Beaver Tails and Tar Sands: climate security talks are not going to stay this sweet

It was a sweet day for President Obama in Canada.

As he savored a "beaver tail" in Ottawa, security seemed the farthest issue from his mind. No, this is not an endangered species post...apparently there is a rockin' bakery in the Canadian capital that offers flat fried pastry with a funny name. The President delighted our neighbors to the north and likely irked his secret service detail by making a quick stop to satisfy his sweet tooth (and maybe curiosity...beaver tail, really?).

But security issues seemed to be at the heart of most everything Mr. Obama talked about with Prime Minister Harper on his first international trip. Border security. Afghanistan and International security. Economic and trade security.

Climate security.

And energy security.

How amazing and refreshing it was to hear the President of the United States elevating those last two to the top of the agenda?

However, there's an ugly side to that. There is one issue that is central to the bilateral discussion of climate and energy: the tar sands.

Quick review: tar sands oil is mined in Alberta where sludgy sand is heated and agitated to yield ultra-low quality petroleum. In the process of digging up two tons of Earth for every barrel of "oil" produced, incredible amounts of water are used spoiled and dumped into toxic lakes while huge tracts of the Boreal forest are ripped to the ground. The result? Goop that is piped into the US for refining into a fuel that emits three times the global warming emissions of standard petroleum. It's a lose-lose for everybody and clearly has no place in the low-carbon future that the Mr. Obama is already charting.

But there are a lot of security hawks out there that love the stuff. Afterall, Canada is our friend. They won't turn off the tap. They won't use the money against us as many of our Middleastern suppliers are doing. These folks contend that we should be taking more and more of Alberta's goo to alleviate those issues.

But relying on dirtier and dirtier oil (like tar sands) simply substitutes one problem with a far bigger one. Weaning ourselves from Middleastern oil does little good if we remain addicted to fuels that speed the impacts of global warming. Particularly when these dirtier fuels also impact our shared fresh water treasure---the Great Lakes. The problems that arise from global warming are way worse than the ones we are grappling with now---and plenty of folks in the defense and intelligence communities agree:

• I've blogged already on General Zinni's comments and report.
• And on former CIA Director Woolsey's take.
• And this week, the former Dutch defense minister Joris Voorhoeve echoed those sentiments in an Op Ed that appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

But there is another option. We can move away from Middleastern AND tar sands oil to the most secure of all energy sources in the US.

Renewables. Nobody can turn off the tap on wind and solar. Nobody can use the savings from energy efficiency programs for ill.

This was not lost on Obama and Harper today. We've started a clean energy dialog. It will center on broader engagement in renewables---and investigating technologies to secure our climate from carbon. This week's stimulus plan makes me confident we will be able to do this in America... Canada? No technologies in the pipeline to fix the ugliness in Alberta.

Our clean energy dialog is going to need to become a quick discussion as Obama and Harper are clearly working towards creating a North American position (with President Calderon of Mexico) for the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen. This is a huge change for the U.S. Though the signals that Canada has given around protections for the tar sands makes me wonder if we will find a common stance...

The comments today were great to hear. Talk about change...it was amazing to see the President elevate climate change...or climate security...to such a significant issue on his first international trip.

Obama surely scored points with the Canadian public (he has an even higher approval rating up north than in the US) with some of his comments---and especially the Beaver Tail stop. But I fear that the discussions with our neighbor to the north is going to be a lot less sweet than the pastry from here on out.

Photo courtesy of Honus on Flickr.