Parties promise to phase out coal, encourage renewables
As Alberta’s caribou herds shrink, Carolyn Campbell has been calling for a halt to lease sales to oil and gas companies in sensitive areas.
Yet on Wednesday, in the midst of the election, the province went ahead with more lease sales in key caribou forests without new (and long-promised) rules to limit disturbance from roads and pipelines.
“Selling more leases will make caribou survival harder and it’s time for our political leaders to get better forestry management practices,” said Campbell, conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association.
Environment issues abound in Alberta — tailings ponds, worsening air pollution, aging coal plants, wildlife survival, clean water, energy conservation and the lack of a renewable energy strategy (the only province without one).
In Edmonton, for instance, levels of one unhealthy air pollutant — particulate matter — at times reached levels worse Toronto on a bad air day.
Government critics have long said Alberta’s weak environmental policies are a key reason the province can’t get new pipelines built.
For environmentalists, Alberta’s rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are at the top of the agenda.
While political parties differ widely on their approach, most call for phasing out coal-fired electricity — but provide little help for caribou in their election platforms.
The Progressive Conservatives promise a plan to reduce GHG emissions, but not until after the election. It will deliver “ambitious” GHG reductions, says leader Jim Prentice. It’s not clear a Prentice government would increase Alberta’s $15 a tonne levy on excess GHG emissions. An increase might hurt the industry’s competitive position, say the Tories.
The Wildrose also would not raise the $15 a tonne levy. Leader Brian Jean says he’d reduce GHG emissions by phasing out coal and moving to abundant and low-cost natural gas for electricity.
“Natural gas is low in emissions, low in GHG and we can have a strategy to replace coal,” Jean told the Journal editorial board.
Wildrose would cancel the $2 billion in subsidies to carbon capture and storage, a position also supported by the New Democrats, who would put that cash into transit.
The NDP would also phase out coal plants, expand wind and solar power to reduce GHG emissions and provide loans to make homes and small businesses more energy efficient. As for oilsands emissions, the NDP say they would work with industry and other provinces to come up with a strategy.
The Liberals also promise to phase out coal, to put a price on carbon and provide incentives for energy conservation.
Campbell would also like to see if any opposition parties would make changes to the Alberta Energy Regulator, now responsible for environmental enforcement.
The fledging Green party of Alberta goes the farthest, calling for a moratorium on additional oilsands projects until environmental policy is developed to deal with pollution and rising GHGs. The Green party wants 50-percent renewable energy on the power grid by 2030 and an environmental bill of rights.
Albertans should ask parties how they would improve the new Alberta Energy Regulator set up by the Tories to speed up approvals of energy projects, said Campbell. “Now we have full speed ahead for development, but not for the new environment standards,” Campbell said. smpratt@edmontonjournal.com