Notley owes us the numbers for climate action
It’s hard not to be cynical about the climate change farce starting in Paris today. It’s even more difficult not to be enraged ( sickened?) by the eco- illogical cheerleading of Premier Rachel Notley leading the pack. She couldn’t handicap Alberta’s energy- driven economy any faster if she were OPEC itself. That Notley should be so smugly proud of this fact is perhaps her own kick in the teeth to Albertans.
Toot toot! Tens of thousands of people making superficial proclamations from nearly 200 countries have been carbon- jetted, driven, boated to the City of Lights. On the boondoggle are most of our premiers and territory leaders and/ or their reps, along with our prime minister and federal environment minister ( so they can add their extensive knowledge and five minutes of experience to the issue).
Scientists from any remotely related special interest group, most government funded, are there. Some Canadian medical students are there to make the case that global warming is unhealthy; that will stop the conference dead in its tracks.
One can only hope and pray that our entire economy isn’t handed over on a silver platter in some preening, “look at me, how good am I?” gesture. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is going in the hope of controlling efforts to “kneecap” that province’s economy. Godspeed, Premier Wall, Godspeed.
If there is any consolation to the pretence, and if letters to the editor are any indication, Albertans are having none of it.
Let’s start with the $ 3- billion- per- year carbon tax to be collected from Albertans at about $ 500 for an average household. The high cost will discourage energy waste, says Notley, and anyways, 60 per cent of people are going to get a rebate. First of all, this is a cost to the Alberta consumer that will have negligible impact on the world, or even Alberta’s environment, because this doesn’t stop consumption. We still have to heat and light our homes and put gas in the car.
The three major oilsands developers smiled at the podium with Notley because their emissions cap has actually been increased, and their development plans won’t be constrained until well after Notley’s long gone. But the biggest tell is the rebate: don’t all households need to be encouraged to reduce their consumption? Having the top 40 per cent of earners pay that bill for the other 60 per cent is simple wealth redistribution, tax revenue without calling it a sales tax ( the bogeyman).
Presenting this as some environmental coup is ridiculous and insulting.
Having rushed to say we’re dumping all our coal- fired plants in very short order for what will result in not a burp of actual global environmental difference, Notley owes us the rest of it. How much are we, the taxpayer, going to pay to buy off these facilities, and then build new ones for whatever replaces that generation capacity? Having induced companies to invest in power generation in the only province in Canada where public utility infrastructure is built at the risk of private investors, you can’t now say, sorry, changed our minds. We’re not Venezuela after all, so it’s right these companies have to be compensated.
Current estimates are between $ 4 billion and $ 12 billion for early retirement of these coal plants alone. Then there’s the cost of replacing them with new hugely expensive plants for the unreliable renewables, their transmission lines, and backup systems that will have to be built — paid for by the taxpayer or the consumer; either way, that’s you and me. How many billions will that be?
In return, apparently Alberta will suddenly diversify into new renewable industries, solving a problem Europeans and Americans have been working on for decades with exponentially bigger budgets and expertise — and all with our $ 3 billion per year ( minus bureaucracy collection costs). We’re good — but that good?
Notley owes us the numbers.
Having rushed to say we’re dumping all our coal- fired plants ... for what will result in not a burp of actual global environmental difference, Notley owes us the rest of it.