The Obama clean energy vision: Why Canada matters
Climate change legislation being debated in Congress is a key part of President Barack Obama’s vision of a clean energy future. As he seeks to address climate change, the President also is clearly determined to reduce U.S. dependence on oil from countries not friendly toward the United States. These two big challenges—promoting energy security and addressing America’s carbon footprint—are inextricably linked. We all struggle to reconcile the appealing vision of a future powered by clean energy sources with the daily need to fuel our cars and power our homes. It is increasingly evident that there is no silver-bullet solution to clean and secure energy and that all of us—industry, government and consumers —need to draw on the full menu of energy sources and get smarter about how we use them.
As America begins to work toward achieving President Obama’s ambitious vision, there is a key energy relationship—the best energy relationship in the world—that warrants more attention. The largest energy supplier to the U.S. is not Saudi Arabia or Venezuela—it is Canada. Our northern neighbor is by far the largest supplier of oil, natural gas, electricity and uranium to the United States. Our two countries share integrated energy infrastructure, and we are major investors in each other’s energy sectors. As an American, an energy policy specialist and a former U.S. diplomat living and working in Canada, I am continually impressed with how well our two countries work together to protect our shared environment and prosperity.
What is not helpful, as President Obama implicitly acknowledged during his visit to Canada, is a polarizing debate that brands some fuel sources as bad and others as good. When asked whether oil from the Canadian oil sands should be branded “dirty oil,” President Obama pointed out correctly that both countries have huge energy resources that are carbon-challenged—oil sands for Canada and coal for the U.S. To think that we can have energy security in North America without Canadian oil or American coal is unrealistic. As the President noted, what we need to do is reduce the carbon footprint of both so that we can draw on these resources for decades to come. And we have to achieve these objectives within the context of a tough economy, recognizing that recovery requires a healthy energy sector.
The Canadian oil and gas industry is up for this challenge. Canadian industry values its close ties to the United States, and takes pride in Canada’s tradition of high environmental standards.
The Canadian oil and gas industry promotes environmental protection, economic growth and energy security and rejects the view that these goals are mutually exclusive. Today, oil from the Canadian oil sands generates marginally higher carbon emissions on a full life-cycle basis (wells to wheels) than increasingly scarce light, sweet crude. However, oil sands emission rates are comparable, even favorable to those of Venezuelan or Mexican crude oil imports or to the large thermal oil production from my home state of California. The oil sands industry fully recognizes the challenge of carbon emissions, and technology is advancing on several fronts to reduce the environmental footprint of the oil sands. Already the carbon emissions for each barrel of oil sands produced are down 38 percent from 1990 levels—and industry is working hard to rapidly drive further improvement. For its part, the Province of Alberta is the only jurisdiction in North America already charging major emitters cold hard cash when they fail to achieve emission reduction targets.
On the economic front, the oil and gas industry generates economic activity and jobs across the continent. A recent independent study showed that approximately $100 billion in economic benefits from oil sands activity will be generated outside Canada by 2020. As Canada’s dominant trading partner, the U.S. will likely see the lion’s share of that job-generating economic activity.
Canada’s contribution to America’s energy security is clear: The world’s second-largest oil reserves are in the oil sands, which have the potential to provide well over 100 years of reliable, secure supply to the United States from a country that is our ally and friend and which keeps its contractual and environmental promises.
Our energy relationship also extends well beyond oil supply; 92 percent of U.S. imports of clean-burning natural gas come from Canada. Natural gas will play a key role in transitioning to a cleaner energy future, as will Canada’s world-leading uranium reserves.
During President Obama’s visit to Canada in February, his first foreign visit as President, energy was a key agenda item. The President and Prime Minister Harper agreed to launch a “Clean Energy Dialogue” to work towards stable, reliable and clean continental energy supply. This dialogue is a key step toward ensuring that the world’s largest energy relationship continues to deliver the energy security America requires in an environmentally responsible manner. The Canadian oil and gas industry looks forward to participating fully in this critical process. A lot depends on the outcome.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Yahoo
Post new comment