Swann sets the record straight on Alberta’s oil sands in call to U.S. city councillor
Calgary – The city council of Bellingham, Washington recently voted to support a resolution targeting fuels derived from Alberta’s oil sands. Concerned that the Premier’s response has been inadequate and that attacks on the oil sands have been increasing, Official Opposition Leader David Swann spoke today to the city councillor who authored the resolution to defend Alberta’s energy industry and challenge the facts behind the initiative.
“Here we have a situation where a well-meaning and well-intentioned U.S. municipality is trying to do something positive for the environment. I get that,” says Swann. “The problem, however, is that they have chosen an easy and convenient target in the oil sands, and are making Alberta’s energy industry a scapegoat without acknowledging the facts.”
Swann notes that the technologies now being employed to extract Alberta bitumen are moving towards being the most sophisticated, least impactful, and cleanest in the world. Whether it’s the new dry tailings pond technology that’s just been unveiled by Suncor, or Petrobank’s new water saving Toe to Heel Air Injection (THAI) technology, people everywhere need to realize that the oft-used image of the oil sands as one large, dirty strip mining operation is largely outdated and unrepresentative of development taking place today.
Swann also questions the absurdity of singling out Alberta’s oil sands for condemnation when the alternative is often fuels produced from environmentally risky off shore drilling or politically unstable parts of the world. “Why are fuels derived from the oil sands seemingly the ugly duckling in this bunch?” says Swann. “Considering the devastation that has occurred recently in the Gulf of Mexico, it strikes me that U.S. jurisdictions like Bellingham should be looking more to Alberta’s oil sands as a stable, secure source of energy rather than vilifying it.”
Swann is challenging the Premier to do much more to defend Alberta’s oil sands against such attacks. “I’ve done my part. Now it’s time for the Premier to do his.”
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