Jean-Michel Gires told the CBC that sustainability is important to his company. (Total)

Total E&P Canada president Jean-Michel Gires says his company, which wants to build an upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., has changed since a 1999 oil spill on the coast of France.

The company was first in oil and gas worldwide on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which ranks industry on the basis of economic, environmental and social criteria, in September, Gires told the CBC.

"You don't do that by random," Gires said. "You do that by system, you do that by commitment, you do that by technology, you do that by training of your people, you do that by involving your contractors."

Gires, formerly Total's vice-president of sustainable development and the environment, has been speaking with media outlets as the company waits for the provincial Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) to decide whether to allow Total to build the upgrader.

An upgrader turns bitumen, a tar-like substance mined in the oilsands, into synthetic crude oil. Total also wants to build a mine near Fort McMurray, Alta.

Guards hired for hearing

Total's upgrader proposal has sparked so much opposition, the province hired armed guards to be present for the first two days of ERCB hearings held June 1-11 in Fort Saskatchewan. Public outcry condemned the move, and the guards were removed from the hearing.

Private guards hired by Total filmed a protest on the first day of the hearings, though the company said they weren't instructed to do so.

A French court in March upheld a negligence conviction against Total SA, the Canadian firm's parent company, after an oil tanker broke in two off the coast of Brittany in December 1999. The tanker Erika spilled more than 10 million litres of oil into the ocean, killing tens of thousands of birds.

Develop projects 'in sustainable way'

Gires pointed out that the spill happened more than a decade ago, and said the company's environmental practices have improved greatly since then.

"It's an important element for us … to develop all those projects in a sustainable way."

But officials with the Sierra Club, an environmental organization, aren't impressed.

"The reality is there is no green way to do the tarsands," said Sheila Muxlow. "This company is committed to doing what's best for its bottom line, not to do what's best for the environment."