Energy ministers to seek new oil markets

Canada's energy ministers ended two days of annual talks Tuesday in the Kananaskis resort in the Alberta Rockies announcing they have agreed to work together on opening up new markets to Canadian crude oil.

They also agreed to work on streamlining the process for approving energy projects.

In a communiqué, the ministers said they also aim to improve energy efficiency, energy information and electricity reliability.

The agreement came as the Energy Policy Institute of Canada, which is made up of large industry players, called for doing away with overlapping and inconsistent requirements from various levels of government, a national pricing regime and increased focus on exports to Asia and elsewhere.

The ministers want to cut some of the red tape that provinces currently face in approving energy projects, such as the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, which has been awaiting approval for 16 years.

New guidelines could also ease the way for projects such as Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry oilsands crude from Alberta to the West Coast, where it would then be shipped to growing markets such as China.

But several First Nations groups are trying to kill the project because they believe it threatens wildlife habitats.

Federal Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver has said the government supports the project. "Gateway, in our opinion, is in the national interest," he said.

Environmentalists applaud energy efficiency goal

Environmentalists applauded the goal of focusing more on energy efficiency and better electrical grids. But they said the ministers' continued support for development of the oilsands is the wrong way forward.

"Non-renewable, high-carbon sources of energy are by their very nature unsustainable. Canada needs to plan for a transition away from depending on exports of such sources, like the oilsands," said Ed Whittingham, executive director of environmental think-tank the Pembina Institute.

"A national energy framework needs to seize the economic opportunities offered by clean energy and achieve Canada's climate targets. Unfortunately, the documents released today failed to make either addressing climate change or supporting renewable energy a priority."

A coalition of environment groups earlier slammed the large corporate sponsorship of the meeting, saying that sent "the wrong message to Canadians."

Eleven energy companies and associations covered $180,000 of the $600,000 cost of the meeting.

Steven Guilbeault of Equiterre said "it seems that the oil industry got what it paid for — tacit support for the rapid expansion of the tarsands."