Amid intensifying global criticism of its environmental record, the Alberta government said Tuesday it will direct $4 billion of its expected surplus toward reducing the province’s growing carbon footprint.
The extra billions — fuelled by soaring prices for oil and natural gas — are being divvied up equally between a fund to help the energy industry develop carbon capture and storage technology and public transit proposals that get Albertans out of their cars and onto buses and commuter trains.
“These are major initiatives,” he said Tuesday in Calgary. “We can’t wait for others to act. We won’t wait for others to determine Albertans’ future.”
The Tories expect carbon capture will cut annual greenhouse gas emissions by five million tonnes by 2015 — the equivalent of one million vehicles, helping the province meet its 2020 climate goals.
Alberta’s enhanced effort to address greenhouse gases drew praise from many quarters Tuesday.
“We could not be more pleased that we are seeing actions, not words,” Epcor Utilities’ president and chief executive Don Lowry said of the $2-billion carbon-capture fund.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said it was “a very good day for public transit.”
“It’s very exciting news, certainly for commuters and people who use public transit,” the mayor said.
However, the big dollars also sparked accusations of government perks for Big Oil and warnings about allocating a surplus that isn’t yet in the bank.
“This is essentially a taxpayer subsidization of pollution-reduction efforts on the part of industry,” NDP MLA Rachel Notley said of the carbon-capture fund. “We think that’s something industry should be paying for.”
Doubts are also surfacing that the initiatives will be enough to polish Alberta’s tarnished environmental image, as concern mounts about the role man-made carbon dioxide is playing in climate change.
While Alberta’s bountiful bitumen reserves have attracted international investment worth $100 billion, they’ve drawn intense ire, too, from environmental groups and some American politicians. Oilsands production creates roughly three times more greenhouse gas than conventional oil.
“I don’t think that concern is going to be quelled until . . . people around the world actually see Alberta reducing its greenhouse gas pollution,” said Dan Woynillowicz of the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental think-tank.
The province’s greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in Canada, pegged at 234 million tonnes in 2006.
Environment Minister Rob Renner said Tuesday he expects the carbon fund will spur an annual reduction of up to five million tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2015, taking the equivalent of one million vehicles off the road.
Stelmach said details of how much money the energy industry will contribute to carbon-capture technology will be revealed in the next few weeks.
The premier said the $4-billion funding commitment will be in keeping with the province’s philosophy of funnelling one-third of surplus dollars into savings, one-third into capital projects and one-third into maintenance.
Part of the surplus may be used to cover the deficits of Alberta’s nine health regions.
Health Minister Ron Liepert said Tuesday he hopes government will agree to pick up the tab — expected to total at least $200 million — by the end of summer.
Liepert’s comments came as the new medical superboard made its first significant cuts to administration, firing eight regional chief executives. Jack Davis, CEO of the Calgary Health Region, is among those who are leaving.
The province expects details to emerge in the fall on which carbon-capture and transit projects win approval.
Talk of a high-speed train linking Calgary to Edmonton, though, remains on the backburner, for now.
“I think it’s inevitable that it will have to happen in the future,” said Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette. “We haven’t even done the . . . study on what (securing) the right-of way is going to cost us, yet, so it’s a ways down the road.”
Liberal MLA Harry Chase doesn’t think it should be.
He said the government has studies showing the high-speed rail project would be economically feasible, reduce highway congestion and vehicle emissions — and save lives.
“We’ve got to get it from Calgary to Edmonton and then as quickly as possible, we’ve got to take it up to Fort McMurray,” Chase said.
“We’ve got to quit killing people on Highway 63 and get rid of carnage we’re seeing on Highway 2.”
[Calgary Herald]
0 comments for this entry ↓
There are no comments yet for this entry.
Leave a Comment