Canada: Pipeline aimed at oil sands raises green ire

The federal government should prevent the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline from providing fuel for oil sands production because of global warming issues, several environmental groups argued at a regulatory hearing yesterday in Edmonton.

The amount of natural gas needed to power the oil sands could double by 2015, according the National Energy Board. The additional gas required in the oil sands is roughly the volume expected to move down the Mackenzie pipeline, a 1,200-kilometre link that would connect the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories with northern Alberta.
“Why shouldn’t the National Energy Board set some rules about contracts of the end-use of Mackenzie gas?” Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an interview. “Why not try to make this a green pipeline rather than just feeding Canada’s greenhouse gas emission by fuelling the tar sands?”

The issue has been raised before and has been dismissed by Mackenzie’s main backer, Imperial Oil Ltd., controlled by Exxon Mobil Corp., but the environmental groups yesterday highlighted a detailed map drawn up by TransCanada Corp., a gas pipeline company that is working on Mackenzie. The map, available on TransCanada’s website, shows proposed new links in Alberta to move Mackenzie gas to the oil sands.

Natural gas emits less carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas — than coal. Oil sands are already a major emitter of carbon dioxide and will become an even bigger source if aggressive development continues unabated.

The Sierra Club, alongside the Pembina Institute and others, wants to see the Mackenzie gas replace coal as fuel for existing power plants in Alberta, which are among the dirtiest industrial operations in Canada. Using gas in the oil sands has been derided for years as a bad idea, burning a clean hydrocarbon to convert raw bitumen into usable synthetic oil, an arduous process that produces large amounts of greenhouse gases.

Oil sands production is predicted to triple by 2015, greatly increasing emissions, though emissions per barrel are projected to fall. The environmental plan being prepared by the federal Conservative government is expected to focus on emissions per barrel, rather than absolute emissions, allowing the oil sands development to continue essentially unrestricted.

Globe and Mail