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Canadian minister pitches Keystone XL, oil sands monitoring to US
News Articles Featured | Platts | July 29, 2011
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After meeting with US officials, Canada’s natural resources chief made the case Friday for approval of the TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline and said the country would develop its vast oil sands in an environmentally sustainable way.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver told reporters that he discussed the controversial $7 billion pipeline project with White House officials, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Republican Representatives Doc Hastings of Washington and Ed Whitfield of Kentucky.
Oliver said Keystone XL stands to send 30 million barrels to the US every two months, the same amount the US just pulled from its emergency stockpiles to respond to the shortfall in Libyan crude.
“We remain optimistic that the government understands that this is a very important project for the United States to provide secure energy from a reliable friend and partner,” Oliver said at the Canadian embassy in Washington. “It will generate a huge amount of economic activity and a large number of high-quality union jobs, construction jobs in the short term and many more jobs moving forward.
“And that we have been dealing with the environmental issues in the most responsible way possible. It’s clearly a win-win for both countries, and I remain optimistic.”
The 1,660-mile pipeline would run from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, hook up with the original Keystone pipeline, then continue through Cushing, Oklahoma, and onto the Gulf Coast.
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday easily approved a bill to force the Obama administration to act on the application by November 1. The State Department promised to issue its final environmental impact statement in mid-August, then approve or deny the project by the end of the year.
Oliver’s visit came a week after Canada announced a C$50 million ($53 million) regime to monitor the potential harm from oil sands production on water, air, plants and animals.
He said the Alberta fields account for 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and he compared their per-barrel pollution to that of heavy oil produced in California and Saudi Arabia.
“In absolute terms, total oil sand emissions are equivalent to emissions from coal-fired electricity generation in Wisconsin,” he added.
Oliver said future regulations would push producers to make the process cleaner, for instance, by requiring them to recycle 90% of water and use an average of no more than one barrel of water to produce one barrel of oil.
“The government of Canada is working closely with industry on responsible development of this resource,” he said. “For example, land is being restored to its original state by legal requirement ensuring that oil sands are environmentally sustainable over the long term.”
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, joe oliver
