Focus energies on home front
A curious thing happened this week after the United States Senate narrowly said “no” to a bill that would have forced the Keystone XL pipeline onto President Barack Obama’s White House desk.
Like a blob of bitumen smeared onto a piece of paper and displayed as a made-in-Alberta Rorschach test, players on both sides of the increasingly wide North American pipeline divide saw what they wanted in that “no.” Most striking was the glasshalf-full attitude adopted by opponents and proponents alike.
Democrats who are politically opposed to the pipeline and environmental groups celebrated, for obvious reasons. But Canadian Keystone advocates also found silver linings.
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said the effort to kick-start the project — a single vote shy of the 60 needed to make Obama take a formal stand — shows a high level of pipeline support in both houses of Congress. Alberta Premier Jim Prentice called it the “high water mark for bipartisan support,” and announced that he plans to head to Washington, D.C., in January, just as the new Republican dominated Congress takes over.
Silver linings aside, TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline — and Alberta’s hope for expanded market access for its oil via the Gulf Coast — is in for a continued rough ride. Obama is clearly not a fan.
And it is hard to imagine what Alberta politicians, even an experienced guy like Prentice, could say after six years of aggressive and expensive lobbying to sway those who are still in the anti-Keystone camp. Someone like California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who declared Tuesday that “misery follows the tar sands,” isn’t going to change her tune.
After six years, Canadian leaders should know there are things at play in American politics that they can’t hope to influence. Officials at the highest levels have been making the case for the $8-billion pipeline for years.
In the meantime, Keystone has become a proxy for a host of nasty Democrat-Republican battles. And TransCanada made major missteps at the start of the process, which have left many in states such as Nebraska permanently soured on the project.
If Prentice feels it is important to go to Washington in two months, we will not begrudge him one meet and greet. But D.C. no longer seems like the best place to expend Alberta’s energy on energy. The chips with Keystone will fall where they may.
Alberta should, instead, focus its energies on the home front. Environmental pressure is heating up on the more promising Energy East pipeline proposed to connect the oilsands to refineries in New Brunswick. There is much work to do within the country to address concerns and prevent a repeat of Keystone missteps.
And at home, Alberta needs to back up with concrete action its boasts of environmental leadership and responsible stewardship.
This week’s throne speech saw the Prentice government say, “Alberta must take meaningful, effective action to show we are as serious about the environment business as we are about the energy business.”
Good. But we’ve heard that before. Albertans, and Canada’s energy customers, need to see a real plan to clean up the oilsands industry’s tailings ponds. Alberta also needs a serious renewable energy strategy — something the Progressive Conservatives promised but failed to deliver under premier Alison Redford.
And the new climate change framework to cut carbon emissions promised in the throne speech can’t come quickly enough. Wildlife habitat protection needs fast action, too.
The eyes of the world are on Alberta. Prentice must take concrete action that isn’t open to interpretation.