Keep Europe Out of the Tar Sands

On the Morning of January the 14th a group of protestors invaded the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and are demanding a meeting with Stephen Green, the new Minister for Trade. Calling themselves the "Big Society Trade Negotiators", they are concerned that trade negotiations between the EU and Canada, due to start in Brussels on Monday, will dramatically boost Europe's involvement in the Canadian Tar Sands -- the most destructive project on earth.

Unbeknownst to most citizens, the EU and Canada are in the midst of negotiating an ambitious free trade deal (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA) that could open up the European market to imports of carbon-intensive Tar Sands oil for the first time [1]. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the talks is the plan to allow multinational companies like BP and Shell to sue national governments over social and environmental regulations [2]. This is happening despite the increasingly urgent need for governments to crack down on the destructive and dangerous activities of such companies.

British shareholders, NGOs and campaigners have expressed increasing concern over the involvement of UK banks and oil companies in the highly polluting extraction of "dirty oil" from the Tar Sands [3]. Emitting three to five times as much CO2 as conventional oil drilling, the Tar Sands industry is destroying the livelihoods and health of local Indigenous communities and decimating ancient forests and wildlife across an area of Alberta larger than England [4]. The proposed trade deal would increase Europe's involvement in the project and significantly expand the market for this dirty oil.

There will be another protest in Brussels on Monday 17th January outside the negotiations themselves, involving UK, European and Canadian groups, and Indigenous activists [5].

Jess Worth from the UK Tar Sands Network said: "Stephen Green has been parachuted in by the coalition government as Trade Minister. Completely unelected, this former Chair of HSBC was rapidly handed a seat in the Lords and then began his new job on the 1st of January. Given that HSBC is the world's 13th largest investor in the Tar Sands, we are concerned that he will put the interests of oil companies and the Tar Sands industry ahead of environmental and social concerns in these, his first major trade negotiations. So the Big Society Trade Negotiators have come to help him make the right decisions."

Emily Coats, also from the UK Tar Sands Network, added "The CETA trade negotiations between Canada and the EU are in full swing, yet most citizens have never heard of them. Climate scientists have warned that further Tar Sands extraction could lock us into disastrous and unstoppable climate change, but Europe is sleepwalking into major involvement with the project. We're calling for the talks to be put on hold until there can be proper public scrutiny, and the many social, environmental and Indigenous rights problems can be addressed."

FULL BRIEFING AVAILABLE HERE Stop Tar Sands Trade Talks!

ENDS

Notes for editors

[1] The CETA negotiations are about halfway through and due to be completed towards the end of 2011. The next round of talks will take place in Brussels next week.

[2] For a full explanation of the problems with CETA, please see "Keep Europe out of the Tar Sands!", a briefing by Council of Canadians, Indigenous Environmental Network and UK Tar Sands Network, available at http://www.no-tar-sands.org/?page_id=58

[3] The last 18 months have seen a growing number of organisations taking action against British banks and companies with links to the Tar Sands. Both BP and Shell have faced shareholder resolutions over their Tar Sands investments, as well as protests at their offices and petrol stations. The Royal Bank of Scotland has also come under fire for being the 7th largest global investor in the industry, using British taxpayers' money, and were targeted by the Camp for Climate Action, who camped for a week in the grounds of their global headquarters in Edinburgh last summer. For more information see:

Indigenous Environmental Network: http://www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html

UK Tar Sands Network: http://www.no-tar-sands.org/

FairPensions: http://www.fairpensions.org.uk/tarsands/news

Platform: http://blog.platformlondon.org/category/tags/tar-sands

Camp for Climate Action: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk

[4] For more information on the destructive nature of the Tar Sands, please see:

Indigenous Environmental Network: http://www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html

Dirty Oil Sands: http://dirtyoilsands.org/

UK Tar Sands Network: http://www.no-tar-sands.org/

Shot on the Panasonic GH2

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[yoshhash]

canadian here- thank you for having the courage to do this.

[techcafe]

Hideous Filthy Moonscape

/watch?v=HoKW771tG_Q&hd=1

[ChynnaRose]

Not only that, but they had a spill this year that made a lot of people in the area sick....I must find out how that went cuz i haven't heard much else since that spill....damn oil nazi's

[ChynnaRose]

Albertan here...get these fuckers out of the oil sands. It's dirty oil, and they are destroying beautiful forests to get at it. I was really hoping that the huge wild fire they had in the summer would smoke em out, but they are still there, and they have already ordered the pipe and materials to pump oil to the US!

[TheChristianRight09]

@techcafe well if that's the case, development is going full speed in the Tar Sands..............With output jumping by leaps and bounds....Why is that????

[techcafe]

@TheChristianRight09 - i'm a canadian. our standard of living is just fine thank you very much, in fact, much better than in the United States. and the majority of Canadians OPPOSE the enormously destructive tar sands project... and we will stop it.

Hideous Filthy Moonscape

/watch?v=HoKW771tG_Q&hd=1

[TheChristianRight09]

European involvement in the Tars Sands matters not,the Canadians,the Americans,the Japanese,and the Chinese are doing just fine with development of the resource..

Nothing the Euros say makes any difference,Canada is hoping to raise its standard of living, like Norway did with north sea oil..

Euros... ;)

They can not have it both ways....

[edmoil12]

As someone involved in the energysands in alberta, if europe doesn't want our oil, so be it, enjoy (even) higher gas and heating prices. Americans provide massive demand for oil and will keep this industry going for decades. I just hope all of these 'green' socialists stay out of the way, so we can keep doing our jobs and providing a product that everyone else wants to buy (yet complains about us providing it).

[terrendously]

I understand why your organization is protesting this issue, but I have doubts that there is any possibility of reversal in the tar sands project. The amount of capital required to develop the tar sands was staggering. Now that the technology is set up and ready to operate, there is no way things are going to stop now.

North Americans have invested massive sums into the tar sands. These investments are from companies, private individuals, universities, and even pension funds.