U.S., Canadian Groups Hit Oil Sands Development

"The Sierra Club, Greenpeace and 28 other North American environmental groups are calling on the United States and Canada to boost investments in clean energy, halt industrial fishing in the Arctic and freeze expansion of the Alberta's oil sands -- a key source of U.S. petroleum imports and greenhouse gas emissions.

The groups' joint declaration, signed in Washington on Tuesday, comes as Democratic leaders in Congress attempt to pass legislation that would cap U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases at 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 while boosting renewable energy production.

The eastern Canadian province of Ontario, meanwhile, is considering legislation that calls for 10,000 megawatts of new renewable energy and 6,000 MW of conservation by 2015, among other things."

Michael Burnham reports for Greenwire in the New York Times June 4, 2009.