As long as critics focus on oil spills rather than climate change, tougher Liberal rules should help Energy East.
TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling (2nd L) announces the new Energy East Pipeline during a news conference in Calgary, Alberta in this August 1, 2013 file photo. TODD KOROL / REUTERS
By Thomas Walkom, reposted from TheStar, Jan 31, 2016
By creating new conditions for pipeline development, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has opened an interesting can of worms.
Wednesday’s joint announcement by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr does not deliver a definitive yes or no to controversial projects like TransCanada’s proposed Energy East heavy-oil pipelinefrom Alberta to New Brunswick.
Rather, it amends the criteria by which such projects are judged.
But the announcement also sends conflicting signals about the Liberal government’s ultimate intentions.
Is Ottawa serious about taking into account the climate-change effects of pipeline development? If it were, arguably no new pipelines would be built to service the Alberta oilsands, already the fastest-growing source of Canadian greenhouse gases.
Or is the government merely forcing pipeline proponents to jump through hoops in an effort to make their projects more acceptable to the general public?
Some of the new interim measures announced Wednesday aren’t new. The ministers said the government wants to hear from affected local communities when deciding on projects such as oil pipelines. But that already happens.
They said indigenous groups affected by any project must be consulted. But that, as the Supreme Court has ruled, is the law.
Other new measures are unclear. The ministers said, for instance, that the government will base its decisions not just on science but on the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples “and other relevant evidence,” whatever that means.
But one new measure is potentially radical. The government says it will explicitly look at something the current National Energy Board does not consider — whether new pipelines would lead to more greenhouse gas emissions from the Alberta oilsands.
The ministerial statement speaks to more than just pipelines. A spokesperson for McKenna says the new interim measures will apply to any project currently undergoing a federal environmental assessment, of which there are 89.
But pipelines remain the political focus.
In Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, pipeline critics fret about leaks. Even the Ontario Energy Board has weighed in, reporting last summer that TransCanada’s plan to move heavy oil though its existing cross-Canada, natural-gas pipeline would endanger provincial waterways, including Lake Nipigon, the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence.
Montreal-area mayors such as Denis Coderre object for similar reasons. In B.C., much of the opposition to Kinder Morgan is centred in the Vancouver region, where critics worry that the pipeline will lead to more tanker traffic and dangerous oil spills.
Yet, in Ontario at least, criticism on this level can easily be soothed. The Ontario Energy Board report makes common-sense suggestions such as relocating portions of the pipeline away from waterways.
It also suggests that TransCanada replace damaged portions of the pipeline that have been patched with plastic tape.
And it calls for the pipeline plan to be tweaked to ensure that residents of Eastern Ontario still have enough natural gas to heat their homes in the winter.
All of these remedies are easily doable. If TransCanada agreed, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario government would find it politically easier get off the fence and back a project that, at base, it does not oppose.
Greenhouse gases pose a thornier problem. The Ontario Energy Board commissioned research that calculates Energy East will increase carbon emissions in Canada by less than 2 per cent.
That may not be much mathematically. But at a time when Canada is unable to meet its self-imposed carbon-reduction targets, it does represent movement in the wrong direction.
Trudeau has long said that the aim of new pipeline rules, such as those announced this week, is to help oilsands producers market their bitumen.
I’m not sure that they will be enough to save Kinder Morgan. Even the B.C. government is washing its hands of that pipeline.
But Energy East is an easier sell. As long as its critics remain focused on spills rather than climate change, the prime minister’s gambit may well succeed. SOURCE
Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
“We need a carbon price, to give companies the ability to manage the long term cost (of global warming) and give them an incentive to invest,” Royal told the meeting attended by climate crusader Al Gore and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The idea of a setting a price for the cost of carbon is to encourage polluters to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they emit by making them pay the bill and focus on the need to develop and invest in green technology.
Royal said that while a single carbon pricing would not be achievable, there should be a “price window” between an agreed bottom figure and a higher price.
In Europe, the current price of 8 euros per tonne was too low, she said, adding that 15 euros should be the minimum.
“The challenge is to drive up the price per tonne of CO2, which is currently too low at 8 euros per tonne,” she said.
France has set a carbon price of 22 euros per ton, which will increase gradually to 100 euros in 2030.
Royal said the drop in oil prices could provide a boost to companies who may choose to direct saving from the lower prices toward their transition to cleaner technologies.
“With lower oil prices, we are at the perfect moment to introduce a carbon price. It will be more readily accepted,” she argued.
