Alberta Unveils Zero Coal Plan

Alberta’s government unveiled a sweeping plan on Sunday to phase out coal, curb emissions from oil and gas, grow renewables and price carbon, marking a stark policy reversal for the province that is home to the tar sands, Canada’s ground zero of fossil fuel production.

Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta, said: “Responding to climate change is about doing what’s right for future generations of Albertans – protecting our jobs, health and the environment”.

With the United Nations global climate treaty talks starting in Paris next week, Alberta’s plan is the latest in a string of last-minute emissions-related goals and mandates being announced.

“There’s no question it’s important for us to be able to communicate to the world that it is possible to be an energy producer in a responsible, sustainable, thoughtful, transparent way”, Notley said at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting.

Several recent setbacks, including plunging oil prices, which spurred industry layoffs and companies such as Suncor and Royal Dutch Shell to ditch plans for new facilities, and President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline have sent the oil sands industry reeling.

And considering the weekend’s announcement, that might be just as well. He rejected it after seven years of review.

If the premier chooses this route, Albertans will know that households, especially lower- and middle-income families, will not be negatively affected, and that the economy as a whole will see tax relief to increase its competitiveness.

“Every cent that is collected by the carbon tax will be recycled back into the economy immediately”, Notley told reporters Tuesday on a conference call.

Alberta’s spring budget will likely provide more details on the rebate program, and further overall financial details of the new plan.

And the point of the tax is to make people take on the cost of their carbon pollution, Moore said.

Large emitters will continue to be regulated based on their carbon emissions per barrel of oil, although those requirements will be more stringent.

TransAlta Corp., the largest coal-fired power generator, said it was heartened by the gradual shift that it said would “ensure system reliability and price stability” for customers.

Notley’s provincial colleagues are optimistic that Alberta’s climate-change plan, combined with policies from other provinces such as Ontario and Quebec (which have adopted cap-and-trade plans) and British Columbia (with a revenue-neutral carbon tax on fuel) will help rebrand Canada’s image on energy development and the environment. “We are going to put capital to work, investing in new technologies, better efficiency, and job-creating investments in green infrastructure”.

“Canadians understand that we need concrete action. And maybe some dried cowpies, too”. The industry is now pinning its hopes on rival proposals to funnel crude to Canada’s coasts, including TransCanada’s $12-billion (Canadian) Energy East project and Kinder Morgan Inc.’s $6.8-billion Trans Mountain expansion.

Minister responsible for SaskPower Bill Boyd said: “That means a major expansion of wind power augmented by other renewables, such as solar, biomass, geothermal and hydro, to go along with the world leading Boundary Dam 3 carbon capture project and more natural gas generation”. After years of the Harper administration muzzling its climate scientists, cutting environmental research funding, and rarely discussing the issue publicly, everyone apparently agrees that climate change is real (whoa) and we’re not doing enough about it (double whoa).