The UK and tar sands fuel

Why won’t the UK Government support the EU ban on tar sands fuel…?

A bill currently being introduced in the EU which would effectively ban tar sands fuel – the world’s most environmentally damaging transport oil – is being opposed by the UK. Instead of following its pledges (and as an EU state, legal obligation) to reduce carbon emissions by 2020, the Coalition Government seems bent on aligning itself with the oil industry and the Canadian government (who stand to make the most profit from tar sands fuel), and wants to remove any reference to tar sands fuel from the EU bill.

Campaigners are due to meet with Transport Minister Norman Baker tomorrow. Please sign the Avaaz petition and put pressure on the UK Government not to block this law:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/crude_politics/?vl

To quote Avaaz.org:

‘Tar sands fuel is nasty stuff. Oil companies destroy and degrade millions of acres of pristine Canadian forest and displace indigenous communities just to reach the unrefined bitumen. Refining it spreads cancerous heavy metals and sulphur through the air and leaves a barren, toxic landscape. The US Environmental Protection Agency says refining tar sands causes at least 82% more carbon pollution than refining conventional oil.’

See the recent feature by Terry Macalister in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/30/uk-undermining-tar-sands-ban

US Environmental Protection Agency review of tar sands impact http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElement (pdf)

Who said the Coalition Government had green credentials…?