Secretary Chu Supports Exploitation of Canadian Tar Sands
June 2nd, 2009Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.
Yet another indication that our future will continue to be fossil fueled:
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday he believes technology can solve environmental problems associated with Canada’s oil sands and that the huge nearby resource contributes to U.S. energy security.
Chu told the Reuters Global Energy Summit that the balance between the environmental impact from the huge energy resource in northern Alberta and its importance to U.S. energy supply is a complicated one that will require solutions from the industry.
Environmental groups have mounted major campaigns to get the message out to Americans that the expansion of Canada’s oil sands industry threatens to intensify global warming, deforestation and damage to water resources.
“It’s a complicated issue, because certainly Canada is a close and trusted neighbor and the oil from Canada has all sorts of good things. But there is this environmental concern, so I think we’re going to have to work our way through that,” he said. “But I’m a big believer in technology.”
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Accessing and processing tar sands is incomparably worse for the environment than drilling in an arctic wildlife refuge or in coastal waters. I fail to see how you can separate Obama from Bush on the environment.