Have greens got it wrong about tar sands?

David Strahan

8th December, 2009

For environmentalists, tar sands are a 'climate crime'; for peak oil experts, they can never do the job of ordinary crude. But neither critique tells the full story: that exploiting tar sands may worsen both the climate crisis, and the energy crisis...

As negotiators gather in Copenhagen, the tar sands are widely seen as climate-enemy No 1. With their 400 tonne dumper trucks and toxic tailing ponds, the open-cast bitumen mines of Alberta are the very symbol of climate catastrophe. So you can hardly blame protestors for their choice of whipping boy.

But some of the criticism is misguided. In a typical attack, a First Nations campaigner visiting the climate camp in London last summer declared: 'Tar Sands produce three times as much CO2 per barrel as conventional oil. There's enough under the ground to push us over the edge into runaway climate change'.

One of those statements is moot, the other misleading, and ironically, by taking this approach, environmentalists risk boosting the prospects of the oil they most love to hate.

Sticky business

There’s no doubt that fuel made from tar sands produces more CO2 than those made from conventional crudes – but not three times more, about 20 per cent more on average according to the International Energy Agency. The confusion is between upstream and lifecycle emissions.

Turning solid, sticky bitumen into something resembling crude oil involves quite...

To view the rest of this article - you must be a paying subscriber and Login