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[ForestEthics News Release] – Chiquita Brands International will work with ForestEthics to eliminate shipping of Chiquita bananas with fuel from refineries that use Canada’s controversial Tar Sands. Chiquita joins a market trend against Tar Sands that now includes 15 publicly confirmed actions by major US companies.
“Canada’s Tar Sands is all risk and no benefit for leading American brands like Chiquita that are resolved to reduce environmental problems, so they are working hard to get Tar Sands out of their transportation footprint,” said Aaron Sanger of ForestEthics.
New policies like Chiquita’s lead to further action by the trucking companies and fuel providers that major brands use to get their products to market. At Chiquita’s recent annual conference with trucking companies, CEO Fernando Aguirre announced the company’s new process to ensure that fuel from Tar Sands refineries is not being used for ground transportation of Chiquita products.
“Chiquita is joining other companies, cities, farmers, workers and many others in drawing the line at Tar Sands,” said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It shows that new Tar Sands pipelines such as Keystone XL are not needed in America.”
ForestEthics, which works on the Tar Sands problem through Canadian and US offices, has identified nearly 50 US refineries that already use synthetic oil from Tar Sands to make trucking fuel. The purpose of pipelines such as the proposed Keystone XL is to supply US refineries with more Tar Sands.
“Tar Sands crude is the dirtiest oil on Earth,” said Kate Colarulli of The Sierra Club. “The public and a growing number of companies have seen through Big Oil’s lies. Together we are drawing the line and standing firm against this dangerous and destructive oil.”
Chiquita accounts for roughly one quarter of the United States’ banana market, and the millions of bananas it sells every day arrive at stores in diesel-fueled and refrigerated heavy-duty vehicles. Chiquita’s action to reduce the use of controversial fuels like those from Tar Sands is similar to that taken by almost two-dozen major companies, 15 of which have confirmed their action publicly.
Canada’s Tar Sands is produced by one of the most energy-intensive—and greenhouse gas spewing—extraction processes in history. The health effects of Tar Sands are already evident in Alberta where downwind and downstream communities have elevated levels of cancer. Canada’s Globe & Mail has reported that pollution risks at refineries using Tar Sands are greater because Tar Sands material is dirtier and more corrosive. The uniquely toxic and more intense pollution from increased US refinery processing of Tar Sands would disproportionately threaten the health of the largely poor and minority communities living near these refineries.
5 Comments
Billbergman
Interesting that Chiquita, which raises most of it product in South America should be
telling the Amrican people what to do
What are the REFINERIES for?
And if there are so bad then why are we not using NATRAUL GAS
You SPECIAL interest groups need to get a JOB!!
Gerald Towns, Ottawa
What an incredibly ignorant group of comments by supposedly well informed people. Do they not read, review, evaluate, etc. the science and literature available. The scientific beakthroughs due to the oil sands is huge and environmental aspects are being reduced daily. The health effects have been thoroughly disproved. No mention of the lakes which have been built for First Nations people. How about we view this as the largest soil reclamation project ever undertaken in the history of the world.!! Simon Fraser was waist deep in oil in the Athabasca river 100 years ago; does the Sierra Club not think this should be cleaned up??
This is nothing but pure politics; none of the positives ever get carried by the mainstream press.
The people behind this who won’t work but live off the donations of old grandmothers should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. Get a life.
Gerry Towns, Ottawa.
Playersdad
maybe we canadians should stop buying chiquita bananas, since they used their money to prop dictatorships in central america.I believe there is a lot less blood in our tar sands than in the bananas .
MRnicol
By all means, ForestEthics and Chiquita. Continue with your campaign. I got a feeling of real hope when I read of your efforts. The tar sands along with a federal government that really don’t believe in global warming are in the process of making Canada a pariah on the world stage.
Keep up the good work.
GeologyStudent
Considering that we have already passed Peak Oil, I do not see how companies like this who depend highly upon petroleum products can pick and choose who they get their products from. And if you are not using fuel from the Tar Sands, then where are you getting it from? It was probably imported from overseas which used a large quantity of fuel to TRANSPORT the fuel itself! If anything, we as consumers should stop buying imported goods which require large quantities of energy for their transport. ie Chiquita bananas.