Fuel Quality Directive Update, FAQ and actions!

Tomorrow the European Union will vote on a key piece of climate legislation the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD).  The FQD could ensure that tar sands are strongly discouraged from entering the EU because of their high carbon-intensity. However, aggressive lobbying from the Canadian government and oil companies is aiming to block this move.

The EU Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) aims to encourage the use of low carbon transport fuels and discourage the use of high-emission crude oil and reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions from road transport by 6% before 2020. A recent independent study carried out by Stanford University for the European Commission concluded that oil from tar sands leads to 23% higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude oil.

Unsurprisingly, the Canadian government, with the support of European oil companies, has been lobbying hard to prevent the EU discriminating between conventional oil and tar sands. Canada began by trying to call the science into disrepute, by insisting tar sands oil is no more polluting than conventional oil, and invoking the spectre of legal challenges for unfair discrimination under CETA and the WTO.

Currently the UK is supporting the Canadian position, and lobbying other member states to agree to an ‘alternative methodology’ which would not only further delay the process, but would be less effective at reducing imports tar sands into Europe.

Lush got very sticky and called on the UK to stop its indecent relationship with Canada by stalling the  FQD by staging an Oil-Orgy in the streets of Oxford. There have also been actions at the Liberal Democrat HQ by the  LSX Occupy: Energy, Equity and Environment Group and People and Planet were at Nick Clegg’s office.

It would be tragic if we allowed our own government to stand in the way of progressive climate legislation that would genuinely scupper the expansion of an industry which is devastating ecosystems, killing communities and contributing to climate change. We need a majority to pass the legislation tomorrow, so we need a last push on the UK to support the directive.

What can you do?

  • Take a moment to sign an online action

Avaaz – UK: 24 hours to stop Tar Sands

People and Planet – Send a letter to Nick Clegg asking him to support the Fuel Quality Directive!

  • Keep tuned! Visit us here tomorrow for updates about the outcome of the vote.

 

Further Information

FQD FAQ – Briefing from the  Pembina Institute

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through transportation fuel policy

Canada threatens trade war with EU over tar sands

CBC interview http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/02/22/european-union-on-oil-sands/

 

 

Olympics slammed over BP sponsorship

Dear Brilliant People,

Did you know BP is ‘Sustainability Partner’ of the London 2012 Olympics?! It’s Beyond Parody. Now that we’ve recovered from the shock (which took a while) we’ve joined with a large posse of amazing folk to express our outrage. It’s in today’s Guardian! More below.

Meanwhile, two of the current biggest tar sands battles in the world have had a rollercoaster week. US Senators are trying to resurrect the Keystone XL pipeline, which President Obama rejected only a couple of weeks ago, so our friends across the pond mobilised 800,000 signatures against this in just 24 hours. Incredible!

But it doesn’t stop there. The EU is finally going to vote on whether to put tar sands into the Fuel Quality Directive. Next week. More on that below including a really important action you can take.

  1. Olympics slammed over BP sponsorship
  2. Stop the oil orgy! EU vote next week
  3. International Stop the Tar Sands Day
  4. Thank you!!

Love not shady sponsorship deals,

Jess, Sue and Emily

 

1. Olympics slammed over BP sponsorship
Today, we sent an open letter to the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics, raising a wide range of concerns about BP’s sponsorship. We’re really excited about how many others signed the letter along with us – NGOs, indigenous organisations, Gulf Coast residents, academics, activists, even a London Assembly member!

So the gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down. How will the Olympic organisers respond? We’ll keep you posted…

2. Stop the oil orgy! EU vote next week
On February 23rd (next week!) the Fuel Quality Directive will finally be voted on in the European Union. Canada has been engaged in an unprecedented lobby blitz to undermine the Directive, and put the interests of Big Oil ahead of effective climate policy. And they have persuaded the UK to take their side. So on Valentine’s Day, Oxford shoppers were treated to a sultry and sticky ‘oil orgy’ street performance  to protest this inappropriate and seedy relationship. Massive props to the Lush crew for giving it their all.

The vote next week really could go either way, so please put pressure on Nick Clegg and Norman Baker to stop sabotaging the EU’s attempts to label tar sands as dirty fuel, with this e-action from People & Planet.

Also, our original ‘oil orgy’ at the Canada-Europe Energy Roundtable last autumn got another airing last night – in a documentary put together by Leah Borromeo on Channel 4′s Random Acts!

