U.S. greens wary of ecological cost of record oil

U.S. greens wary of ecological cost of record oil

Fri May 23, 2008 6:16pm BST

By Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) - U.S. environmental advocates are nervous that record crude oil prices will lead to a boom in production of fossil fuels like motor fuel from coal, Canada's tar sands, or shale in Colorado that would emit more planet-warming gases than conventional oil.

"High oil prices are a double-edged sword," said Deron Lovaas, an automobile expert at green group the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Rising crude prices were once a no-brainer for U.S. greens; the steeper the price, the more likely car-pooling and public transportation would rise in the world's largest oil consumer and eventually tame demand.

But it is no longer an easy reaction as global demand rises as cars and highways multiply in places like China and India while global reservoirs of quality crude oil that refiners prefer to process become harder to find and drill.

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