Fort McMurray, Alberta - Suncor's failure to take on voluntary greenhouse gas reduction targets means the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) must impose stringent conditions on any approval of the company's planned project expansion, the Oilsands Environmental Coalition will argue in a presentation to the Board's review panel today.
Suncor's Voyageur/Steepbank project, currently under review by the Board, is projected to increase Suncor's greenhouse gas emissions by 73% by 2020. Oilsands development is the single largest contributor to growth in Canada's emissions, accounting for up to 47 per cent of the projected increase in national greenhouse gas pollution between 2003 and 2010.
Under cross-examination this week, company executives confirmed that their proposed project will significantly increase Suncor's total greenhouse gas emissions as well as emissions per barrel of oil produced, but declined to take on a voluntary target to offset or capture any of the new emissions the Voyageur/Steepbank project will produce.
At present, there is no clear prospect of federal or provincial regulations limiting the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that heavy industry can emit. A recent Pembina Institute poll found that 86 per cent of Albertans agree with the statement that oilsands producers "should be required to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for climate change."
"Suncor has declined to commit to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with this project, and the federal government has failed to put in place regulations to control the rapid growth in those emissions," said Marlo Raynolds, Executive Director of the Pembina Institute. "The EUB must not approve this project without stringent conditions that ensure actions to minimize greenhouse gas emissions."
Calculations done by the Oilsands Environmental Coalition (OSEC) show that oilsands producers have the capacity to become "carbon neutral" (reduce their net emissions to zero) by 2020 at the cost of just a few dollars per barrel.
"This project gives the EUB a wonderful opportunity to show environmental leadership by limiting greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from the Voyageur project," said Chris Severson-Baker, Director of the Energy Watch Program of the Pembina Institute. "We are also very concerned about rising air pollution levels in the region and the loss of wetlands and boreal forest that this expansion of the oilsands would cause."
The Oilsands Environmental Coalition (OSEC) is a coalition of Alberta public interest groups with a longstanding interest in the Athabasca oilsands. OSEC has intervened in the Voyageur/Steepbank project panel hearings to ask that the EUB deny approval of this project, citing serious concerns about the impact on air quality, wildlife and climate change that would result if the project goes ahead without conditions.
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For more information contact:
Chris Severson-Baker, The Pembina Institute
Cell: 403-899-7423
Marlo Raynolds, The Pembina Institute
Cell: 403-607-9427
Myles Kitagawa, Toxics Watch Society of Alberta
Cell: 780-907-1231
