European Union fuel guidelines may give OK to oilsands crude: documents

Environmental groups are concerned that lobbying by the Canadian government may have persuaded the European Union to backtrack on a proposed fuel policy that would have targeted Alberta's oilsands.

"Canada seems to have been lobbying hard and they may have succeeded," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defence Council in Washington, D.C.

She was referring to talks that are taking place among the 27-nation EU trading bloc with respect to fuel standards. The EU is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the use of low-carbon fuels.

Last fall, the EU released draft guidelines that distinguished between the carbon footprint of fuels derived from the oilsands and those that come from conventional crude. That distinction would have allowed regulators to penalize users of oilsands-derived fuel or reward those who didn't.

But that distinction has been erased in the most recent draft of regulations. According to an EU discussion paper obtained by The Canadian Press, the lower greenhouse gas emissions figure would be used for oil no matter what its source.

Additional Excerpt:

Environmentalists argue that oilsands crude releases about three times as much carbon dioxide as conventional crude when the difference between extracting and refining the two fuels is measured.

Between 75 and 80 per cent of the carbon in any barrel of oil is released when it is used.

Groups such as the Sierra Club promise to fight the draft guidelines and get the distinction for oilsands crude reinstated.

"The powerful oil lobby has the Canadian government doing its dirty work again," said Sierra Club head John Bennett. "It is bad enough that our government has absolutely no policies on climate change or to curb pollution, but now they are interfering in foreign governments' environmental policies."