Oil industry plans could cause a dramatic increase in the use of tar sands–derived gasoline in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, a shift that would move the region backwards in its efforts to fight climate change. A recent report by Hart Energy[1] shows that by 2020 fuels derived from tar sands could make up between 11.5 and 18.0 percent of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic market – compared to less than 1 percent in 2012.
E2 New England, together with NRDC, and other environmental and business groups, recently met with Massachusetts state officials to make them aware of the looming problem and suggest solutions.
Gulf Coast refineries are taking an increasing volume of tar sands crude as more pipelines are built or retrofitted to carry it to the Gulf, such as the new Gulf Coast Pipeline Project from Cushing, OK to Nederland, TX. While most of the tar sands-derived product from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would be exported, some of it could end up being sent from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. If the pipeline is approved, even a small percentage of the pipeline’s volume could cause a dramatic increase in the volume of tar sands flowing to the Northeast. Additional threats may be posed by refineries in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and eastern Canada, some of which may be considering retrofitting existing refineries in order to process more tar sands.
Massachusetts has been a leader in promoting stricter greenhouse gas limits at the regional level. It led the fight to strengthen the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and was a leading voice in support of a regional Clean Fuels Standard.
We urged state officials to continue their leadership in conjunction with other northeastern states and reject tar sands by taking the following actions:
· Track the sources and carbon intensity of the fuels. This will provide the framework to move forward with broader policies.
· Push forward with a clean fuel standard – preferably at the regional level – but at the state level if that is not feasible.
· At a minimum enact a ‘no backsliding’ policy that would mandate that our fuel composition be no more polluting than our current supply.
At the meeting, E2 stressed the net positive impact on both the environment and the economy, making the following points:
It will encourage our emerging alternative transportation sector. The MassCEC 2013 clean energy jobs report show that there are 5,338 workers in over 450 companies in the ‘alternative transportation’ sector. These companies are working to clean up our transportation sector with innovative products such as advanced biofuels, battery technology, biodiesel, hydrogen and more efficient motors. Adding dirtier tar sands oil to our fuel mix would slow the growth of these emerging companies and the potential thousands of new jobs they could bring to the Commonwealth.
It will keep more of our dollars here at home to grow our own economy rather than sending them out of state and out of the country. According to the EIA[2], the Commonwealth spent $12.5 billion on fuel oil products in 2011, the vast majority of which went out of state and/or out of the country. This means less money for in-state consumers, businesses and employees. It would be a much wiser use of state dollars to move forward with a strong program of renewable energy and electric vehicles as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was recently issued by eight northeastern states. Investing in electrification, while greening the grid with renewable energy, is the best course of action for both the long and the short-term health of the economy and the environment.
It will reduce the cost of meeting GWSA goals. By law, the state must reduce its GHG emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Meeting these goals will be challenging and costly under the best of circumstances. Allowing tar sands oil into the mix will greatly increase the burden of meeting these goals and reducing our carbon footprint.
E2, NRDC and other groups are continuing the conversation with officials from Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, Vermont and other states to bring a regional solution to this looming threat.