The Elephant Not in the Room at the New England Governors – Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference: Tar Sands Fuels and Climate Impacts - CLF

This Sunday marked the start of the annual New England Governors–Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG-ECP) Conference.  Each year, these regional leaders join forces to discuss pressing policy issues of mutual importance to their states and provinces.  While energy issues have been a regular feature of recent NEG-ECP conferences, we understand that a certain energy elephant will be conspicuously absent from the conference room this year:  tar sands fuels.

Tar sands fuels are slated to hit the region soon, and in a big way.  While our current fuel mix is virtually tar sands free, the expansion of tar sands pipelines in the region and nationally means that this dirty fuel could soon make up as much as 18% of our fuel mix by 2020.  This rapid shift has huge climate consequences, given that tar sands fuels emit significantly more greenhouse gases than conventional fuels.  While New England has been a national leader in pursuing policies to reduce carbon pollution, tar sands could wipe out all those hard-won efforts.  A rapid 18% increase in tar sands fuels penetration would not only offset the progress the region has already made in reducing emissions under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but impede future efforts as well.

Update:  Shortly after publishing this post, CLF received this response letter from Governor Hassan in New Hampshire.  Governor Hassan notably commits to raise the issue of tar sands with delegates of the NEG-ECP conference in the coming year and notes that states in the region are working together to develop the tools necessary to track the carbon intensity of petroleum fuels entering the region.  We commend Governor Hassan for these important steps.

The Elephant Not in the Room at the New England Governors – Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference:  Tar Sands Fuels and Climate Impacts - CLF