Obama has finally done the right thing on tar sands, so why won't we?

It's great news that President Obama is to review the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, citing its environmental impact as the key reason for his decision. This is a testament to the efforts of people living along the proposed route, of many environmental groups, and of the hundreds of people who were prepared to be arrested in the protests that my colleague Asad Rehman has blogged about.

Tar sands represent the worst of our addiction to fossil fuel. The energy, water and chemical-intensive methods needed to turn bitumen into synthetic crude oil are destroying the local environment - as well as helping to trash our climate. Each barrel of tar-sands crude produces between three and five times more climate changing emissions than conventional oil. The Keystone XL pipeline would take the tar sands oil from the Canadian province of Alberta to refineries in Texas.

So what has this got to do with the UK Government? The answer is plenty.

The EU is currently deciding how to implement its 2007 Fuel Quality Directive, which aims to cut climate-changing emissions from transport fuel by getting oil companies to sell 'cleaner' fuels. 

As a start, the EU is setting greenhouse emissions values for different forms of petrol and diesel. This would recognise that petrol and diesel from tar sands oil produces a lot more climate emissions than from, say, North Sea oil. Scientists have agreed a 'pollution level' for tar sands oil which the EU has accepted. Adopting this would effectively ban tar sands oil from the EU.

So who's standing in the way? You've guessed it - we are.

The UK is lobbying other EU Governments to ignore the science and allow unrestricted access for tar sands oil into the EU. We're doing the Canadians' dirty work for them. They claim the EU is discriminating because it's not setting values for other highly-polluting fuels. But this is not the case - it's just a Canadian delaying tactic.

Another twist in this tale is that the minister responsible, Transport Minister Norman Baker, when in opposition, sponsored a Parliamentary motion calling for tar sands oil extraction to be stopped as it was incompatible with tackling climate change!

So the Government that wants to be the greenest ever is effectively defending the right to sell the world's most polluting transport fuel in the EU.

People power has triumphed on tar sands in the US. If we want to keep tar sands oil out of Europe, Norman Baker and David Cameron must listen to what people are saying and do what's right for the climate, not for the oil companies.