Issues: Oil & Energy

North America stands at an energy crossroads. As cheap, plentiful conventional oil becomes a luxury of the past, we now face a choice: to set a course for a more sustainable energy future of clean, renewable fuels, or to develop ever-dirtier sources of transportation fuel derived from fossil fuels -- at an even greater cost to our health and environment.

The United States is the world's top oil consumer and thus the primary driver behind the development of new forms of dirty transportation fuels in North America. These fuels are derived from lower-grade, difficult-to-access raw materials, including tar sands, oil shale and coal. Moving down this road has enormous consequences for the air we breathe, the water we drink, our climate, our wildlands and wildlife.

More About Dirty Fuels
» NRDC Report: Driving It Home
» Liz Barratt-Brown's blog
» NRDC Fact Sheet: Don't Support Dirty Fuels [pdf]

Photo (top): David Dodge, The Pembina Institute

last revised 2.21.08