The U.S. Conference on Mayors continued its leadership on important energy and environmental issues at it Miami meeting last week, by adopting a resolution to avoid carbon-intensive fossil fuels such as tar sands, liquid coal and oil shale.
The resolution calls for purchasing standards and guidelines to be used by mayors to understand the full lifecycle emissions of various fuels.
"Tar sands oil emits up to three times the greenhouse gases in the production process per barrel as conventional oil production," said Eugene Oregon Mayor Kitty Piercy, who submitted the resolution.
Tar sands, like the ones currently being processed in Alberta, Canada, contain a low grade crude oil. Extraction and conversion of this oil into a useable form requires large amounts of water and energy and emits vast amounts of greenhouse gases.
Huge deposits of tar sands are found in other countries as well, including the U.S. and Russia. The supply of oil in these fields is vast, surpassing the world’s total reserves of conventional crude oil. However, the environmental cost of extracting and using this low-grade fuel would be catastrophic, all but ensuring the most severe effects of global warming.
The conference also adopted numerous other resolutions supporting energy conservation, renewable energy tax incentives, and climate change adaption and vulnerability assessments.
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama spoke at the meeting, saying he would create a $60 billion fund for developing clean energy in the U.S. He also said he would work with the mayors to improve transit systems across the U.S. and create tax incentives for commuters to use the systems rather than driving to work.
Loading...