Prentice calls for stronger environment department
PC candidate cool to carbon capture
JAMES WOOD
CA LGA RY — The Alberta government has been “off its game” for years when it comes to climate-change policy, Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice said Wednesday as he dismissed carbon capture and storage as a science experiment and called for a beefed-up environment department.
On Tuesday, auditor general Merwan Saher issued a scathing report that found under Alberta’s climate change plan, the government is missing its greenhouse gas reduction targets, hasn’t regularly monitored the plan’s results and has yet to publish a single document on its outcomes.
Saher’s report noted that carbon capture and storage projects — a centrepiece of then premier Ed Stelmach’s plan unveiled in 2008 — are anticipated to contribute only 10 per cent of the reductions originally expected of them, despite more than $1 billion committed by the province.
In a meeting with the Calgary Herald editorial board, Prentice — a former federal environmentminister—suggested there would be no future dollars forthcoming for carbon capture and storage (CCS) if he becomes premier after September’s vote of Progressive Conservative party members.
“I’d move away from those investments. It’s not a panacea, it’s a science experiment,” he said.
“It has not progressed at the pace that people have thought. It’s still important and we should not abandon it. But we should be very careful of large public investments in carbon capture and storage.”
Alberta’s climate-change plan was launched as the province attracted worldwide attention for the carbon footprint of the oilsands.
Prentice said Alberta’s environment department must be bolstered and supported by the premier.
“You can’t advance an environmental agenda, but more to the point, you can’t defend yourself either domestically or internationally.
That frankly has been the position Alberta has been in for many years.
“We’ve not had the strength inside Alberta Environment, the scientific strength, the monitoring capacity or the regulatory regime to defend ourselves internationally as protecting the environment.”
Echoing comments made by Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith a day earlier, Prentice said Alberta’s prime area for achievable greenhouse gas reductions lies in the electrical generation sector, which relies extensively on coal and is roughly equivalent in emissions to the oilsands.
One of Prentice’s leadership rivals, Thomas Lukaszuk, said the carbon capture investment was “the right thing to do” and can play a key role in Alberta’s development as a centre for research and development related to the energy industry.
The third candidate in the PC leadership race, Ric McIver, could not be reached for comment.