The Council and allies meet with von Reppert-Bismarck in Brussels.
Reuters reports that, “European Union governments may begin talks in the coming months on a proposal to promote greener fuels, potentially black-listing fuels whose production is more polluting, according to Europe’s climate chief. EU Climate Change Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said default emission values for fuel derived from tar sands and oil shale — widespread in Canada and Estonia — will be peer reviewed and included in the proposal.”
TAR SANDS: “European Union sources said last month that Canada threatened to pull out of trade talks if Europe blacklisted tar sands, but Ottawa has denied that.”
OIL SHALE: “The inclusion of default values for shale oil — whose use EU member state Estonia has been promoting — may help to head off any complaint by Canada to the World Trade Organization that the green fuel norms discriminate against it.” In Canada, 19 deposits of oil shale have been identified, primarily in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Oil shale is rock that contains kerogen, from which liquid hydrocarbons can be extracted. Shale oil extraction can use between one and five barrels of water for each barrel of shale oil produced, while the processing of it produces greenhouse gases and other air pollution.
The Reuters article was written by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, who the Council of Canadians has met with several times during its CETA interventions in Brussels.