3. International Stop the Tar Sands Day
Last International Stop the Tar Sands Day (ISTSD) saw over 50 actions take place around the world, with London folk putting on a colourful spectacle outside the Canadian High Commission. This year the day has been announced for May 5th, and the UK branch of ISTSD needs a new coordinator, which could be you – or you and a group of your friends. If you’re interested in helping make this event even bigger and better than last year, email stoptarsands@ymail.eu. You’ll have plenty of support from other organisers in the EU as well as us here at UKTSN. You can also keep up to date with plans in the ISTSD facebook group.

4. Thank you!!
At the end of last year we asked if people could throw a little cash our way and we were overwhelmed by your generosity! So a big thank you to everyone that has given us money – and also to all of those tirelessly lobbying, tweeting, turning up to actions and taking off their clothes for the cause.

Olympic organisers slammed over BP sponsorship

Environmental credentials of ‘sustainability’ partner labelled a ‘sick joke’

PRESS RELEASE: 17.2.2012

Today, an open letter [1] signed by a broad coalition of leading environmentalists, academics, politicians, campaigners, activists and representatives of devastated communities [2] has been sent to the organisers of London 2012, raising a series of concerns over BP’s sponsorship of the forthcoming Olympics.

The 34 signatories – which include representatives of Sierra Club US, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, as well as London Assembly member Jenny Jones and Nick Reeves OBE, Director of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management – have raised critical concerns over BP’s role as ‘Sustainability Partner’ [3]. The letter points out that given the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the company’s vast fossil fuel extraction activities around the globe, its recent entry into the highly-polluting tar sands and subsequent decision to close down its solar division, BP ‘is one of the least sustainable companies on earth’ and should not have been given such a prestigious environmental leadership role.

The letter comes in the wake of Meredith Alexander’s resignation from the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 – the Olympics’ eco-watchdog – over Dow’s sponsorship [4]. Addressed to the IOC, LOCOG and the Commission, it asks that the three organisations ‘reconsider the terms of the partnership with BP, and put in place a more stringent ethical sponsorship policy that is in line with Olympic principles and the Code of Ethics, that will prevent BP and similar companies basking in such undeserved glory in the future.’ It will be accompanied by a request for a meeting.

Jess Worth from the UK Tar Sands Network, which organised the initiative, said:

‘The choice of BP as Sustainability Partner for the London 2012 Olympics sounds like a sick joke, considering its record of environmental devastation around the world. There’s clearly an urgent need for the Olympics organisers to broaden their definition of ‘sustainability’ and start applying it to their choice of sponsor.’

The controversy surrounding BP’s Olympic sponsorship follows growing criticism from environmental and human rights groups over the company’s sponsorship of UK-based cultural institutions like Tate and the British Museum. At the end of 2011, more than 8,000 Tate members and visitors presented a petition to Tate at its Members’ AGM calling on the gallery to end its financial relationship with BP. [5]

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Jess Worth, UK Tar Sands Network, info@no-tar-sands.org
Kevin Smith, Platform, kevin@platformlondon.org

1. The letter can be found at http://www.no-tar-sands.org/campaigns/british-petroleum-bp/bps-sponsorship-of-london-2012-oilympics/letter/
2. The full list of signatories is: Tom Antebi, Counter Olympics Network; Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians; Liam Barrington-Bush, People & Planet; Craig Bennett, Director of Policy & Campaigns, Friends of the Earth; Carbon Trade Watch; Sam Chase, Art Not Oil; Julian Cheyne, Games Monitor; Danny Chivers, author of The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change; Tony Clarke, Director, Polaris Institute; Mark Gee, criminology consultant and writer; Tom B. K. Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network; Hannah Griffiths, Head of Policy and Campaigns, World Development Movement; Siobhan Grimes, Climate Rush; Jenny Jones, London Assembly Member; Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Greenpeace Canada; The Liberate Tate collective; Michael Marx, Beyond Oil Director, Sierra Club US; Winnie Overbeek, World Rainforest Movement; Occupy LSX Energy, Equity & Environment Working Group; Robert Palgrave, Biofuelwatch; Nick Reeves OBE, Executive Director, The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM); John Sauven, Director, Greenpeace UK; Dr Debra Benita Shaw, Senior Lecturer, Cultural Studies, University of East London; Andrew Simms, author of Eminent Corporations and Fellow of New Economics Foundation ; Kevin Smith, Platform; Richard Solly, London Mining Network; Jasmine Thomas, member of Saik’uz First Nation (affiliated with the Yinka Dene Alliance); Steve Tombs, Professor of Sociology, John Moores University; Dr Julie Uldam, Postdoctoral Researcher, London School of Economics and Political Science; Stewart Wallis, Director, New Economics Foundation; Diane Wilson, shrimper from the Gulf Coast and member of Calhoun County Resource Watch; Jess Worth, co-founder, UK Tar Sands Network ; Murray Worthy, War on Want; Kenny Young, founder, Artists Project Earth
3. For more information see http://www.bplondon2012.com/
4. See ‘Why I resigned over Bhopal’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/26/why-meredith-alexander-resigned-bhopal-olympic
5. See ‘Not If But When: Culture Beyond Oil’: http://blog.platformlondon.org/2011/11/27/read-online-now-not-if-but-when-culture-beyond-oil/

