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Alberta committed to ‘greener’ oil: Stelmach
News Articles | Global TV | January 20, 2011
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EDMONTON — Premier Ed Stelmach opened an oilsands conference Wednesday with a speech about Alberta’s commitment to producing green, ethical oil.
More than 300 King’s University College students turned out to hear his keynote address at the school’s Oil Things Considered conference, a two-day debate whose featured speakers include Stelmach, federal NDP MP Linda Duncan and Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent.
“We are already seeing enormous progress being made toward a greener barrel,” Stelmach said. “I’ve been clear that we need to see more progress being made.”
The speech was Stelmach’s first public appearance since before Christmas. He refused to stop to speak with reporters and instead referred questions to his communications staff.
In his speech, Stelmach said rhetoric that reduces the debate over the oilsands to simple slogans “does us all an injustice.”
“They ignore some basic facts that we, as responsible citizens of the world, cannot ignore. The first is that we need energy.
“Let’s be clear; all the energy we use is extracted from the environment one way or another. Whether that energy comes from a mine, a pump jack, the diversion of rivers and flooding of land or the splitting of the atomic building blocks of nature, all forms of energy leave a footprint on the Earth.”
He said even wind power must be transmitted long distances.
“The oilsands are not the demon they are sometimes made out to be,” he said, explaining that “the life cycle carbon emissions” of oil from Iraq, Venezuela and Nigeria “are in the same ballpark as oilsands.”
“Can anyone say those nations take their environmental and social obligations as seriously as Alberta does?”
Stelmach told the students the economic benefits of resource development for both the province and the country are “absolutely clear.”
“They flow from a place of freedom and opportunity with a culture of entrepreneurial self-reliance dating back to the pioneers who came to this land to create a better future for their children,” he said.
“The connection to the land as the source of our livelihood and hope runs deep through Alberta’s culture. So does the commitment to protect our land, air and water.”
Tagged with: alberta, canada, ed stelmach, ethical oil
