CEP Blogs

If you saw the excellent CBC documentary that aired March 13 “Tar Sands, The Selling of Alberta” you may well wonder why it is that we have so much difficulty convincing the National Energy Board or anyone of influence in the federal government that it is folly to massively increase oil sands production on the basis of exporting bitumen.

The theme of the documentary was summed up in a comment by Parkland Institute Research Director Diana Gibson who pointed out that an energy colony of the United States is hardly the energy superpower that Stephen Harper proclaims.

CEP has submitted an appeal to the federal cabinet over the Keystone Pipeline decision. If you are interested in these issues, it is a must-read document that sets out the case of why Canada should get a grip over oil and gas energy policy. You can download the document from CEP blog site.

Readers of this column have by now seen the reports of the National Energy Board decision to approve the Keystone pipeline. CEP has received extensive media coverage of its opposition, including its call on the federal cabinet to not approve the NEB decision and instead have the issues of energy security and value added jobs reviewed by a parliamentary committee. The NEB decision itself is a 115 page, well crafted document that avoids past errors of dismissing all critical arguments.

While Stephen Harper, George Bush, Felipe Calderon and the CEOs from the NA Competitiveness Council hung out at the “jellybean summit” (as Maude Barlow has coined it), I was spending my time with Mexican and American electricity and oil workers who have every reason to believe that there is much more at stake here than jellybeans.

This week I had a rare opportunity to have a public discourse with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). I was at the National Energy Board hearings into Enbridge’s Southern Lights application and was present on Tuesday (August 14) to answer questions about CEP’s evidence. I had no idea that CAPP’s counsel, Nick Shultz, would take us through a wide ranging philosophical debate over government’s role in the economy, free trade and the National Energy Program.

There is a fundamental question in Canada‘s tar sands debates: how fast and hard should expansion go? Bitumen producers and pipeline companies point to a tripling of production to 3 million barrels per day (bll/d) by 2015. Unless we have pipelines in place such as Keystone, the Alberta Clipper and Gateway, the result will be “shut-in” oil. In market terms that could mean more bitumen for sale than can be practically shipped resulting in a lower price. According to the industry, that is a matter of public interest that Canada’s National Energy Board cannot allow to take place.

First some breaking technology news – some of our loyal but beleaguered readers have noted that we have been posting less than a blog because of the lack of capacity for readers to comment. Beginning next week, this will be corrected and we invite your comments on this blog and all previous postings. I look forward to your views and critical comments. If you are receiving this on a list or from a friend, you can post your comments at www.cep.ca. Follow the Keystone link off the front page.

An “Alberta Clipper” is an intense low pressure system that moves swiftly from the Rocky Mountain foothills diagonally into the US central and mid-west. There are all kinds of legends and stories about the winds and dry snow that the clipper carries across the border.

A daily news update on the National Energy Board hearings into the Keystone Pipeline proposal -- plans by TransCanada Pipelines to export 500,000 barrels of raw bitumen a day from Alberta’s tar sands to the mid-west United States.

By Fred Wilson

A daily news update on the National Energy Board hearings into the Keystone Pipeline proposal -- plans by TransCanada Pipelines to export 500,000 barrels of raw bitumen a day from Alberta’s tar sands to the mid-west United States.