Stopping Dirty Fuels
Stopping dirty alternatives, such as fuels made from tar sands, liquid coal and oil shale, is also critical. When oil prices are high, extracting petroleum from these unconventional sources looks attractive - if you ignore their environmental costs. These destructive fuels are two to five times as polluting to produce as oil because their extraction and manufacturing processes are so energy-intensive. Extracting these fuels harms ancient forests and bird habitat, and puts water supplies at risk.
Yet the oil and gas lobby is working hard to downplay the risks and make these dirty fuels part of our new energy plan. Unless dirty fuel subsidies are eliminated and new rules encouraging low-carbon fuels are put into place, the environmental benefits of clean fuel production risk being wiped out by a wave of dirty fuels.