Canada is eager to expand cooperation with the U.S. on environmental standards for oil and natural gas and to work toward a global climate agreement, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said.
“A continental approach is the surest way to improve our environmental performance while enhancing our energy security and economic prosperity,” Rickford said in the text of a speech he’s giving at the Bloomberg Future of Energy Summit in New York Tuesday. “But both our countries understand that real success hinges on global efforts.”
Canada’s plans to increase energy exports through projects such as TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. have been slowed in part by questions about Canada’s environmental record. Rickford said there has been a longstanding record of cooperation with the U.S. on energy matters and outlined steps Canada has taken to control greenhouse-gas emissions, including a ban on new coal plants.
“While some people like to cite our oil sands as a source of GHG emissions, there are no fewer than eight American states whose coal-fired power plants produce more emissions than all of the oil sands combined,” Rickford said.
The per-barrel emissions from bitumen deposits concentrated in Alberta have fallen by 28 percent since 1990, Rickford said.
Pipelines like Keystone can ease U.S. reliance on oil from less stable nations, he said.
“Ultimately, what the Keystone XL pipeline will do is ensure U.S. refineries have access to a secure, reliable supply from Canada, North Dakota and Montana,” Rickford said.
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