VALENTINES’ OIL ORGY ERUPTS IN CORNMARKET STREET

Oxford shop calls for the UK to end its ‘love affair’ with Canadian Tar Sands oil

On Tuesday 14th February, at 1.30pm, staff from Lush Oxford marked Valentines Day by leaving their tills to stage an ‘oil orgy’. Their high-street orgy  highlighted the UK Government’s refusal to support legislation that would label tar sands oil as highly polluting [1]. James, Lush Oxford’s trainee manager,  stripped down to Union Jack boxers and Hannah, a member of Lush Oxford’s staff wore maple leaf under-wear. They  covered each other with oil while kissing and groping to provoke public interest and anger at the UK and Canadian governments’ oil orgy [2].

“Almost one year ago we launched a campaign to keep Tar Sands oil out of the EU.  This Valentine’s day we’re picking up the pressure because a seedy relationship has developed between the UK and Canadian governments. In just nine days the UK government will refuse to support key EU legislation, which would limit Canadian tar sands oil in transport fuel across Europe. We’re here, kissing half-naked on Cornmarket Street, because it’s time to stop the oil orgy!” said James, Lush Oxford’s trainee manager.

The UK Tar Sands Network, who support Lush Oxford’s campaign, said: ‘The UK and Canadian governments’ illicit relationship is inappropriate, to say the least. The UK has become Canada’s henchman, promoting the highly polluting tar sands industry and blocking European action on climate change. To claim to be the greenest government ever is laughable when it reality it’s prioritising oil profits before environmental action.’

E-ACTION – http://peopleandplanet.org/tarsands/takeaction/eu-ban

For more information, interviews and photos please contact Lush Oxford – 01865 244 826

Notes

[1] Norman Baker MP opposes inclusion of tar sands oil http://gu.com/p/32ctn/tw
[2] UK and Canada’s secret relationship: http://gu.com/p/33ke6/tw

 

 

More pictures up here 

 

 

 

 

 

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Calling all Foreign Radicals!

Dear Tar Troopers,

This week has seen an incredible wave of resistance from indigenous communities speaking out against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline in Canada. Leaked documents have shown that the Harper government is responding by fighting dirty, and is blaming ‘foreign radicals’ for the terrible reputation the tar sands has got. Are you a foreign radical? If so, we want you to get more involved in the UK Tar Sands Network! Find out more below…

  1. Enbridge hearings and Enemies of the State
  2. Spread the resistance: become a Tar-Free Town
  3. Join our team!
  4. Solidarity action with the Beaver Lake Cree

See you on the frontlines,

Sue, Emily & Jess

1. Enbridge hearings and Enemies of the State

Since Obama gave Harper the cold shoulder last week on plans to send tar sands oil to the Gulf of Mexico via the Keystone XL Pipeline, all eyes have been on British Columbia. Public hearings are currently taking place on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which will decide if tar sands oil will be pumped all the way through the vulnerable ecosystem of North-West Canada, then shipped in massive tankers across some of the roughest waters, to China. This monster project has united indigenous communities, local residents and environmentalists in opposition, and caused Joe Oliver, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, to come out all guns blazing, accusing ‘foreign radicals’ of interfering in the hearings.

Yesterday, leaked government documents revealed that the Canadian government has declared First Nations, green groups and local and European media as ‘enemies of the state‘. Despite all this intimidation, First Nations communities are standing strong. 61 indigenous nations have signed onto the Save the Fraser Declaration opposing the pipeline, and are voicing their concerns proud and clear at the hearings. Stay tuned for updates on twitter and facebook!

