Canada climate push spells uncertainty for oil sands

By Richard Valdmanis
PARIS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Canada's newly elected government
is committed to being a strong ally in global efforts to curb
climate change, but it is unclear yet what that will mean for
its vast oil patch, Environment and Climate Change Minister
Catherine McKenna said on Wednesday.
"We are committed to moving to a low-carbon economy and we
need to look at what that means," McKenna said at a briefing on
the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference in Paris.
Canada's oil sands are among the largest petroleum reserves
in the world, but efforts to expand their production have been
stymied by a lack of pipeline capacity, heavy environmental
opposition, and a recent slump in oil prices. O/R
The industry suffered a setback last month when U.S.
President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada's TRP.TO proposed
Keystone XL oil sands pipeline into the United States citing
environmental concerns.
TransCanada has also proposed a bigger, all-Canadian
pipeline east to the Atlantic province of New Brunswick, called
Energy East, which would link some 1.1 million barrels per day
of western Canadian oil to global markets by 2020.
McKenna said that project was being reviewed.
"But I don't like just looking at one particular
development. We are looking at how we are going to make progress
toward a low-carbon economy. We are going to be looking at a
whole range of solutions so that we ... have an ambitious,
pan-Canadian plan to do our part," she said.
She said that plan would be drawn up with input from
provincial, territorial and indigenous leaders.
The province of Alberta, home to the oil sands industry,
recently announced plans to tax and limit carbon dioxide
emissions, in a way that still gives more efficient
oil-producing companies room to grow.
Other provinces have also put forward carbon dioxide
emissions reduction plans.
Recently elected Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has
sought to break with his long-serving predecessor, Conservative
Stephen Harper, by embracing the fight against climate change.
He announced at the opening of the Paris talks last week that
"Canada is back, my friends."

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)