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Oil and gas expansion
Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale recently announced the Liberal government will support substantial expansion of Alberta's oil and gas exports to feed the endless U.S. appetite for fossil fuels. This is in spite of Canada’s pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s a glaring contradiction – how can Canada increase the volume of oil and gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time? Instead of expanding the oil and gas supply, Canada should be emphasizing energy efficiency and expanding renewable power sources.
It's time for new energy approaches that minimize environmental and climate damage, rather than deepen our dependence on increasingly expensive oil and gas. Boosting our oil and gas production to meet U.S. demands will cause our greenhouse gas emissions to rise and worsen climate change.
One new oil sands plant, with a capacity of producing 150,000 barrels of oil per day, is equal to putting another 1.35 million cars on the road.
In 1997, the “upstream” oil and gas industry was responsible for over 15 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions (this does not include the combustion of these fuels). In fact, this sector has seen emissions grow by 18 per cent since 1990.
Find out more about Canada's role in expanding oil and gas production for the US market in our report