2. Spread the resistance: become a Tar-Free Town

Whilst the battle rages in Canada, we have an increasingly important part to play. The work we have been doing in the UK has been instrumental in drawing international attention to the devious deeds of the Canadian Petrocracy and to amplify the concerns of impacted communities. We want to continue to build this tar-free community of transatlantic solidarity. We are working with green groups, student groups and transition communities around the UK to become ‘Tar-Free Towns’. If you or your local group wants to help keep the tar monster from spreading and stand in solidarity with people resisting the world’s dirtiest fuel on the frontlines, contact us and get involved. To find out more take a look at our shiny Tar-Free Towns website, share it around, see what has already been happening and get inspired about what you can do! We would love to come and run a workshop with you so get in touch at info@no-tar-sands.org.

3. Join our team!

Back at the ranch, the UKTSN family is growing! We are looking for a volunteer to join our small but feisty team. If you’re really passionate about taking on big oil, working in solidarity with communities and pulling off creative, audacious interventions, we might be just what you’ve been looking for! If you know someone who might be interested, please share our ad with them and please fling it around your networks.

4. Solidarity action with the Beaver Lake Cree

On another front, the Beaver Lake Cree’s court case against the Canadian government for repeated infringements of their Treaty Rights has reached a crucial point. To coincide with a hearing at which the Canadian government will attempt to kill off the case, People & Planet will be throwing down some street theatre outside the Canadian High Commission on Monday 30th January @ 11am. If you want to play a part email tarsands@peopleandplanet.org or join them there on the day!

Do you want to help stop the world’s most destructive project?

UK Tar Sands Network is looking for a volunteer to join our small Oxford-based team. You would help us with a range of activities, including organising protests and campaign events, keeping our website and social media up to date, public education, outreach and network-building, and some day-to-day administrative tasks that help keep the show on the road.

So if you are committed to ending humanity’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels, believe in working in solidarity with frontline communities, have relevant skills and experience, and would enjoy working in an informal but hard-working atmosphere, sometimes dropping everything to rapidly respond to unfolding events on a shoe-string budget (though it’s often not as exciting as that), then please send us your CV with a covering letter detailing why you are the person we’re looking for.

Sadly, we cannot afford to pay you a proper wage (we’re working on that) but we can pay you expenses that will cover your travel and food costs, and in return you’ll get a wealth of experience in the campaigning field. We’d prefer it if you were in Oxford or London and could give us up to three days a week, but we’re open to suggestions.

If you’re interested please contact info@no-tar-sands.org with your CV and covering letter, by 13th February. Please be available for an interview in Oxford on 20th February.

To find out more about what we do, visit www.no-tar-sands.org

 

Huge Victory: Obama kills Keystone!

Dear pipeline-preventers,

Yesterday we got some momentous news. President Obama announced that he was rejecting the application for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline! This has thrown a huge spanner in the works of the tar sands industry’s expansion plans, and delayed the possibility of large-scale export of tar sands oil to Europe, giving us more time to stop it.

This announcement follows a year in which the climate movement in the US came to life and mobilised opposition the length and breadth of the country, in partnership with indigenous peoples and local communities who would be affected by the mammoth project. The action peaked in September when over 1200 people were arrested for a rolling blockade of the White House. The protests worked, and Obama delayed the pipeline approval process for a year in order to look more carefully at its many impacts. The Republicans then forced his hand, imposing a 60 day deadline on him to make the decision, which resulted in yesterday’s out-and-out rejection of the proposal.

Of course the battle isn’t over. It never is. Obama has left the way open for TransCanada to come back with a proposal for an alternative route. Meanwhile, the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline hearings are currently under way in Canada. However, we shouldn’t underestimate what a setback this is for the tar sands industry as a whole, and for pipeline-building in particular. Delays are costly and time-consuming, sap momentum and threaten the future viability of tar sands expansion. But far more importantly, people power has won an iconic battle against Big Oil and its political stooges. This can only strengthen our resolve to stop the world’s dirtiest oil whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head.