Some 60 countries and regions are paying for carbon emissions through taxes or carbon markets, with China preparing to create a domestic carbon market next year. SOURCE
In 2006, then-President George Bush told the nation “we have a serious problem … America is addicted to oil.” Here’s what’s happened since:
Average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline, January 2006: $2.33
Average price in January 2016: $1.91
Benchmark price, barrel of W. Texas Intermediate Crude, Jan. 2006: $65.48
As of Jan. 25, 2016: $30.34
Percentage of U.S. oil that is imported, 2006: 60
Percentage imported, 2014: 27
Fuel efficiency, miles per gallon, U.S. vehicles, 2006: 17.2
Mid-2015: 25.4
Light truck sales (pickups, SUV’s, Crossovers) in the United States in 2006: 8.7 million
Sales in 2016: 9.7 million
U.S. hybrid electric vehicle sales in 2006: 252,636
Hybrid sales in 2014: 443,824
Number of earthquakes magnitude 3.0 or greater in Oklahoma from 2000 through 2009: 26
Magnitude 3.0 and above earthquakes in Oklahoma in 2016 alone: 857
Wastewater injection, in millions of barrels per month, in Oklahoma in 1997: 80 million
In 2014: 160 million
Total vehicle miles traveled, 2006: 3.0 trillion
In 2015: 3.1 trillion
In 1971: 1.0 trillion
Global oil rigs in operation, January 2006: 3,038
In operation, January 2016: 1,982
Crude oil shipped by rail in US, 2010, millions of barrels: 20.2
Oil shipped by rail in 2014: 380.7
Peter Dykstra is the weekend editor for The Daily Climate and its sister publication, Environmental Health News. Follow him on Twitter at @pdkystra.
The Daily Climate is an independent, foundation-funded news service covering energy, the environment and climate change. Find us on Twitter @TheDailyClimate or email editor Brian Bienkowski at bbienkowski [at] EHN.org
After nine and a half years of rule by the Harper Conservatives, the most unabashedly pro-energy government in Canada’s history, you might reasonably expect that hundreds more kilometers of pipeline would have been built to get Alberta’s landlocked oil to international markets.
Of course, you’d be dead wrong. The Conservatives managed the remarkable feat of combining strident pro-oil rhetoric with a complete failure to deliver on their promises.
On their watch, not a single kilometer of pipeline for oil was laid. Keystone XL went nowhere, despite Harper’s insistence that it was a “no brainer.” The Northern Gateway project through British Columbia is mired in a political and legal quagmire, and other proposals are being vigorously contested.
Now the Trudeau government has quite rightly set new ground-rules for getting pipeline projects done. They’ve added two more review mechanisms to the approval process and will take months longer to complete assessments of two contentious proposals. It may look like yet more delay and complication, but in fact the new rules offer the best chance of actually getting pipelines built.
If there was any doubt about the government’s intentions, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna spelled them out this week. “The prime minister has been very clear,” she said. “We need to get our resources to market in a sustainable way.” But, added Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, “without the confidence of Canadians none of these projects will move forward.”
Just so. The Harper years proved that. The new guidelines will better position the federal government to be not an ineffective cheerleader for building pipelines but what Trudeau calls a “responsible mediator.”
First, all resource projects (including pipelines) will be assessed on their so-called “upstream” greenhouse gas emissions. This is famously difficult to calculate, and must also be measured against the alternatives if a pipeline is not built.
For example, if heavy Alberta oil just travels by rail instead of by pipeline, what’s the advantage? Shipping oil by rail is more costly and more dangerous than sending it out by pipeline (just ask the people of Lac-Mégantic – at least those who remain after a train carrying crude exploded and killed 47 people in 2013).
Second, the government promises to consult more closely with indigenous peoples along the path of any new pipeline project. It will appoint a ministerial adviser to hear the concerns of native groups and take into account traditional knowledge of First Nations along with scientific data.
Promising more consultation with First Nations is all to the good. But it’s far from clear that consultation implies consent, so disputes are inevitable. In the end, the government will have to make a decision, weighing all the economic, social and political factors.
The projects most directly affected are Trans Mountain, a proposal to increase the capacity of a pipeline through B.C. to Vancouver, and Energy East, which would adapt an existing gas pipeline to carry up to 1.1 million barrels of crude a day all the way from Alberta to New Brunswick, where it would be shipped to world markets.
