Chu and tar sands - June 03, 2009
US energy secretary Steven Chu hasn’t ruled out the use of tar sands as an energy source, which has delighted Canadian oil producers.
Chu’s comments came at a Reuters energy summit . His message was that the tar sands issue (see here for some background, subscription required) is complicated, but hinted that he thinks technological advances might help to bring down the energy costs for extracting oil from the tar sands.
“It's a complicated issue, because certainly Canada is a close and trusted neighbor and the oil from Canada has all sorts of good things. But there is this environmental concern, so I think we're going to have to work our way through that," Chu said. "But I'm a big believer in technology."
Comments
Tar sands beneficiation is fired by purely huge consumption of natural gas. If it weren't a fraud it would power itself with its own hydrocarbon output. Fuel ethanol is similarly criminal.
Posted by: Uncle Al | June 3, 2009 06:51 PM
Let's hope this is just a case of the real balancing act he's doing to get people onside for fundamental change, not a watering down of his principles. We met him briefly last week and had a few words with for the RSA Arts & Ecology webstite which give a slight insight into how he's navigating the compromises.
Posted by: William Shaw | June 5, 2009 12:49 PM