Dear Editor:
Re: Opposing the pipeline, opinion, Burnaby NOW, Aug. 8.
Suggestions that greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from Canada’s oil sands are a significant threat to the planet and that Canada’s oil and gas industry is subsidized are incorrect.
Canada’s oil sands currently account for 0.14 per cent of global GHG emissions. According to a study by B.C. MLA Andrew Weaver and PhD student Neil Swart, production and consumption (e.g. use for transportation, etc.) of the entire economically viable oil sands reserve would add 0.03 degrees Celsius to world temperatures.
Nevertheless, oil sands producers understand we must be a part of the broader global solution. Alberta’s GHG emissions law has been in place since 2007. It requires industry to reduce per-barrel GHG emissions by 12 per cent over the life of a project or pay $15 per tonne into a government fund that they direct into lower carbon technologies. The oil sands industry has reduced per-barrel GHG emissions by 28 per cent since 1990, and as we develop the resource to meet Canadian and global demand, we continue to seek emissions reductions through innovation and new technology.
Regarding the reference to oil and gas “subsidies,” the corporate income tax rate for oil and gas companies is identical to the rate for other
companies. Oil and gas companies deduct capital expenditures and expenses using the same principles, and often at comparable rates, with other industries.
Canada’s oil and gas industry currently contributes about $18 billion annually to public revenues through income tax, royalty and other payments to governments. According to a recent report by IHS-CERA, oil sands companies are forecast to pay $783 billion over the next 25 years – that’s about $85 million a day – to Canadian governments to help fund social services, education, health care and other government programs that benefit all Canadians.
More information is available here: www.oilsandstoday.ca.
Greg Stringham, Vice-President, Oil Sands, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
