Front Group Defends Tar Sands as "North American Energy"

Tar sands oil, "which is mined and boiled off instead of pumped out of the ground, is some of the dirtiest petroleum on Earth," with three times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil. Yet the Consumer Energy Alliance recently launched an ad campaign supporting tar sands oil. The Alliance is an industry front group backed by the American Petroleum Institute, BP, ExxonMobil, Shell Oil and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It's running television and radio ads "in the Dakotas, Montana and Tennessee opposing low carbon fuel standards," which would raise the cost of tar sands oil. "A low carbon fuel standard was part of the Waxman-Markey climate bill in the U.S. House, but it was removed before the bill moved to the Senate, where it awaits action this fall. The Consumer Energy Alliance still fears a low carbon fuel standard could be reinserted or that states such as Minnesota and California might enact their own." The front group defends tar sands oil, which comes from Canada, as "North American Energy," and misrepresents the low-carbon fuel standard as a "ban" on "domestic [sic] supplies of transportation fuels."