Suncor, GE work to make oil sands cleaner

CALGARY, Alberta, July 9 (UPI) -- U.S. company GE and Canadian oil producer Suncor Energy announced plans to find ways to reduce emissions and lower water use from oil sands production.

Suncor said it signed two agreements with GE that open the door to as much as $18 million in environmental investments. Agreements signed under the so-called Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance call for the development of new technologies meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water usage from the production of oil sands in Alberta.

"We have a world-class resource in Canada's oil sands that will supply energy for decades to come," Steve Williams, Suncor president and chief executive officer, said in a statement Tuesday. "And, responsible development of this resource is as important to everyone in the industry as it is to our stakeholders."

The provincial government in Alberta says about 0.15 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the world comes from oil sands development. Extraction is water-intensive, though the government says operators recycle as much as 80 percent of the water they use whenever possible.