LOS ANGELES, July 6 (UPI) -- A new California law aimed at global warming threatens to slow development of alternative oil projects in the United States and Canada, a report said Friday.
The climate change law holds energy companies responsible for all phases of oil production, including extraction and transportation, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
That puts at risk oil-sand, oil-shale, and coal-to-oil projects because extracting these alternative sources of oil requires so much energy that their "carbon footprint" may outweigh their benefits, the Monitor said.
The amount of carbon emissions produced in refining oil from oil sands is 20 percent to 50 percent higher than from crude oil pumped to the Earth's surface.
Ontario and British Columbia have agreed to adhere to California's standard and there are predictions that the U.S. Congress will call for mandatory carbon controls within two years, the Monitor reported.
"It is clear the development of high-polluting fuels will incur a penalty and the support of and investment in such fuels will be a more and more risky business," says Roland Hwang, an analyst at the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council.