It has also, in the words of our friend George Poitras from the Mikisew Cree First Nation who live directly downstream from the tar sands, ‘given impacted, downstream communities a reprieve from out-of-control environmental  destruction of Canada’s boreal forest.’ The KXL, explains George, ‘would have increased tar sands development by close to 1 million barrels per day from the current near 1.5 million barrels per day of production… What US President Barack Obama also doesn’t  know is that today is the four year anniversary of the death of our youngest cancer victim. His Facebook memorial page is increasingly becoming swamped by young friends who continue to mourn his untimely death. He was 26 years old. He died of a soft tissue sarcoma cancer which is considered a very extremely rare and lethal cancer. What resonates today with President Obama’s denial is not the loss of the measly 20,000 jobs but rather the sustaining of a people, a culture, a way of life.’

So let’s take a moment to celebrate what could be a turning point in the epic story of the people vs the tar sands. We recommend watching this spine-tingling film of the rise of the anti-Keystone movement.

 

Yours cracking open the bubbly,

Jess, Sue and Emily

 

Just who gains from your plan, Mr Baker?

posted by Emily Coats

On Tuesday Norman Baker MP attended the parliamentary launch of a report proposing radical constitutional reform to protect future generations from today’s decision-makers. The report, by Rupert Read from think tank Green House, suggested creating a legislature, or jury, that would sit above the upper house, comprising randomly selected ‘Guardians’ to stand up for the rights of future generations.

Fitting, for a self-styled environmentalist concerned with climate change, to attend an event like this. For years Baker has immersed himself in the environmental movement, protested alongside Climate Campers, and built a green reputation in the Lib Dem party. But Baker’s most recent stubbornness is upsetting many former friends. Environmentalists are concerned that Baker’s position on the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) – European legislation set to reduce pollution from transport – contradicts vital attempts to stave off imports of tar sands oil. The tar sands industry holds no place in a sustainable future, but can be successfully reined in only if international markets start refusing it. Why then would Baker oppose the EU Commission’s proposal to give tar sands an immediate default carbon value in the FQD, which would restrict expansion of tar sands imports to Europe, and set a precedent for other markets to set similar legislation?

He has been asked this many times but on Tuesday I had occasion to ask him again.

Arriving late, probably straight from parliament, Mr Baker didn’t get beyond the doorway before I had cornered him and posed the question. The answer was predictable: by refusing to support the current proposal, and suggesting an alternative ‘compromise’, he claims he is doing ‘the best for the environment’. He apparently has no faith in the Commission’s recommended Review Clause, which would ensure that currently unknown default values for other crude sources be included as soon as data becomes available, latest by 2015. Of course it isn’t a zero-sum game, we can legislate against one thing now without thwarting future attempts to legislate against other things. But Baker doesn’t seem to see that we benefit hugely from restricting now, what needs restricting now. And, he reminded me in a hurried whisper, it’s Very Complicated.

Meanwhile, behind us, the event continued. Other attendees included Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas, and a representative from Polly Higgins’ Ecocide Campaign. Climate Rush also made an appearance. In fact, many people in the room would have killed for an opportunity to be able to stop tar sands entering Europe. But Baker continues to hold his ‘environmental’ line – a view not supported by any environmentalists I can name, but certainly held by the Canadian government, the oil industry, and our own Harper-friendly PM.

Hypothetically, Rupert Read’s proposed jury of ‘Guardians for future generations’ could have veto power over a decision like Baker’s. I bet they’d use it. Stopping tar sands expansion as soon as possible is a priority, for present as well as future generations.

There is sound science to support an immediate default tar sands value, and the EU Commission, along with fellow Lib Dems MEPs, the Lewes Green Party, myriad environmental groups, and Baker’s own constituents, have recommended it. Baker’s preferred plan, where tar sands have free reign for longer, cannot possibly represent the interests of the environment or those currently affected, let alone the interests of future generations. So just who, or what, is Baker trying to represent? The mystery lingers.

The next round of meetings for the the Fuel Quality Directive will take place on February 23rd.

Wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’…

Dear Tar Sands Troopers,

Since our last newsletter there has been an array of good, bad and confusing news. We’re waiting with bated breath the outcome of Keystone XL Pipeline and the EU Fuel Quality Directive – we will keep you updated as soon as news arrives.

It’s now coming to the end of a mammoth year of tar sands activism. Thanks to everyone who has helped fight the fight, be it by telling your neighbours about tar sands, withdrawing your funds from RBS, or putting your body in the way of the dominating powers. If you want a reminder of what we’ve been up to this year, have a look on our blog. Over the next few week we’ll still be on twitter and facebook so keep an eye out.

