Alberta Government Back Pedals on Role of CCS in Tar Sands

Alberta reaction mixed to questions about carbon capture technology

Last Updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 | 10:25 AM MT

CBC News

Senior Alberta government cabinet ministers expressed different opinions Monday on what effect carbon capture technology would have on reducing pollution from the oilsands industry in light of internal government documents that call that technology into question.

Previously secret ministerial briefing notes obtained by CBC News under freedom of information legislation said only a small percentage of carbon dioxide released by mining the oilsands can be captured and injected underground for storage.

The briefing notes are based on the findings of a joint Canada-Alberta task force on carbon capture and storage.

“Never has been arguments been made that this was any kind of panacea,” Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said in response Monday. “There are opportunities for carbon capture and storage in Alberta. Those opportunities lie to some degree in oilsands.”

Fort Chip to World: SOS

Climate change, water policy and aboriginal health. Three issues that should be atop the election agenda. Three issues that start with the oil sands.

Canadians are dying. Our government is doing nothing about it. Will it take world attention to end this injustice?

That’s what some residents of Fort Chipewyan, the small northern Alberta town at the mouth of Lake Athabasca, have concluded, starting a campaign for an oil sands moratorium that they plan to take across North America and Europe, until health and water concerns are addressed.

Residents in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., say they saw this fish, seen in this Aug. 15 photo, caught from Lake Athabasca the previous week. (Courtesy of Ling Wang)

Fort Chip, an aboriginal community of 1200, has received increasing attention due to the high levels of cancer in the community. Dr. John O’Connor, a fly-in doctor first raised the issue publicly in 2005, noting the unusually high levels of a rare bile duct cancer, but was soon silenced by Health Canada and reprimanded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta for causing “undue alarm”. Only last December was he finally cleared.

Impacts of the Tar Sands

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/economic-environmental-costs-of-tar-

sands-unthinkable.php

Economic, Environmental Costs of Developing Tar Sands & Oil Shale “Unthinkable”: WWF-UK

by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 07.29.08

Science & Technology

Buzz up!

Photo from a tar sands protest action in Calgary, January 2008 by Steve Loo via flickr.

We’ve written so many times about the unmitigated environmental disaster that is tapping unconventional sources of oil, such as Canadian tar sands and US oil shales, that the subject may be old hat to many TreeHugger readers. That said, a new report from WWF-UK has summed up just how bad the environmental impact of these projects actually is, that it’s worth passing on.

Ontario to Join in Carbon Trading Pact

Ontario to sign cap-and-trade climate plan

McGuinty pans Alberta plan to invest in carbon capture, storage

Lee Greenberg, The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=d7f4d1a6-3718-45d8-bbaa-7e401aa3fb99

Published: Friday, July 18, 2008

QUEBEC CITY – Ontario will join a transcontinental environmental network devoted to fighting climate change as early as today, increasing pressure on Alberta and Saskatchewan to ramp up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a move praised by environmentalists, Ontario will sign on to the Western Climate Initiative, joining seven U.S. states, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec. The WCI includes plans to establish North America’s first transcontinental cap-and-trade system in 2012.

One climate-change expert described the news as “an important development” in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

A Generational Challenge to Repower America – Al Gore

2008-07-17 A Generational Challenge to Repower America, Al Gore

A Generational Challenge to Repower America, Al Gore

D.A.R. Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C.

July 17, 2008

Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more – if more should be required – the future of human civilization is at stake.

I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

Alberta: Eco-slowpoke

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=3d74435e-41cc-45d0-a587-682be30182f9

Suzuki Foundation says Alberta lags in commitment to improving environment

Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald

Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

CALGARY – Alberta’s carbon-intensive oilsands and weak climate-change policies have made it the environmental laggard in Canada, according to a new report from David Suzuki Foundation.

The environmental think-tank released the document Wednesday morning in Quebec City, as Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial premiers gather there for the Council of the Federation conference.

It finds that most provinces – namely British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario – have set stronger climate-change targets than the federal government and are outperforming Ottawa on the file.

Suncor’s on-site oilsands refinery near Fort McMurray

Ottawa and Alberta lag behind

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080716.wclimate0716/BNStory/National/home

Ottawa far behind provinces on climate change: report

BRIAN LAGHI

Globe and Mail Update

July 16, 2008 at 1:07 PM EDT

QUEBEC — A leading environmental organization says Ottawa can take lessons from a clutch of Canadian provinces that it says are well in front of a laggard federal government on coping with climate change.

The report from the David Suzuki Foundation argues that most provinces have better climate change plans than the Stephen Harper Conservatives.

“The leadership vacuum at the federal level is being filled with action from the provinces and territories,” said Dale Marshall, the report’s author and a Suzuki Foundation policy analyst.

Top on the list was British Columbia, followed by Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario. The province with the poorest plan was Alberta.

B.C. tops Suzuki green rankings as oil-rich provinces bring up the rear

OTTAWA — A new report by the David Suzuki Foundation ranking provincial and territorial climate change plans gives low marks to oil-rich Alberta and Saskatchewan, while lauding British Columbia for its recently implemented carbon tax.

The report likewise singles out Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario as “progressive provinces” for their plans to tackle carbon dioxide emissions.

The Maritime provinces and Nunavut garnered a “fair” rating for their climate-change policies, while the plans of Newfoundland, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan were deemed “poor.”

Alberta was pegged as having the worst plan to confront the country’s changing climate.

Alberta Worst Offender on Climate Change

New report shows provincial action on climate change heating up (except in Alberta)

 

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         July 16, 2008

QUEBEC CITY – Most provinces (Alberta not included) are stepping up with strong targets and policies to reduce greenhouse gases in the absence of federal leadership on climate change, says a new David Suzuki Foundation report.

No Consensus on Climate Action

Climate policy divide expected at Canada premiers’ meeting

Published by Point Carbon: 15 Jul 08 17:03 Last updated: 15 Jul 08 17:14

http://www.pointcarbon.com/news/1.947128

Carbon trading backers are expected to come head to head with those advocating carbon capture and storage technology to fight climate change when Canada’s premiers attend their annual meeting this week, market observers said.

Premiers from all 13 Canadian provinces and territories will come together 16-18 July for the premiers’ summer meeting organised by the Council of the Federation, an association formed in 2003 to foster a constructive relationship between the provinces and territories and with the federal government.

Climate change will be one of the main topics of discussion, said the federation.