Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is the voice of the upstream Canadian oil and natural gas industry. The members of CAPP produce 90% of the petroleum production in Canada.

Advocate for an industry perceived as dirty

Canada exports more "unconventional" (heavy, high-carbon, or "dirty") oil than any other country. As of 2005, Canada's estimted total oil reserves including conventional free-running oil were approximately 180 billion barrels (29 km³), behind only Saudi Arabia. It produces approximately 2.7 million barrels (430,000 m³) of crude oil a day, and 6.4 trillion cubic feet (180 km³) of natural gas per year. Additional natural gas is used (or wasted) to "upgrade" bitumen (see Tar Sands) into crude, making Canadian oil mostly a high-carbon high-polluting synthetic. The European Union and some US states including California effectively ban all such dirty oil, as do at least 15 major American corporations. A majority of Canadians oppose expansion of the Tar Sands [1] and also oppose offshore oil drilling and shipping in sensitive waters including the BC inner passage, off Newfoundland, and in the high Arctic.

CAPP has advocated for the industry as emissions rose 14% in 2009 and 2010, by its own admission. [2] It has advocated the extremely controversial exploitation of hydraulic fracturing, a high-carbon energy source akin to coal or to tar sands.

Notable opponents

Domestic Canadian opponents include 61 First Nations in British Columbia opposed to another CAPP-advocated project, the Northern Gateway [3], intended to permit shipping of high-carbon Canadian crude over ecologically sensitive rivers and waters to carbon-uncontrolled countries including India and China. Also the Council of Canadians and Sierra Club Canada which take a strong position against hydraulic fracturing and wants it banned in Canada entirely, and have supported specific bans in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Nobel Peace Prize winning and other international opponents

Aside from a majority of Canadians themselves, and the domestic NGOs, prominent international opponents of CAPP include Greenpeace and ForestEthics and nine living Nobel Peace Prize winners [4] [5] [6] who advocated US refusal to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. This is generally perceived as a deliberate sabotage of the Kyoto Protocol, from which Stephen Harper withdrew Canada in December 2011, after years of rising emissions, the only country ever to do so. This was due in part to CAPP's lobbying efforts, as it has consistently opposed carbon taxes and cap and trade programs that would meet Canada's Kyoto Protocol targets, favouring some "made in Canada" approach.

The position of the Nobel Peace Prize winners, essentially, is that one rich nation selling increasingly heavy high-carbon oil to another sabotages any effort to reach a deal on global carbon controls, and that moves to expand this export (like Keystone XL or Northern Gateway) cause significant and direct risks to world peace, as climate victim countries become subject to chaotic weather, fighting over scarce water (especially in Southeast Asia and Africa), flooding and rising sea levels.

Accused of illegal influence in Alberta, 2011

As of 29 November, 2011, CAPP is involved in a controversy regarding the legality of the role they played in influencing Alberta Environment, over public communications surrounding shale gas extraction, a controversial practice that has significant environmental concerns associated with it, especially when fracturing is employed.

While the initial complaint was dismissed, further investigation by the CBC and the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) have found contradictions between the grounds for the complaint's dismissal, and the laws regarding private interests influencing government. The AFL is currently filing a new complaint to address these contradictions.

Further reading

Additional information about the lobbying controversy can be found here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/11/29/edmonton-lobbying-compalint-dismissed.html

External links

• [7] re Oil Sands Developers Group and conflicts of interest controversy
• CAPP web site including controversial advertising claiming aquifers can be restored after bitumen extraction, without scientific basis
• [8] re Canada School of Energy and Environment, a Conservative Party of Canada front group
• [9] re majority of Canadians opposed to projects strongly advocated by CAPP and its members
• [10] Nine Nobel Peace Prize winners oppose Keystone XL, strongly advocated by CAPP
• [11] re the Save the Fraser Declaration and Northern Gateway project, strongly advocated by CAPP