It seems the EU Fuel Quality Directive still hangs in the balance. If passed, this legislation would set limits on how dirty an oil source can be before it is deemed too polluting to be allowed into the EU. This is controversial, because if you set a meaningful limit, it means the biggest polluters will lose out: a possibility which is upsetting the Canadian tar sands industry. This cleaner fuel requirement is also suspecting to be upsetting oil companies BP and Shell, who have headquarters in the UK and the Netherlands, the only two countries in the EU that are reported to be trying to water down this legislation.
This reminds me of the the Co-op's "Tarnished Earth" exhibition: a collection of moving photographs taken by Jiri Rezac which attempt to convey the almost incomprehensible scale of the environmental destruction caused by tar sands mining in Alberta. It is part of a campaign against toxic fuels led by the Co-op and supported by Greenpeace and the WWF. The exhibition came to the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh a couple of months ago and we spent a few hours there on the last Sunday in September offering the public the chance to join our campaign to stop toxic fuels entering the EU. The photographs and information are so shocking that almost everyone who strayed upon the exhibition signed up.
Tarnished Earth is still touring around the country, and if it comes near you, is definitely worth a look.
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