One more thing: tackling the tar monster costs money. With more help from our supporters we will be able to do bigger and better things: we are already planning our AGM attack strategy. We have just set up a new webpage with details of how to donate. The best Christmas present would be if people would set up regular donations, although one-off donations are much appreciated too. We don’t have a lot of dosh, and are experts at making the smallest amounts go a long way. If you’d rather offer your time, that would be equally amazing – just let us know.

The Good:
1. Shell faces legal challenge from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
2. Tar Sands and bananas don’t mix

The Bad:
3. Canada pulls out of Kyoto
4. BP confirms sponsorship of cultural institutions

The Confusing:
5. Keystone victory muddied
6. FQD vote delayed – more time to continue the battle

We hope you all have a well-deserved break and are ready for a lot more tar-sands-ass-kicking next year!
Emily and Sue

1. Shell faces legal challenge from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN)
On 30th November we served papers to Shell UK executives in solidarity with ACFN. The community is suing Shell for its failure to meet contractual agreements affecting ACFN traditional territory and Canada’s pristine Athabasca River. This action comes at significant risk to the community given that many are  employed by Shell and alternative means of employment are rare. The AFCN campaign not only seeks compensation  for the community, but to halt new Shell developments, undermining Shell’s tar sands portfolio and overall reputation. The assertion of Aboriginal treaty rights is a key opportunity to stop future tar sands developments, and from the UK we are providing as much support as we can for the community.

Keep up to date with the campaign on the community’s website and our new Shell campaign page.

2. Tar Sands and bananas don’t mix
Chiquita, a massive US banana company, has decided to stop using tar sands oil. We know this is a step in the right direction as it has put the wind up astroturf oil lobby front group ethicaloil.org who have started a new website calling for a boycott of the banana giant… A quick reminder, if you’d forgotten, TAR SANDS ARE NOT ETHICAL! Well done to Forest Ethics for their work on this case.

3. Canada pulls out of Kyoto
If the Durban climate talks weren’t depressing enough, Canada finished it off nicely with a smug withdrawal from any legally binding climate commitments under the next period of Kyoto. But there was some light-hearted relief at Durban when our friends from IEN gave delegates to the U.N. climate talks mock gift bags containing samples of fake tar sands along with tourism brochures for Canada and Canadian flags. And it does seem that the world is starting to wake up to Canada’s cover-up of the damage caused by tar sands.

4. BP confirms sponsorship of cultural institutions
More bad news came this week when BP confirmed another £10 million of funding for Britain’s leading arts institutions – with Tate Director Nicholas Serota claiming he’d “been thinking very hard” and “it was the right thing to continue with BP”.

However a hidden victory lies in just how contentious an issue oil sponsorship has now become, with the debate growing out of the fringes into the mainstream. BP’s sponsorship of the Olympics will become the major focus in coming months, with a coalition of groups challenging the hypocrisy of the climate tycoon’s fortuitous label as ‘Sustainability Partner’. We have begun dismantling their greenwash here and here. Art Not Oil is also coordinating a call-out for artistic responses to BP’s Olympic sponsorship.

5. Keystone victory muddied
In what was widely hailed as the environmental victory of the year, Obama decided to postpone the decision to build the Keystone XL pipeline until early 2013. But politics got in the way, with Obama deciding to sacrifice the Keystone delay to protect a tax-cut for low-to-middle-class Americans.

As the latest update from tarsandsaction.org explains:

“The Senate, with the White House’s consent, passed a payroll tax cut plan with a rider attached that would have forced a speedy review of Keystone. That sounds bad — except that administration spokesmen said quite bluntly that if they were forced to do a quick review they’d deny the permit.
That sounds good — except that now the Tea Party caucus in the House has decided they don’t want the payroll tax cut, and they do want the Senate to come back to DC for more talks, and…you get the drift. At least for the moment, Keystone is flotsam on the unchartable tides of DC politics.”

For now, there’s not a lot we can be doing, except wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’…

6. FQD vote delayed – more time to continue the battle
The Fuel Quality Directive – legislation that would strongly discourage tar sands from entering the UK – was meant to be voted on by member states on 5th December. For undisclosed reasons the vote was instead postponed until some time in February, giving both sides time to escalate their campaigns. The Canadian lobbying has continued with another Alberta minister heading here to promote tar sands, which we weren’t too happy about. On the other side, our friends at the Council of Canadians has been busy finding that despite their government’s whining, Canadians actually support the FQD!

