NEWS: U.S. retailers to join oilsands fuel boycott

Augsut 28, 2010
Calgary Herald

Companies vow to avoid Alberta-sourced gasoline in effort to reduce carbon footprint

A campaign to boycott Alberta-sourced gasoline has gained momentum after trendy clothing manufacturers and a major U.S. drugstore chain announced they would be avoiding oilsands-related fuels.

Clothiers The Gap, Timberland and Levi Strauss, as well as Walgreens, have joined a growing list of corporations choosing to avoid using gasoline refined from Canadian bitumen, according to reports Friday.

The move to less carbon-intensive fuels was sparked by an ongoing campaign by San Fransisco-based environmental group Forest Ethics, said Walgreens spokeswoman Tiff ani Washington.

"We have had very little exposure to tarsands fuels to start with, so it was a simple process," Washington told the Herald.

"We reviewed this issue of tarsands fuel as part of an overall effort toward reducing our carbon footprint."

The drugstore chain, which runs more than 700 trucks in its 7,500-store network, surveyed its fuel providers to avoid any sources of oilsands-sourced gasoline, she said.

The list of U. S.- based refiners processing Canadian bitumen include major producers such as BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, as well as Sunoco, Murphy Oil and Marathon Oil.

The news that more retailers were shunning Canadian crude, citing its heavy impact on the environment, raised the ire of Albertans, from politicians to business associations, which called for reverse boycotts of U.S. products.

The Alberta Enterprise Group urged residents to stop supporting retailers that say they have stopped using bitumen-based gasoline but continue to face allegations of using child labour in Asia.

"It smacks of hypocrisy," said David MacLean, from his Edmonton office. "It's a public relations stunt at our expense, and by 'our,' I mean Albertans and Canadians."

International and Intergovernmental Relations Minister Iris Evans noted the industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the world, and urged consumers to learn more about what the province is doing to produce cleaner energy.

"I think Albertans can make up their own minds on what they should do," Evans told the Herald.

Friday's news was part of an ongoing campaign by the U.S. and Canadian environmental group, which has seen a dozen retailers say they were going green and seeking cleaner burning fuel.

Campaign co-ordinator for the U.S., Aaron Sanger, acknowledged Canada had been singled out over other major heavy oil sources for the U.S., such as Venezuela and Nigeria, which present associated environmental and social challenges.

"There are obviously problems elsewhere in the world," Sanger said. "Our organization's mission has been focused on dealing with Canadian environmental problems that are linked to U.S. consumption."

Canada is the largest exporter of oil, both conventional and synthetic, to the United States, shipping approximately 1.99 million barrels per day of its 2.6 million bpd production south of the border.

It wasn't the first campaign against the oilsands. Last month Corporate Ethics International urged Americans and Britons to "Rethink Alberta" as a polluting, environmentally challenged province rather than a Rocky Mountain tourism destination.

Allegations of corporations using the campaigns to seem more environmentally sensitive don't ultimately matter, said a Sierra Club of Canada executive.

"I don't think it's important at this stage whether companies are doing this because they're jumping on a bandwagon to look good. The only question for us is are they actually doing something, and the answer is yes," said executive director John Bennett. "We think this is another indication of the effectiveness of talking about the need to have clean production and start phasing out the most carbon-intensive forms of fossil fuels, so it's very positive for us."

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said it shared the group's sentiment but was disappointed by businesses' " knee-jerk reactions" to activist group pressure.

"We've been talking to a lot of global transportation providers and retailers and a lot of them understand the complexities of not only oilsands, but about removing any type of fuel from the fuel supply," said spokeswoman Janet Annesley. "And they want to work with us to find solutions rather than simply make a PR statement about a boycott."

Oilsands giants Syncrude Canada and Suncor Energy declined to comment about the anti-bitumen campaign, referring all calls to CAPP.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach lamented the companies had not contacted the government or industry before deciding to boycott Canadian products, and said he would be writing letters to their chief executives.

domeara@theherald.canwest.com

 


Back to NEWS