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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Oilsands lobbying decried

By: Peter O'Neil

Posted: 08/5/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES Oilsands carbon dioxide emissions disputed in conflicting studies. (CP)

OTTAWA -- Canada is acting like the tobacco industry in its "secret" and "unprecedented" bid to undermine the European Union's effort to pass legislation targeting oilsands imports, according to a new report.

The Canadian and Alberta governments, working with energy industry giants in North America and Europe, have orchestrated 110 lobbying events in less than two years -- about one a week -- in hopes of derailing the EU initiative, according to a report Thursday from Friends of the Earth Europe.

"This is possibly the most vociferous public relations campaign by a foreign government ever witnessed in the EU and is reminiscent of the tobacco industry in its attempt to delay action on health," Friends of the Earth Europe spokesman Darek Urbaniak said in a statement.

Canada, according to the report, is giving misleading information about Canada's efforts to reduce emissions and is "undermining the EU's de-carbonization strategy and green-washing tarsands."

The EU, which has been trying to set a global example in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is requiring a six per cent reduction by 2020 in carbon dioxide emissions of road transport and "non-road mobile machinery" fuels.

The standards are based on the entire life cycle of the fuels, from production and processing to final use in vehicles.

As part of the process, Brussels wants to set current baseline intensity value for imports and is proposing one default value for conventional crude and one 23 per cent higher for oilsands crude.

Canada fears an EU directive could influence U.S. policy and thus undermine the sector's most lucrative market.

The Friends of the Earth Europe report, based on public records and internal government documents obtained from the EU and the British and Canadian governments, said Ottawa launched its aggressive public relations campaign in September 2009.

The lobbying strategy has included a direct appeal from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, visits by federal and Alberta ministers, meetings in Europe hosted by Canadian politicians and senior bureaucrats and tours of the oilsands offered to members of the European Parliament.

The report said the Canadian campaign has already succeeded in stalling the EU's plan to confirm the baseline values by January.

It also accused the Canadians of attempting to discredit an EU-commissioned study that concluded the oilsands sector generates an average 23 per cent more carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional oil.

The report accused the Canadian and Alberta governments of using a conflicting study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates that found the EU study overstated oilsands emissions. The Cambridge report also said the sector's greenhouse gas intensity is roughly the same as imports from Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria.

The office of federal International Trade Minister Ed Fast issued a statement acknowledging that the EU's fuel-quality directive is a matter "of concern."

Alberta government spokesman Mike Deising said several reports have refuted the EU conclusion that oilsands emissions are 23 per cent higher. He also said the EU shouldn't be unfairly singling out Canadian oilsands products when crudes from Venezuela and California have higher emissions.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 5, 2011 B8

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