Tag Archives: transport

Canadian tar-sands oil could start flooding into Europe

by SandraJohansen Posted on January 24, 2014

Canadian tar-sands oil could start flooding into Europe

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Hey, European drivers, how would you like your gasoline to be even more filthy and climate-changing than it already is?

When the European Commission proposed new climate and energy rules for the European Union this week, it recommended opening a door for companies that want to import Canadian tar-sands oil into the continent. Responding to Climate Change explains:

Oil from Canada’s carbon-intensive tar sands — one of the world’s single biggest sources of greenhouse gas pollution — could be used in the petrol tanks of European motorists from 2020 after the European Commission proposed to scrap curbs on imports of highly emissions-intensive fuels. …

“[The EC proposal] is good news for oil companies and Alberta, with its high-carbon tar sands, but bad news for Europe in our move towards a more sustainable transport system,” said Nusa Urbancic, a campaigner with Transport and Environment.

The Natural Resources Defense Council warns that without the E.U. restriction on dirty fuels imports, “global oil market trends suggest that Canadian tar sands exports to Europe will grow from a trickle to a flood.” From a new NRDC report:

Canadian tar sands crude currently only makes up 0.03% of European fuel stocks from an estimated 4,000 [barrels per day] of diesel imported from the U.S. Gulf Coast. However, changes in global energy dynamics left unchecked could lead to a significant rise in the use of tar sands derived fuel, increasing to upwards of 725,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 and 640,000 bpd by 2030 according to estimates by NRDC. 

This could make European Union goals to reduce greenhouse gas intensity in the transport sector more difficult.

This NRDC diagram illustrates how the Keystone XL pipeline would help tar-sands miners and refiners ship their product to Europe:

NRDCClick to embiggen.


Source
Canada tar sands set to benefit from EU 2030 climate plan, Responding to Climate Change
Canadian tar sands exports to Europe could grow from a trickle to a flood undermining Europe’s climate goals, Natural Resources Defense Council

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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E.U. car efficiency info may be more ‘creative’ than accurate

by 2KeaheySchoeffler461 Posted on March 14, 2013

E.U. car efficiency info may be more ‘creative’ than accurate

By Susie Cagle

When it comes to legit auto fuel-economy data, a new report suggests there may be some sugar in the gas tank.

Activist group Transport & Environment says European car makers are consistently “optimizing” their cars’ performances on fuel efficiency and emissions tests, i.e. cheating. Overall, T&E estimates that European car manufacturers are falsely claiming their cars are 25 to 50 percent more efficient than they really are.

“It’s lots and lots of small tweaks,” T&E’s Greg Archer told the BBC. “And they all add up.”

The report accuses car-makers of all sorts of MacGyver-like fuel-efficiency tricks used just during testing: taping up tiny cracks around doors and windows to reduce air resistance; lightening their cars; using special lubricants; slicking up test tracks; and stopping the car’s battery from recharging. “Creative, but legal,” according to The Guardian.

Transport & EnvironmentClick to embiggen.

All that alleged trickery adds up to car drivers thinking they’re getting a more efficient, cheaper vehicle, and officials thinking they’re getting lower emissions and a cleaner environment. From The Guardian:

Greg Archer … says: “This new evidence shows that carmakers in Europe are cheating their own customers by manipulating official tests, which leads to thousands of euros of additional fuel costs for drivers.

“They are also cheating legislators, as EU laws intended to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and vans are only being met in the laboratory, not on the road. The only way to rebuild this trust is by closing loopholes in the current test procedures, to ensure that cheaters never prosper.” …

Raw mileage and emission data is not made public by European carmakers, who only advertise combined figures of laboratory and other tests done on new cars. T&E says it obtained the data on the condition it did not identify the models or manufacturers. Data in the report for the “real world” driving by the public was obtained from online fuel mileage calculators and databases, including Spritmonitor.de, which allows drivers to compare their experiences with million of others.

T&E is calling for new rules that would close testing loopholes. If car companies really have advanced MacGyver skills, now would be a good time to practice. Maybe not for this kind of test drive, though.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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New Jersey train derailment dumps chemicals into waterway

by Myrna Posted on November 30, 2012

New Jersey train derailment dumps chemicals into waterway

By Philip Bump

One of the reasons that Keystone XL has faced so much opposition is the threat of a leak. Nebraska forced TransCanada to reroute vast stretches of the proposed pipeline to avoid a key aquifer.

But no pipeline doesn’t mean no leaks. As our Lisa Hymas noted yesterday, oil companies have massively increased rail use to bring oil to market. It’s more costly, yes (think Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood), but it gets the job done … until those trains fall in waterways.

From the South Jersey Times:

Four railroad tank cars have been dumped into the Mantua Creek and are leaking vinyl chloride after the train bridge collapsed at about 7 a.m.

Ambulances are being sent to the Paulsboro Marine Terminal where approximately 18 people are reported to be experiencing breathing difficulties at 7:40 a.m.

Initial responders report seven cars overturned and derailed near the 200 block of East Jefferson Street, between North Delaware Street and the creek.

On the plus side: Vinyl chloride is a gas, so it is unlikely to contaminate Mantua Creek, which connects to the Delaware River and then the Delaware Bay. With petroleum or tar-sands oil, the long-term effects could be much worse.

We’ll note, too, the other problem at fault here: infrastructure. The bridge over which the train was running appears to be this one:

It’s an odd bridge, one built almost a century ago. It looks as though it’s incomplete in the image above, but it’s not. It’s open. The bridge, in a process described here, swings open and shut to allow boats to pass by. It’s easy to imagine how such a system, if imperfectly re-aligned, could result in a derailment like the one seen today. In images of today’s disaster, you can see that the accident occurred at the point where the bridge swings open.

A 2008 coal train derailment in Decatur.

So we have toxic chemicals being moved over century-old infrastructure built to cross a waterway that connects to a major river. And, increasingly, we have the same thing happening across the Plains States. While pipelines are generally safer than trains, they’re still infrastructure, bound to degrade over time.

At the heart of it, the problem isn’t the system of transport. The problem is that we want to shuttle toxic chemicals around at all. Until we solve that problem, we will undoubtedly see spills like today’s happen again — but with potentially far bigger repercussions.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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