Trend Against Tar Sands Continues

New Corporate Actions Fuel Growing Controversy

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Canadian companies Concord Transportation and LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, and the US Fortune 500 company, Avon, have joined a growing number of large businesses that have publicly expressed concerns about Canada's Tar Sands. LUSH and the Canadian trucking company have specifically required fuel vendors to avoid fuel from refineries connected to Canada's Tar Sands, and Avon has asked its transportation providers to avoid high impact fuels such as those from the Tar Sands.

"Avon recognizes its responsibility to the environment and the world's forests," said Tod Arbogast, VP of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility with Avon. "That's why we've asked our transportation partners to take steps that will avoid high impact, high carbon fuels such as those from the Tar Sands."

"Canada's Tar Sands are an unethical source of fuel for shipping LUSH products," said Shama Alexander, Environmental Officer with LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. "Our primary transportation partners respect our ethics and are helping us remove the Tar Sands from our footprint."

The actions taken by Avon, LUSH and Concord mirror those taken by other large companies at the request of ForestEthics. To date, ten major companies and one US city have publicly announced actions that either specifically focus on Canada's Tar Sands or create standards that will limit fuels such as those from the Tar Sands.

"Large buyers of fuel and transportation services are strengthening their resolve against Canada's dirty tar sands oil," said Aaron Sanger, Director of US Campaigns at ForestEthics. "The US market for this increasingly controversial product is becoming more uncertain."

The action taken by trucking company Concord, which operates primarily in the US, reflects deepening market concern about the impacts of Tar Sands.  At the request of its customer, LUSH, Concord required assurance from its fuel vendors that they were taking steps to avoid fuel from US refineries taking input from Canada's Tar Sands.

Production of Tar Sands oil destroys Canada's Boreal Forest and fresh water, pollutes the air, and generates more global warming pollution than conventional oil production. Communities downstream and downwind of Tar Sands projects are facing elevated levels of rare cancers.

Visit forestethics.org, for more information.

SOURCE ForestEthics

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