Federal government doesn’t have a vendetta against Alberta
By Lethbridge Herald on November 21, 2024.
Editor:
Premier Danielle Smith plans to challenge the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions cap in court (The Herald, Nov. 5). She claims that federal Environment and Climate Change Minister, Steven Guilbeault, has a ‘deranged vendetta’ against Alberta.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Canada is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 – 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Canadians are already doing their part towards this goal. Canada’s oil and gas sector, the largest source of our GHG emissions, should be willing to do its part also.
As of 2022, Canada’s oil and gas sector was responsible for 30.6 per cent of our country’s overall annual GHG emissions. This makes it the single largest source of emissions in Canada, with the Alberta oil sands sub-sector being responsible for 12 per cent of Canada’s overall GHG emissions.
The Alberta government and industry groups have recently cited third-party studies modelling the hypothetical impacts of the emissions cap on the province’s economy. But analysis by the Pembina Institute finds that these studies hinge on the assumption that the industry chooses to take very little meaningful action to reduce emissions, and therefore has no choice but to limit production in the future when the cap comes into effect.
This is highly misleading. The oil and gas sector has options available now to future-proof its operations and continue to make an important contribution to Canada’s future economy. But to do so, it must invest in long-promised corporate emissions reduction projects without delay.
For example, accelerate the Oil Sands Pathways Alliance plan to reduce GHG emissions by 22 million tonnes per year by 2030; achieve federal and provincial targets to reduce oil and gas methane by 75 per cent; utilize the federal government’s incentives for investment in CCUS technology (carbon capture, utilization and storage).
The climate change crisis is the greatest security threat facing Canadians. The oil and gas sector, which has amassed tremendous wealth over its lifetime, must step up and do its part towards ensuring a liveable world for our children and young people.
Anne Morris
Lethbridge
12-11
Perhaps a little more understanding of benefits of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and fossil fuel use would be helpful. Check out Alex Epstein’s book, “Fossil Future”
Perhaps Ms. Morris could be supportive of this potential CCUS technology?
http://www.computare.org/Support%20documents/Publications/Soil%20from%20Oil/Soil%20From%20Oil0001.pdf
Also, don’t forget to read up on who exactly Epstein is:
In 2016, Epstein testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at the invitation of the committee’s chairman, James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who has called climate change a “hoax”. Epstein suggested that rising carbon dioxide levels “benefit plants and Americans”. When questioned by committee member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as to why Epstein, whose academic training is in philosophy, was even there, Epstein responded, “to teach you how to think clearly.” Boxer replied, “[Y]ou are a philosopher, not a scientist, and I don’t appreciate getting lectured by a philosopher about science”
Yes! He has a surprising appreciation of science based issues.
I’m sure he appreciated how Inhofe’s snowball disproved global warming. Do you think they had a stimulating Socratic dialectic on the ethics of denialism?
Prendergast and Epstein, two libertarian climate change hoaxers linked by a common thread of troll – like misinformation.
An emissions cap is very detrimental to the growth prospects for Alberta energy, and is being used as a political weapon. However, the issue is irrelevant since the liberal government will soon be gone and the policy scrapped.
There was a time and a whole movement dedicated to 350 ppm. Over that and we were all toast, now running around 420, the only thing changed after trillions of dollars and media propaganda is the elites are exempt and you’re poorer
Anne has nailed it and while the Reformers whine about it they ignore the fact that it was Conservatives who created the Carbon Tax to help our oil executives show the world that we do care about Global warming and want to help the world try to do something about it. It was Suncor who admitted that the Federal Government targets were achievable using green energy to help with it while these Reformer Party fools treat their supporters like morons and claim it will financially destroy them and destroy jobs and look how many ignorant fools believe it?
the issue of carbon dioxide itself, notwithstanding the toxic fallout that is the consequence of mining and its too many other byproducts, is the degree to which the planet can absorb the carbon dioxide being emitted.
one of the great issues of our time is the degree to which oceans are not able to keep up, as they are our biggest absorbers of c02. we also depend on plant life to do a great bit absorbing, as well. however, our oceans have been under siege by the likes of overfishing, oil spills, dumping of garbage and toxic materials, and of course, the ubiquitous plastics. ocean plant life has been decimated (not just our coral reefs), as has plant life on our surface. moreover, i wonder how much lingering surface oil and plastics lay a role in altering water temperature, as well as maybe deflecting away quality sunlight that ocean life needs to sustain the massive volume of life forms therein. and make no mistake about it, our waters are glazed with beautiful oil. how well does the sun’s nourishment make it through that layer of oil and microplastics?
of course, plastics are one of those wonderful by products of the oil industry. the oil industry thinking green is indeed a lie, as they trump up the delivery of plastics to us stupid consumers who are all too eager to buy whatever it is our money “entitles” us to fancy.
here is some interesting reading on the effects on microplastics. just to say, again, that our issues are far, far more massive than any “green” energy we think we can concoct to save us. our issues are over consumption, of goods and of the natural world.
‘Humans are eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics. Scientists are still studying how we might be affected by the plastics that are making their way into our food, water, and air, but what they do know should cause alarm.
Dr. Warner highlighted that The United Nations has calculated there are 13,000 chemicals that are used to make plastic. We know that a quarter of those are hazardous to human health. Half of them haven’t even been tested yet, so we do not yet know what they do to human health. She explained, “They’re trade secrets. They don’t have to tell us what chemicals they’ve added to the plastic that we’re using.”
Dr. Warner said that we know much more about the harms from the chemicals that are added to plastic than we do about the microplastics that end up in our bodies. She described a host of known diseases from exposure to these chemicals including harm to our reproductive system, cardiovascular health, kidneys and nervous systems.
Plastic in the oceans may also interfere with the ocean’s capacity to absorb and sequester carbon dioxide, thus creating another pathway through which plastic pollution contributes to and accelerates climate change.
Microplastics concentrate on the very thin surface layer of the ocean. Dr. Warner said, “The oceans have been taking up 30 to 50% of all of this carbon dioxide that we’ve emitted. So, if we disrupt the ability of the ocean to do this, it will just make climate change that much worse.” ‘ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/peril-and-promise/2023/11/how-single-use-plastics-hurt-our-oceans-and-warm-our-planet/
we are hooped if we do not make very conscious choices about scaling back our wants, in large ways. even the perfectly cleanest all the way through form of energy will not save us if remain ignorant, selfish over consumers of goods and destroyers of the natural world.
Well said, biff. (And Anne Morris, in the letter).
And then we have the carbon-dioxide-for-life crowd, bucky and the 350ppm-lightswitch, the if-i-didn’t-do-it-someone-else-would postures of denialism. Quite a shame we can’t get past our entitlements and our complicity.