means no Canadian oil, and that’s sits just fine with LCFS proponents.
Well, so much for that idea. Whether the United States decides to use these secure, affordable energy resources or not – the Canadians don’t appear all that interested in waiting around for a final decision.
And who can blame them? In China, they’ll have a partner that values those energy resources, stands ready to help produce them, and eventually will provide the Canadians with a massive new market in which to sell them.”
Holt added this, too, with regard to China’s move to invest in Canadian oil sands to fuel its economy:
But instead of simply piping [Canadian] energy down the continent and into the homes and heating and fuel tanks of American consumers just a couple hours away, that energy will be transported to the Pacific coast, loaded onto a barge, and shipped 6,500 miles across the ocean to be processed in Chinese refineries.
The threat of an LCFS being imposed nationwide, and harming each and every American consumer is very real. And so to is the prospect of China inching its way closer to securing more and more Canadian energy reserves.
In fact, just weeks ago, PetroChina inked a nearly $2 billion dollar investment in Canada’s Athabasca Oil company. Canadian media, and energy producers, are taking notice of this hemispheric shift in energy trade. Today, the Canwest News Service – under the headline “Oilsands pipe to B.C. coast makes ‘strategic sense’: CEO” – reported that “China‘s interest in Alberta oil puts idea back in spotlight.” The article also quoted Tom Katinas, CEO of Syncrude Canada Ltd., extensively.
Here are a few key excerpts:
The head of Canada’s biggest oilsands producer says a pipeline to West Coast makes strategic sense to help diversify Alberta’s export markets.
But Tom Katinas, CEO of Syncrude Canada Ltd., told the Global Business Forum in Banff that the U.S. will remain Canada’s key buyer.
“I would love to see a pipeline that goes from Alberta out to the West Coast to be able to export some of the Alberta oil,” he said, speaking on a panel on Friday, the last day of the conference.
Even moving a small amount of that oil, largely heavier grades from the oilsands, would help boost Alberta’s economic position, he said.
So, as policymakers in Washington work to slash supplies of affordable and reliable energy, China – one of our top global competitors – is working just as hard, if not harder, to ensure that its people and its economy have access to job-creating energy resources.
Help CEA fight for secure energy supplies, and work to stop an LCFS from becoming law.
