September, 09 2013, 01:56pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jake Thompson, 202-289-2387, jthompson@nrdc.org; or Elizabeth Heyd, 202-289-2424, eheyd@nrdc.org
NRDC: Canada's Tar Sands Expansion Would Make Climate Change Worse
Canada has no chance of hitting its international climate change targets, due to its unchecked expansion of tar sands production, the Natural Resources Defense Council said today.
The announcement comes as Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is in Washington to lobby American officials on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Following is a statement by Danielle Droitsch, senior attorney and director of NRDC's Canada project on Oliver's visit:
WASHINGTON
Canada has no chance of hitting its international climate change targets, due to its unchecked expansion of tar sands production, the Natural Resources Defense Council said today.
The announcement comes as Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is in Washington to lobby American officials on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Following is a statement by Danielle Droitsch, senior attorney and director of NRDC's Canada project on Oliver's visit:
"Canada is moving from environmental leader to climate change laggard because of its unbridled race to expand tar sands production. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline is a critical piece of that strategy. It needs to be denied. Another lobbying trip to Washington won't change that.
"While emissions in the United States are falling, Canada's moving North America the wrong direction with the tar sands industry's rapid rise in carbon emissions in Canada. The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will worsen carbon pollution. There is only one way the Obama administration can address the rising emissions from tar sands in Canada, and that is by rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and working with the Canadian government to cap tar sands production.
"The real climate solution is for the United States and Canada to cooperate on a clean energy partnership - the energy solutions of today and tomorrow. We cannot solve the problem of global warming by approving a tar sands pipeline that opens the spigot to expanding some of the dirtiest fuel on Earth."
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
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