Obama lobbied by Canada on oil sands

Canada's foreign minister said Wednesday that his government has made progress in lobbying advisers of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama about the environmental impacts of Alberta's massive oil sands operations.

The Democrat has criticized America's dependence on Middle East oil and has said he'll get serious about energy independence. Canada's oil sands projects would help. Industry officials estimate northern Alberta could yield as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, making Canada second only to Saudi Arabia in crude oil reserves.

The Bush administration sees oil-rich Alberta as a reliable source of energy that will help reduce reliance on Middle East oil. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins has said the oil sands will define the relationship between the two countries for the next 10 years.

However, Obama's top energy adviser said earlier this year that the greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands projects are "unacceptably high" and may run counter to Obama's plan to shift the U.S. away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels.

Canada has warned that Washington would lose energy security if it doesn't take Alberta's oil.

Canadian foreign minister Lawrence Cannon said his government has been able to explain to Obama advisers what Canada is doing to mitigate the environmental impacts.

"We've been able to explain what we are doing to the advisers that are close to President-elect Obama," Cannon told The Associated Press. "We were able to put forward the whole policy of carbon capture storage and what the government of Canada has done through its investments."

Cannon said they pointed to a carbon capture storage facility Wayburn, Saskatchewan where emissions are pumped underground. Cannon suggested the lobbying efforts have worked.

"There is a great deal of progress. We have been able to express those points of views to the concerned parties," Cannon said.

Cannon said Obama's officials are open-minded.

"We are the second largest oil reserve in the world," Cannon said. "It's important and its immense. It does play into the whole energy security issue that has been raised by President-elect Obama over the campaign."

A message left for Grumet wasn't immediately returned.

Daily production of 1.2 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to nearly triple to 3.5 million barrels in 2020. Overall, Alberta has more oil than Venezuela, Russia or Iran. Only Saudi Arabia has more.

But the enormous amount of energy and water needed to extract the oil from the sands has raised fears among scientists and environmentalists. The critics say the growing operations by major oil companies will increase greenhouse gas emissions and threaten Alberta's rivers and forests.