Of all the projects, the $15-billion Energy East is the most promising. It would give Alberta an outlet to the sea for its oil and allow producers to get more for their product. It would follow an existing pipeline route rather than barge through pristine territory. And it would displace thousands of more dangerous oil-carrying rail cars. Even NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair called it a “win-win-win” until pressure inside his party made him back away from support.
Of course it must pass the strictest environmental standards and be subject to the additional reviews imposed this week by the Trudeau government. Energy East would pass through six provinces and hundreds of communities, and they have a right to know that every precaution has been taken to minimize the chance of an accident that might damage their backyard. They also need to know that those running the project have put in place measures for a swift and effective response in the case of a leak.
All that being said, the risks cannot be reduced to zero. And the government must accept that many environmentalists will never support any pipeline, regardless of how much science and consultation is involved in assessing it. Canada must transition to a low-carbon economy, but that was never going to happen overnight.
The Trudeau government must also manage political expectations along the way. Local governments (most vocally, mayors in B.C. and Quebec) have a right to demand maximum protection for their people, but they don’t have a veto on nation-wide projects.
Under Rachel Notley’s NDP government, Alberta is cleaning up its act – phasing out coal-fired power, imposing a carbon tax and capping emissions from the oilsands. In this context, it’s entirely right for Ottawa to set a strict and sensible framework that gives the province a chance to find a safer way to get its oil to world markets.
Following the release of the Mandate Letters in November 2013, Celine Bak of Analytica Advisorsforwarded the following summary message to clean energy entrepreneurs. The document has been shared by Cheryl McNamara of Citizens Climate Lobby Toronto and I’m pleased to reproduce in BoomerWarrior.
The mandate letters of the eleven ministers listed below demonstrate a strong commitment by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Trudeau to climate change, clean technology and the environment. It is up to all Canadians to ensure that our government lives up to its stated goals. (Rolly Montpellier ~ Editor for BoomerWarrior).
The Mandate Letters
The Ministerial Mandate letters from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his Cabinet were [recently] published. All Ministerial Mandate letters made reference to expectations that the Government will deliver real results and professional government to Canadians and that individual ministers should track and report on progress towards commitments; assess the effectiveness of work; and align resources with priorities, in order to get the results Canadians deserve.
Such a focus on tangible climate and water solutions is well aligned with the Canadian clean technology industry’s focus on delivering economic and environmental results both domestically and globally.
We are pleased to share the following references to clean technology, energy and the environment contained in the Government of Canada’s Ministerial Mandate letters. For your reference, we have added links to the full Mandate letter for each of the Ministers mentioned below.
“Work in partnership with the United States and Mexico and the Ministers of Natural Resources and Foreign Affairs to develop an ambitious North American clean energy and environment agreement.
Work with provinces and territories to set stronger air quality standards, monitor emissions, and provide incentives for investments that lead to cleaner air and healthier communities.
Support the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities in protecting our communities from the challenges of climate change and supporting them in the transition toward more sustainable economic growth by making significant new investments in green infrastructure.”
“Work closely with provinces and territories to: develop a Canadian Energy Strategy to protect Canada’s energy security; encourage energy conservation; and bring cleaner, renewable energy onto a smarter electricity grid.
Work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development to invest in clean technology producers, so that they can tackle Canada’s most pressing environmental challenges and create more opportunities for Canadian workers.
Work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and other responsible ministers to support innovation and the use of clean technologies in our natural resource sectors, including the forestry, fisheries, mining, energy, and agricultural sectors.
Work with the Minister of Finance to explore opportunities to enhance existing tax measures to generate more clean technology investments, and engage with provinces and territories to make Canada the world’s most competitive tax jurisdiction for investments in the research, development, and manufacturing of clean technology.”
“Support the Ministers of Natural Resources and the Environment and Climate Change in making investments that will make our resource sectors world leaders in the use and development of clean and sustainable technology and processes.”
Improve relations with the United States, our closest ally and most important economic and security partner, and strengthen trilateral North American cooperation with the United States and Mexico. This would include working with the relevant Ministers to:
“Develop a North American clean energy and environment agreement.
Re-energize Canadian diplomacy and leadership on key international issues and in multilateral institutions.
In collaboration with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, making Canada a leader of international efforts to combat climate change.”
Innovation, Science and Economic DevelopmentMinister Bains:
“Support the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources in makingstrategic investments in our clean technology sector.
Support the Ministers of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Indigenous and Northern Affairs, and Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in making investments that will make our resource sectors world leaders in the use and development of clean and sustainable technology and processes.”
