President Obama is in Canada today to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Energy and climate change discussions are expected to be on the agenda, which has brought tremendous scruitiny this week to Canada’s ongoing oil sands operations.
The Canadian province of Alberta has the largest reserves of oil outside Saudi Arabia, but processing the oil, which is mixed with sand, results in emissions three times greater than conventional oil.
However, there is pressure on Obama to embrace this supply of energy to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil from the Middle East.
How he approaches the issue is perhaps the first great environmental test of his young presidency.
"What we know is that oil sands creates a big carbon footprint. So the dilemma that Canada faces, the United States faces, and China and the entire world faces is how do we obtain the energy that we need to grow our economies in a way that is not rapidly accelerating climate change," Obama told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday.
Read Associated Press coverage at the link below.
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It’s probably not worth developing the tar sands. However, I might recommend that people live around it’s edges and burn the sands in their stoves, similar to the burning of peat in Europe. (just kidding).