WASHINGTON ? As the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline nears, Canadian governments have launched an intense if not desperate lobbying campaign in the United States designed to persuade influential American politicians and industrial leaders that the pipeline is vital for U.S. security and economic interests and is also an environmentally responsible energy source.
The goal is to counter the rising influence of environmental groups such as the prominent Sierra Club and 350.org, whose leaders have lobbied vigorously to try to kill the 1,800-kilometre pipeline that will transport oilsands bitumen from Alberta and shale oil from Montana and North Dakota to Texas refineries.
Environmentalists have succeeded in changing the debate from one of purely economic and energy security issues to the environment, forcing Canada to justify its record on boreal forest destruction and on greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions.
Joe Oliver, Canada?s natural resources minister, is in Chicago Tuesday and in Houston Wednesday, where he will speak to the IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates? annual conference.
In a conference call with reporters, Oliver said he also hopes to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama?s choice for energy minister, Ernest Moniz, after his confirmation.
Oliver dismissed the possibility that Canadian lobbying could become counter productive, claiming Canada has to ?put the facts out? and that its lobbying is a ?natural? part of the process.? He acknowledged that the game has changed in the U.S. and Canada has to argue the environmental aspects of the oilsands.
Obama will make the final decision on Keystone, which is not expected before the summer. By law he must base it on the broadly flexible idea of U.S. national interests.
Oliver also said Keystone and other planned pipelines are ?critically important? to the Canadian economy because current bottlenecks in North American oil pipeline deliveries caused by a lack of pipeline capacity has landlocked Canadian oil. This means Canada earns a lower price for its oil?? about $21.00 a barrel or $20 billion a year at current prices?? than it would otherwise get on international markets.
?We are losing an enormous amount of money to the Canadian economy from the price differential,? he conceded. ?And that?s why it is an over-arching object of our government to move our oil to tide water where it can attract international prices. We need a bigger market and we?re running out of pipeline capacity.?
Another Canadian leader expected in the U.S. this week is Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. He is visiting Washington Wednesday to Friday to meet with more than a dozen senators and representatives from both parties plus State Department officials, Wall?s aide Christy Cox said.
The visits follow trips to Washington last month by Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
Oliver?s first stop in his U.S. tour was Chicago, which is in Obama?s home state and a powerful Democrat power-base. In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, he outlined the economic advantages and environmental record of the oilsands.
?The development of new oil sands projects will generate more jobs in Illinois than any other state,? he said, adding ?570,000 person years of employment will be created over the next 25 years in Illinois.?
Oliver later met with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama?s former chief of staff and a close political ally. Oliver denied that he met Emanuel because he is a direct link to Obama. He said he wanted to meet with the mayor of Illinois?s most important city because the state has more to gain from the Keystone and the expansion of the oilsands than any other state in the union.
He said he wanted to convey to Emanuel that Canadian oil is not only a big job creator for the state, but also ?environmentally responsible.?
In his speech to Council on Global Affairs, he said he wanted? to correct the ?false information about the oilsands? spread by opponents of oilsands expansion and ?give you the unvarnished goods.?
He said the oilsands have attracted about $160 billion in investment because the are a ?free enterprise? opportunity in a world where 80 per cent of oil reserves are state controlled.
?That is why so many U.S. companies have invested heavily in the oilsands,? he said.
?America needs oil and Canada has an abundance of it,? he said. ?It only makes sense to work together toward our common goals of improving the environment, growing the economy and strengthening our common security.?
He said the oilsands ?are subject to some of the most stringent environmental regulations and monitoring in the world.?
He added that when it comes to GHG emissions, the oilsands crude traveling through the Keystone XL would represent ?less than one two-thousandths of global emissions.?
Keystone crude, he said, would simply replace heavy oil coming from Venezuela and Mexico.
?It would therefore have no discernible impact on global greenhouse gas emissions,? he said.
Oliver told reporters after the speech that Canada is targeting the oilsands with new GHG regulations but he said it was up to Canada?s environment minister Peter Kent to make the announcement on when these new regulations would come into effect or what they would be.
Towards the end of his speech, Oliver added a not-so-veiled warning that unless Keystone is built, Canada will continue to development pipelines that will bring its oil to ?new customers,? opening ?the door for Canadian crude to growing markets in Asia.?
Finally, he chastised environmental groups and ?movie stars? for turning the Keystone into a ?symbolic issue in their larger battle against the development of hydrocarbons and specifically the oilsands.?
?Keystone could enable a future that sees the U.S. virtually eliminate its reliance on less reliable and less environmentally responsible foreign sources,? he concluded. ?With Canada able to supply all of the U.S.?s future imported oil needs and the energy sector in the U.S. continually growing, together we can achieve North American energy independence by 2035.?
wmarsden@postmedia.com
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