- October 16, 2013
- 3 Comments
- EU Legislation, Latest Updates, Uncategorized
Some advice for the new minister for tar sands
Last week, there was a government reshuffle, and the minister responsible for the UK’s position on the EU Fuel Quality Directive changed. Gone was Norman Baker, with whom we had had two frustratingly unproductive meetings in recent weeks. Now the task lies with the Lib Dems’ new Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer. The change in personnel comes at a make-or-break-moment. Either the FQD will soon be implemented, sending a hugely important message that there is no place for dirty tar sands oil in Europe’s fuel mix, or the whole process will collapse under the influence of strong-arm tactics from the Canadians and wavering commitment to genuine emissions reductions from Commissioners and EU member states. It really could go […]
Read More…UK complicit in Canadian government’s Dirty Diplomacy
March, 8th 2012 Secret government documents reveal that the UK is implicated in a major, multimillion dollar push by the Canadian government to promote tar sands internationally, and undermine key EU and US climate legislation. The revelations come in a report released by Climate Action Network [1], the day after hundreds of people gathered outside more than 20 Canadian diplomatic missions across the world to voice concern about the Canadian government’s aggressive foreign policy to further the interests of the tar sands industry. The documents [2], acquired through freedom of information requests, reveal that the UK government is described by the Canadians as a ‘team leader’ in their Pan European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy, aimed at stopping the EU from […]
Read More…Fuel Quality Directive Update, FAQ and actions!
Press Statement: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 UK Tar Sands Network response to Fuel Quality Directive vote Valentine’s oil orgy from Starfish on Vimeo. The European Union has reached a stalemate today in a vote to decide if tar sands oil is to be labeled as highly polluting. There were 89 votes for the proposal and 128 votes against. There were 128 abstentions including the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. “We welcome the decision of the UK government to abstain from voting against the Fuel Quality Directive after concerted public pressure. We would now like to see the UK government offer support for the directive in the upcoming months as the vote goes to the Environment Committee in June.” said Suzanne […]
Read More…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 […]
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