What Do Canadian Oil Sands Mean for the Energy Future of the United States and Canada?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Considerable attention has been focused in recent months on increased production, import into the United States, and use of petroleum products derived from Canadian oil sands, an unconventional oil fuel source with estimated Alberta oil sands deposits in excess of 1.7 trillion barrels of crude bitumen. More than $91 billion has been invested in the oil sands in recent years and over $170 billion in oil sands-related projects are currently underway or proposed. Canadian oil imports to the United States are replacing declining oil production in Mexico and imports from Venezuela and represent an increasingly larger percentage of the oil supplies in the U.S. Midwest. Recent pipeline projects will extend the availability of Canadian crudes to other areas of the United States. In the wake of the Gulf disaster and the subsequent offshore moratorium, the debate on fuels derived from Canadian oil sands has escalated.

This webinar examinea key energy, environmental and technical issues associated with oil sands-based fuels and provide attendees with an update on where the debate is headed and analysis of what it all means to the energy future of the United States and Canada.

Topics include:

• the policy and political setting and reasons for the controversy
• state and federal low-carbon fuel standards and the Department of Defense's use of alternative fuels: recent U.S. court decisions and policy debates
• technical issues in managing risks from oil sand projects
• the view from Canada: environmental and policy issues north of the border related to oil sands development in Alberta.

Moderator
Jane C. Luxton, partner and chair of Sustainability, CleanTech and Climate Change Team, Pepper Hamilton LLP

Speakers
William J. Walsh, of counsel, Pepper Hamilton LLP
Kurt E. Blase, general counsel, Center for North American Energy Security
Terry L. Yeager, director, Navigant Consulting, Inc.
Brad Gilmour, partner and co-chair of Environmental Practice, Bennett Jones LLP
Gary Mar, Minister-Counsellor (Alberta)

View the webinar as a Microsoft Office Live Meeting high-fidelity presentation.

View the Webinar in Windows Media Player.

PDF file of the PowerPoint slides from the Webinar.

Speaker(s)

Kurt E. Blase
Terry L. Yeager
Brad Gilmour
Gary Mar