Last week Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) vice president Michael Whatley joined the U.S. State Department, Alberta’s premier, and top U.S. and Canadian energy experts for a North American Energy Security Summit hosted at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC.
Alberta premier Ed Stelmach reinforced the fact that Canada stands ready, willing and eager to build upon the unique and valuable relationship that exists with the United States to leverage energy resources into jobs, security and opportunity on both sides of the border. And following his remarks, David Goldwyn – a senior State Dept. advisor – weighed in regarding America’s historic partnership with Canada on issues related to energy security, affordability, and reliability, describing this strong and strategic relationship as a “model” for others to follow.
ClimateWire highlights Mr. Goldwyn’s remarks in story entitled “With offshore oil spilling, Alberta pushes its inland”:
“Having technically recoverable petroleum reserves that are on our border, and they’re delivered by pipelines that are controlled by a stable democracy and an ally and a friend in an open and transparent regulatory regime enhances … global energy security today and into the future,” David Goldwyn, who oversees international energy issues at the U.S. State Department, told an audience at the Canadian Embassy yesterday.
Following remarks from Stelmach and Goldwyn, CEA’s Michael Whatley added this about the importance of North American energy security:
Canada is our closest trading partner in the world and our most important strategic ally in the hemisphere. Energy isn’t merely incidental to that relationship; it’s fundamental to it. No nation in the world sends more energy to the United States each day than Canada. And if we expect to have even a fighting chance at reducing our nation’s dangerous dependence on far-away, unstable energy in the future, Canadian energy will have to play an even more active role in helping us get there.
Nick Snow of the Oil & Gas Journal reports this under the headline “Forum showcases benefits of Alberta oil sands development”:
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to limit GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act poses the biggest threat, added Michael Whatley, vice-president of the Consumer Energy Alliance. “Demand has rebounded since the economy hit bottom in 2008 and 2009. China and India are trying to get more supplies than ever out of world markets,” Whatley observed. North America has sufficient energy supplies to meet growing demand, but US policies restricting access and mandating low-carbon fuels restrict their development, he said. “Let’s be clear: Demand is going to increase,” Whatley said. “Taking North American energy resources off the table will affect consumer prices and hurt the economy.”
Hosted by the Center for North American Energy Security (CNAES), the day’s event drew broad participation, including a number of U.S. and Canadian energy, economic and environmental experts. The discussion and debate throughout the day ranged from the capacity and permitting of local pipelines, to federal procurement rules for accessing oil sands-derived energy, all the way through to the political debate surrounding Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) proposals, a policy that would severely restrict American access to secure and affordable sources of energy from Canada.
Canwest News Service’s Sheldon Alberts captured the possible threat of an LCFS in an article under the headline “Gulf spill makes oilsands more appealing”:
Still, oil sands supporters remain suspicious of the Obama administration and fear it will seek a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) targeted at carbon-intensive energy sources like the oil sands. Michael Whatley, vice-president of … Consumer Energy Alliance, said it was ‘no coincidence’ that an early version of U.S. climate change legislation from the House of Representatives included plans for a low carbon fuel standard. Whatley said there’s also concern the Obama administration could target the oilsands through the Environmental Protection Agency … ‘The LCFS is a high priority for this administration,’ Whatley said at the Canadian Embassy. ‘They can move down that road. We are very concerned that they will.’
And under the headline “After spill, Stelmach touts oil,” the Globe and Mail reports this:
Mr. Stelmach said he’s only trying to ensure the oil sands gets fair treatment in the face of a wave of federal and state efforts that threaten to penalize Alberta’s heavy crude and other high-carbon fuels. Pending regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – which is poised to cap greenhouse gases since Congress won’t – threaten to cut off the sale of oil sands crude from Alberta to refineries south of the border. And dozens of states are moving ahead with regulations that would penalize carbon-intensive fuels and spur use of greener alternatives. Major U.S. energy consumers, meanwhile, worry that a low-carbon fuel standard may be inevitable in the United States. “We’re very concerned,” said Michael Whatley, vice-president of the Consumer Energy Alliance, a broad coalition of major U.S. energy consumers.
Given the recent announcement that climate change legislation may be introduced very soon in the U.S. Senate, CEA will continue to remind policymakers about the dangerous consequences of imposing an LCFS in the U.S., as well as the importance of our closest trading partner and the barrels of secure and reliable fuel Canada sends the United States each day.
[...] Energy Alliance’s (CEA) Michael Whatley recently characterized the situation this way at the North American Energy Security Summit hosted at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.: “Canada is our closest trading partner in the [...]
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