Oil companies say they got a raw deal in Denmark

By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceDecember 12, 2009



Canada's oil and gas producing companies say they are being unfairly targeted by the rest of the world at the international climate change summit in Copenhagen.

In an interview, the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers David Collyer said the companies are doing their share to fight climate change and are responsible for only a fraction of the emissions that are trapping heat in the planet's atmosphere.

Environmental advocates and representatives from dozens of governments have made Canada's oil producing industry, specifically the oilsands sector in Western Canada, a primary target of criticism because of its growing footprint on the atmosphere and the planet's ecosystems. But while emissions continue to rise from the industry, Collyer said the critics fail to see that the companies are working on reducing that growth.

"It's quite an unfair characterization of how our industry fits in a broader context with respect to greenhouse gas emissions and the performance of the oilsands industry over the last several years," Collyer said, explaining that Canadian oilsands operations are only responsible for about 0.1% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The reality is that oilsands production is growing and as a result of that, the total emissions are growing."

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Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/companies+they+deal+Denmark/2334092/story.html

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