From TheTyee.ca - Match 14, 2011

by Geoff Dembicki

In the hallways and offices of America's capital city, a war is being quietly waged out of view of most Canadians and Americans.

The outcome will decide North America's energy future and its impact on the planet's climate.

The tactics are all the high pressure persuasion and hard-ball politicking that tens of millions of dollars can buy -- many of those dollars contributed by Canadian taxpayers.

The war pits America's largest environmental groups against some of the world's wealthiest corporations and their "allies" in the Canadian and Albertan governments.

The battle line divides two viscerally opposed camps: Those arguing that North America's deepening dependence on Alberta's oil sands industry represents a pragmatic solution to looming energy crises, and those who say relying on oil sands crude marks an irreversible step closer to climate change catastrophe.

The prize, at end of the day, will be votes cast by politicians.

Will Washington's legislators pass laws that have the effect of opening the oil sands spigots wider, assuring that Alberta's bitumen crude increasingly, and permanently, flows into the U.S. market?

Or will they legislate against high carbon emissions fuel sources as a measure to reduce climate change? That could severely constrict the flow of oil sands' output into the U.S., dashing the profit dreams of corporations -- and some Canadian officials -- who have already bet hugely on providing bitumen-derived crude for American consumption.

The Tyee goes to the story

With so much on the line, there has been surprisingly scant coverage of how this battle is being waged and by whom. Until now. Beginning today, The Tyee is publishing The War for the Oil Sands in Washington, an in-depth, multi-part series that begins with three stories this week and many more in the coming weeks.

The reporting comes out of months of research capped by a week spent in Washington late in February, during which I interviewed oil sands lobbyists, environmental advocates and the congressional insiders either side hopes to influence.

What I found was an intense lobbying campaign being waged by each camp, both battling for the sympathies of Congress and the White House administration. The odds are clearly in favour of the oil sands coalition, which holds enormous political influence and has won major legislative victories on several fronts. But the green coalition, especially with Barack Obama in power, has more clout than its limited resources might suggest. 

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