Among the several examples of foolery \u2013 cutting off oil to B.C., a referendum on equalization \u2013 that accompanied his swearing-in as Premier of Alberta last week, one statement by Jason Kenney stood out. The man who had pledged to spend multi-millions on a war room to attack those who say anything negative about the oil industry declared the need \u201cto strike the right balance between environmental protection and economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a story under the headline \u201cKenney vows to restore balance,\u201d the Globe and Mail<\/em> reported Kenney\u2019s assertion that \u201cthere is no balance in Alberta right now\u201d but it will be restored through \u201cconsultation as opposed to the NDP\u2019s path of confrontation.\u201d Anyone who hasn\u2019t had his head in the sand (or some place even darker) will recognize the utter ludicrousness of that statement.<\/p>\n During its four years in power, the Notley government pursued \u201cbalance\u201d \u2013 literally to a fault. Its policies on carbon emissions were devised with the help of a committee composed of two oil industry reps (one management, one union) and three believers in the fairy tale notion that oil sands expansion and environmental protection could go hand in hand.<\/p>\n The policy package they produced consisted of a carbon tax and a phase-out of coal-fired electricity in return for eventual federal pipeline approval and a green light for a 40 per cent increase (spun as a 100 megatonne ceiling) on carbon emissions from the oil sands. The trade-off was popular enough with Big Oil that four of its major honchos were among those who joined Rachel Notley on stage on Nov. 22, 2015 to announce the Alberta Climate Plan. Leading the quartet was Calgary billionaire wheeler-dealer Murray Edwards of Canadian Natural Resources who expressed appreciation for \u201cthe strong leadership taken today by Premier Notley.”[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Any confrontation that followed in later years was stirred up not by Notley’s NDP but by reactionary or self-interested oil industry players and partisan Conservatives like Kenney, exploiting anxiety about low oil prices and opposition to carbon taxes, the delay in pipeline construction and the Trudeau government\u2019s general ineptness to seek political gains in Alberta and nationally.<\/p>\n Oil sands emissions increased<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, data on greenhouse gas emissions released last month by Environment Canada show that despite Kenney’s nightmarish dark days when \u201cenvironmental protection\u201d held sway over \u201ceconomic growth,\u201d carbon emissions in Alberta continued to climb \u2013 especially in the oil sands.<\/p>\n\n As the table shows, Alberta experienced a small drop in overall greenhouse gas emissions between 2015 and 2017, entirely due to declines in the electricity, transportation and conventional oil and gas sectors. Meanwhile, emissions from the oil sands grew by almost 10 megatonnes, or 14 per cent, offsetting those reductions and, indeed, any reductions achieved by Canada as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t \nSector<\/th> 2015<\/th> 2016<\/th> 2017<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n\t Total GHG emissions<\/td> 275 mt<\/td> 264 mt<\/td> 273 mt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t Oil Sands<\/td> 68.2 mt<\/td> 69.8 mt<\/td> 78.0 mt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t Conventional oil and gas<\/td> 62.9 mt<\/td> 60.0 mt<\/td> 59.0 mt <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t Electricity<\/td> 47.8 mt<\/td> 42.6 mt<\/td> 44.3 mt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t Transportation<\/td> 32.2 mt<\/td> 30.8 mt<\/td> 30.7 mt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n