NASA scientist urges Norway to pull out of Alberta's destructive oilsands
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
The head of NASA is trying to persuade the prime minister of Norway to order the country's state-owned energy giant to get out of Alberta's oilsands.
Peter Huoppi NASA's top scientist wants to persuade the prime minister of Norway to order the country's state-owned energy giant to get out of Alberta's oilsands.
James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has written an open letter in a Norwegian newspaper asking the government to vote in favour of a motion at Statoil's annual general meeting Wednesday to end the company's oilsands project.
"I am disappointed to learn that Statoil, Norway's state-owned oil company, has taken such backward strides through its strategic decision to invest in Canada's destructive tarsands industry," Hansen writes to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Aftenposten, one of Norway's leading papers.
"In your capacity as owner of more than two-thirds of the shares in Statoil, I urge you to end Norway's involvement in this dangerous, dirty and destructive project."
Hansen, known for his strong views on climate change, said Norway may be more willing to lead by example than other countries.
"I'm hoping that Norway might be an example of this small country, where we might be able to get people to understand what the situation is, and try to stand up and tell the truth in front of the big countries," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "Most national leaders will stand up in public and say the right things, but their actions are not consistent."
Statoil is one of five multinational energy companies that have faced or will face shareholder resolutions at their annual general meetings about getting out of the oilsands.
The others are Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips. In April, 15 per cent of BP's shareholders supported the motion, and on Tuesday, 11 per cent of Shell's shareholders either supported it or abstained from voting.
"We believe that every shareholder has the right to have a voice," said Statoil spokesman Peter Symons.
He added that Statoil's Alberta project, slated to start producing oil early next year, is expected to reduce its emissions by 40 per cent over its first 11 years of operation.
Hansen said that isn't enough. Full development of even the world's conventional hydrocarbon reserves would be enough to push greenhouse gases to dangerous levels, he predicted. Adding the carbon stored in the oilsands could be catastrophic.
"Conventional fossil fuels, even if we phase out coal emissions, are enough to get us into a dangerous zone. If you add the unconventional fossil fuels, you just blow the top off. You guarantee that we will pass major tipping points."
Hansen said it doesn't matter how much oilsands producers reduce their per-barrel carbon emissions. Carbon that comes out of the ground eventually ends up in the atmosphere, and the oilsands simply have too much of it.
"Canada is still a resource-rich country, and unfortunately there's just no way to avoid climate catastrophe if you develop the tarsands."
The world will also have to leave some of its oil and much of its coal in the ground as well, he suggested.
Hansen, one of the world's strongest scientific voices on the issue of climate change, has criticized the oilsands before. But this is the first time he's directly addressed some of the political and corporate forces that govern their development.
He makes no apologies.
"I think it's appropriate for a scientist to connect the dots all the way from climate science to what would have to be done."
Debates at the annual general meetings of energy companies are one way to educate the public, he said.
"We're having such a difficult time communicating the science to the public and the leaders, but we have to try and do that."
Truls Gulowsen of Greenpeace Nordic said the public, at least in Norway, is starting to listen.
The debate over Statoil's participation in the oilsands was an issue in last year's elections and it's slowly becoming more widespread.
"We have tried to expand the number of actors who have had to take a stand on the issue," said Gulowsen. "From being a non-issue, it is an issue that people know about."
Albertans from aboriginal communities downstream of the oilsands are also expected to speak at the Statoil meeting.
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