“Work with the Minister of Natural Resources to enhance existing tax measures to generatemore clean technology investments and work with the provinces and territories to make Canada’s tax system highly competitive for investments in the research, development, and manufacturing of clean technology.
Work with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change in creating a new Low Carbon Economy Trust to help fund projects that materially reduce carbon emissions under the new pan-Canadian framework.
Work with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to fulfill our G20 commitment and phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the medium-term.
Work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development to ensure tax measures are efficient and encourage innovation, trade and the growth of Canadian businesses
Develop proposals to allow a Canadian Exploration Expenses tax deduction only in cases of unsuccessful exploration and re-direct any savings to investments in new and clean technologies.“
“Support the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and Natural Resources to make strategic investments in clean technology and our resource sectors. We want Canadian firms to be world leaders in the use and development of clean and sustainable technology and processes that can be exported globally.
Support the Minister of Foreign Affairs to strengthen our relationship with our North American partners, advance bilateral and trilateral initiatives to reduce impediments to trade between our countries and to strengthen North America’s global competitiveness. You should also support the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Natural Resources in developing a North American clean energy and environment agreement.“
“Work with the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, who will have the lead, and in consultation with provincial and territorial governments as well as municipalities, to develop and implement an Infrastructure Strategy which will see significant investments made to improve public transit infrastructure and green infrastructure. The Strategy should also improve access to, and governance of, existing infrastructure programs, increase data collection capacity, promote better asset management of infrastructure in Canada and provide better supports for local communities.”
“Green infrastructure, including investments in local water and wastewater facilities, clean energy, climate resilient infrastructure like flood mitigation systems, and infrastructure to protect against changing weather.”
“Lead the establishment of new Canada Research Chairs in sustainable technologies, working with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.”
“Support the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development in launching an Innovation Agenda to expand support for incubators and accelerators, as well as the emerging national network for business innovation and cluster support. In addition, work with him as he clarifies innovation and business development programs, including the Industrial Research Assistance Program, and new programs, to ensure we are world leaders in clean and sustainable technologies and to ensure that our programs are supportive of small businesses that are seeking to become more productive, more innovative and more export-oriented.”
*There were 14 references to clean technology and solutions in Ministerial Mandate letters. The only reference to fossil fuels is “to phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the medium-term.”
So this begs the question: why does the Liberal government support the expansion of the Tar Sands and the construction of pipelines? SOURCE
Rolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of BoomerWarrior.Org. He’s a Climate Reality leader, a Blogger and a Climate Activist. He’s a member of Climate Reality Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ottawa) and 350.Org (Ottawa), the Ethical Team (as an influencer) and Global Population Speakout.
Rolly has been published widely in both print and online publications. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.
Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna speaks during a news conference, in Paris, France, on Nov. 29, 2015. McKenna has been named to a group of 14 international ministers who will serve as facilitators of the COP21 climate conference in Paris. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
One Friday, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial environment ministers used their first ministerial-level meeting in ten years to “take stock” of the challenge of reducing carbon emissions and continue to work on a national strategy to combat climate change.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna sat down with The Housefollowing the meeting to talk about the upcoming first ministers meeting on climate.
Approx. location of the Zibi condo development project at the sacred Akikodjiwan falls site on the Ottawa River, downtown Ottawa/Gatineau (Map: Google Maps)
(Wendake, Wendat Territory/January 27, 2016) Chiefs and Representatives from nine Algonquin First Nations met today while attending an Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Chiefs’ Meeting to have a presentation on the proposed developments for Lebreton Flats and while there they will also discuss their ongoing opposition to the proposed Windmill Development Condo Project at a sacred waterfront area on the Ottawa River known by the Algonquins as Akikodjiwan.
The regional (AFNQL) and national (AFN) Chiefs organizations have duly adopted support resolutions endorsing the position of the nine Algonquin First Nations who oppose the condo project, inappropriately named by the development company as the “Zibi” project the Algonquin word for river.
Only one Algonquin First Nation, Pikwàkaganàn supports the condo project out of the ten communities that form the Algonquin Nation.
The nine Algonquin First Nations are seeking the return of the sacred waterfront area and islands to Algonquin control and management as an Algonquin Cultural Heritage site to maintain a permanent presence in the National Capital Region, which is unceded Algonquin Territory.
The Algonquin Nation Chiefs are coming to Ottawa on February 5, 2016, for a meeting with the National Capital Commission regarding the Le Breton Flats land use.
Rolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of 
