Jewish Energy Advocacy from COEJL

 From hydraulic fracturing to tar sands, a rift has been forming between those seeking energy independence and those seeking to protect the environment. But at the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, the mandate to protect the environment while simultaneously fostering energy independence has been the bedrock of our work. As global energy demand continues to rise and new technologies are developed for extracting fossil fuels, the task of supporting both energy independence and the environment becomes increasingly challenging and complex.

COEJL finds the balance by focusing on energy security — sustainable energy production that is sound both politically and environmentally. Mirroring the tension in the rest of the nation, the Jewish community is challenged in terms of how to approach energy security largely because of a desire to reduce our use of fossil fuels while increasing energy independence.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydrofracking or simply fracking, is a relatively new way of drilling for natural gas by blasting water, sand and chemicals at high pressures into shale rock. Depending on one’s perspective, it is either a threat to our clean water supply or a way to supplant coal with relatively cleaner burning natural gas.

Supporting the extraction and transport of Canada’s vast supply of tar sands — oil saturated in the earth like water in a sponge — also poses the promise of lessening reliance on oil from regimes hostile to both the United States and Israel. Yet supporting the tar sands by building a transcontinental pipeline to carry it from Alberta across America would increase our reliance on oil. Tar sands oil is a dirtier fuel than even standard crude oil and would require more energy to extract and transport than other fossil fuels. All of this would further increase greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

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