In the UK, Norman Baker is still claiming to be an ‘environmentalist’ but refusing to support the current form of the FQD. Fellow Lib Dems Chris Davies MEP and Catherine Bearder MEP have been vocal in their criticism of Baker’s position. Anything you can do to keep the pressure on Baker is much appreciated, and of course we promise to keep you updated!

Call to end Canadian Lobbying of European Climate Policy

Monday 19th December – for immediate release

A coalition of organisations [1] is calling on the Canadian government to stop sending spokespeople to interfere in EU legislation. Alberta’s Minister of Intergovernmental, International and Aboriginal Relations Cal Dallas has travelled to France, Switzerland and now the United Kingdom [2] to repeat Canada’s arguments that the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) [3] discriminates against Canada’s tar sands. [4]

“Canadian tar sands are not getting attention in the EU because we want to discriminate against them or sabotage the Canadian economy,” said UK Tar Sands Network campaigner Suzanne Dhaliwal. “Canada is receiving this attention because of the unprecedented attempts to undermine democratic climate legislation, and the gravity of the environmental destruction and human rights violations taking place to extract tar sands in Canada.”

The tour was announced three days after an EU member state vote on the current draft of the FQD was postponed, giving the Canadian government another six weeks to try to convince European oil sympathisers that tar sands should not be given a separate value in the directive. [5]

Emily Coats, also from the UK Tar Sands Network, said, “A sensible way of reining in one of the world’s dirtiest industries is being scuppered by the interests of the oil industry and Canadian government. Just last week, Canada pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, severely tarnishing the government’s climate credentials. The Canadian government really isn’t where the UK should be turning for advice.”

Dallas’s trip is also focusing on “growing Alberta’s presence” in the European energy market. [6] Last week the minister participated in the World Trade Organization (WTO) policy meetings to discuss the “Doha Round” of negotiations, and today will meet the Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to discuss efforts to ‘promote Alberta in the UK’. [7]

“People are fed up by the ridiculous greenwash being spouted by these ministers,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, Tar Sands campaigner with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “The suggestion that tar sands could be considered ‘responsible energy production’ [8] is ludicrous. Tar sands exploitation is harming First Nations and local communities and accelerating us towards irreversible climate change. The UK government should be supporting the FQD and phasing out tar sands financing, not developing radical new trade avenues with Alberta.” [9]

Contact UK Tar Sands Network for further comments

[1] Organisations include: UK Tar Sands Network, Council of Canadians, The Indigenous Environmental Network and People and Planet.
 [2] http://www.alberta.ca//acn/201112/316601EC50941-9E6B-F2AA-8492049FEBA1EECC.html
[3] The FQD will reduce the EU’s emissions from transport by 6% by 2020 by assigning an average value of greenhouse gas intensity to each fuel type. The FQD in its current form, based on independent science and officially approved by the EU Commission, assigns tar sands with a higher average greenhouse gas value than conventional crude. It assigns even higher values to fuels such as oil shale and coal-to-liquid.
[4] See www.no-tar-sands.org/what-are-the-tar-sands
[5] This trip marks a long line of visits to the UK designed to label the legislation as ‘discriminatory’ and ‘unscientific’.http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/16/us-tarsands-idUSTRE7BF1DG20111216 Most recently, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was sent to LSE to give a public lecture pushing the future of tar sands and speaking out against the Fuel Quality Directive. See www.vancouversun.com/business/Minister+challenged+British+students+during+oilsands+tour/5581538/story.html See also http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/2011/FOEE_Report_Tar_Sands_Lobby_Final_July82011.pdf for more examples of lobbying.
[6]  In recent months the UK opened a trade office in Alberta and the UK Prime Minister David Cameron travelled to Canada to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper in September. See http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/keep-alberta-oil-off-your-hands-environmentalists-warn-british-pm/article2175933/
[7] http://www.alberta.ca//acn/201112/316601EC50941-9E6B-F2AA-8492049FEBA1EECC.html
[8] “Dallas will also meet with the Deputy High Commissioner of Canada and the Alberta United Kingdom Office to discuss Alberta’s commitment to responsible energy production.” See http://www.alberta.ca//acn/201112/316601EC50941-9E6B-F2AA-8492049FEBA1EECC.html
[9] The UK government’s position is currently aligned with Canada’s, with Norman Baker coming under fire from local, national, and international protesters to change his position. See http://www.no-tar-sands.org/2011/11/baker-targeted-by-constituents-for-blocking-climate-action/