Risk from Canada’s oil sands reputation is as challenging as costs

Canada’s oil sands industry faces an equal risk from its reputation as an environmental laggard, as from high operating costs, industry observers said. The failure to win approval for pipelines like TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway is tied to concerns about carbon emissions with oil production, Ed Whittingham, executive director of the Pembina Institute, said at the Bloomberg Economic Series Canada summit in Toronto. “The oil sands feeds into concern about the climate,” he said. “The primary driving concern is climate.” More »