Energy: Consider the global impacts of oil pipelines

28/06/14
Author: 
Wendy J. Palen,Thomas D. Sisk,Maureen E. Ryan,Joseph L. Árvai, Mark Jaccard, Anne K. Salomon, Thomas Homer-Dixon & Ken P. Lertzman
Alberta Tar Sands

. . But drama over the pipelines obscures a larger problem — a broken policy process. Both Canada and the United States treat oil-sands production, transportation, climate and environmental policies as separate issues, assessing each new proposal in isolation. A more coherent approach, one that evaluates all oil-sands projects in the context of broader, integrated energy and climate strategies, is sorely needed.