Let’s face it, the U.S. and global economy are experiencing challenging and difficult times. With nearly 1 out of every 10 Americans still without work, and gas prices on the rise, glimmers of economic hope are too few. Many economists don’t expect the U.S. economy to grow substantially anytime soon, either.
But there is a rare economic bright spot up in Canada: Alberta’s oil sands. In fact, the Edmonton Journal reports that, according to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), the total value of economic activity expected over the next 10 years from the oil sands in Alberta is more than $1 trillion. That’s nearly 75 percent of Canada’s GDP! This is good news for the U.S., too, since more than 2.5 million barrels of oil derived from Canada’s sands are directed to American consumers each and every day in the form of secure and stable North American energy supplies.
This from the article:
In 2009 alone, energy companies poured $30 billion into the oilsands. About 60 per cent of that went into maintenance and supplies, the rest into new project development. Even that’s a hefty sum. CME president Jayson Myers says $30 billion exceeds the value of any government stimulus package for any given year in any state or province in North America.
“As Canadian companies look at new business opportunities and at reducing the risks they’re seeing in the U.S. market, and in their traditional supply chains, the oilsands remain a very attractive business opportunity — even more so as we see project investments begin to increase again,” he says.
And while the U.S. is unquestionably Canada’s strongest and most strategic trading partner, other nations from around the globe also understand the economic benefits associated with access to stable and reliable energy reserves. So it’s no wonder why Petrochina – the Chinese government-owned energy firm – has aggressively invested in Canada’s oil sands. In fact, Bloomberg reports this:
“PetroChina Co. Chairman Jiang Jiemin plans to step up overseas oil and gas acquisitions after teaming up with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to buy Australia’s Arrow Energy Ltd. for $3.2 billion this week. “We will take advantage of opportunities in developing oil, gas and energy sources in all areas of the world,” Jiang said at a media briefing in Hong Kong yesterday, after the Beijing- based company reported a 9.7 percent decline in full-year profit. The Arrow deal followed at least $5 billion of purchases in Canada, Kazakhstan and Singapore in 2009 to meet demand in the fastest-growing major economy. PetroChina last year purchased a stake in a Canadian oil sands project for $1.7 billion, a refinery in Singapore and spent about $1.4 billion on a stake in an oil venture in Kazakhstan.”
So as China – a top competitor in the global economy – continues to secure steady streams of affordable energy, like those produced from Canada’s sands, leaders in the United States are pushing for a one-size-fits-all Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which would effectively ban these secure, affordable, North American energy resources from reaching American consumers, middle-class families and senior citizens.
But not every nation – or groups of nations – share the belief that Canada’s oils sands can and must play a critical role in providing stable energy to those who need it most. Under the headline “Minister says EU was behind oil sands opposition,” Reuters gets Alberta’s energy minister, Ron Liepert, on the record in response to efforts from the European Union to erect trade barriers aimed at Canada’s oil sands:
The European Union is the organization he referred to when he asserted that some international groups were using the environment as a guise to erect trade barriers. … Canada has warned that draft EU standards to promote greener fuels are too unwieldy and would harm the market for oil sands crude.
The EU apparently noticed his warning, since they have now dropped references to oil sands. And just today, under the headline “E.U. may remove oil sands restrictions from environmental standards”, Climatewire reports this:
The European Union may weaken proposed environmental standards for fuel, responding to the Canadian government’s efforts to protect Canada’s oil sands. … Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert said he was pleased that the government’s efforts were having an impact. “We’ve managed to convince the New Democrats to quit calling it tar sands and start calling it oil sands. We’ve got the European Union starting to look at the need to reassess some of the initiatives they’ve taken, based on, I would say, not the best information, so we need to keep up the campaign.”
Canada’s not alone in working to get the facts out about its vast oil sands, and how essential these job-creating resources are to American consumers. Consumer Energy Alliance will continue to educate the public about the dangers of an LCFS, and tirelessly advocate for commonsense energy policies that aim to keep prices stable and affordable by promoting more energy of all forms, and using what we have more wisely at the same time.
Unfortunately, discriminating against Canada’s abundant and secure energy – the very core of an LCFS – would only deepen our energy dependence on unfriendly regions of world and hit struggling consumers in their pocketbooks at a time when they can afford it least.
