REGINA -- Americans need to know that Canadian oil is clean and plentiful, while Canadians need to feel confident to invest billions of dollars in oilsands development without fear of sanction by the U.S. government.
That was the message from U.S. congressman Tim Mahoney (D -- Florida), who spoke to reporters in a conference call from Calgary Wednesday following a two-day visit to Saskatchewan and Alberta earlier this week.
Mahoney, who visited several carbon dioxide research projects in Saskatchewan before touring oilsands projects in Fort MacMurray, Alta., was accompanied by Rick Boucher (D -- Virginia), chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.
Clearly, Mahoney was impressed with what he saw when he toured the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina and the International Energy Agency's carbon dioxide monitoring and storage project near Weyburn on Monday.
"Canadians have led the way in carbon sequestration where we not only can use that technology to improve the environment, but also use it enhance oil production from spent (oil) fields," Mahoney said.
"It turns out, CO2 under pressure acts as a solvent that can be injected into old oilfields and oil reserves that are no longer economic even under current prices."
Recently, Mahoney introduced an amendment to Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act. which would prevent the U.S. government from purchasing any unconventional fuel, including Canadian oilsands, whose carbon footprint is greater than that of conventional fuel.
Mahoney's amendment, which ensures federal agencies can purchase generally available fuels, which may include Canadian oilsands, passed unanimously by a vote of 421-0.
Mahoney said a recent conference of U.S. mayors, which adopted a resolution aimed at avoiding the use of high carbon or "dirty'' fuels such as tarsands, was "unfortunate," given the importance of Canada to the U.S. as energy supplier. Canada is the largest foreign supplier of energy to the U.S., accounting for about 18 per cent of U.S. energy needs.
"I don't think the mayors understood the chilling effect this statement had on the investment by the Canadian oil and gas business."
But he didn't think the mayors' statement would have any long-term impact on energy trade between the U.S. and Canada. "I think the reality is the mayors have a very little control over where the oil and ultimately gas and diesel come from ..."
Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said Mahoney and Boucher carry a lot of weight on energy issues in the Democratic Party, and possibly the new U.S. administration. "It sound like they will be fairly influential in making decisions with respect to carbon capture,'' Boyd said Wednesday.
And both politicians seems to be impressed with the technology being used in Saskatchewan to both sequester CO2 and use it to enhance oil recovery from older oilfields.
"They were very pleasantly surprised at the enhanced oil recovery application that (CO2 storage) has and whether it has application elsewhere," Boyd said. "I think there is increased interest in ... the clean coal project and the carbon that would be captured there, as well."
But Boyd said both U.S. politicians downplayed concerns about possible trade actions against Canadian oil and gas exports to the U.S. "I don't think we're going to see anything of that nature."
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