The party is promising a host of planet-friendly reforms, and the petro-province’s new preem, Rachel Notley, was once the NDP’s vocal environment critic. What will her takeover mean for Canada’s biggest greenhouse gas belcher?
PIPELINE SHUFFLE
Keystone XL and Northern Gateway opponents are quietly breaking out the bubbly now that Notley will be running Alberta. She’s publicly critiqued Northern Gateway and said she’d stop spending tax dollars lobbying for it or Keystone (not that she has final say on either project’s future). But much to the chagrin of activists here, she still supports Energy East, which would funnel 1.1 million barrels of tar sands fuel through Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick daily.
CLIMATE CHANGE SMOKESCREEN?
On climate action, the NDP platform is vague on details. Notley promises “leadership” on the file, acknowledging that Alberta’s global rep as a climate laggard has only hindered the province’s energy projects. Speculation abounds on whether Notley will join Ontario and Quebec in a cap and trade scheme or beef up Alberta’s wimpy carbon tax (now a puny $1.80 per tonne, effectively, for large emitters). We should find out by June. Question is, does she have the big-picture resolve to heed climate scientists and leave 85 per cent of remaining tar sands in the ground.
“I HEART THE OIL SANDS”
Notley’s commitment to phasing out coal-fired electricity will help trim Alberta’s greenhouse gas footprint (especially since coal accounts for 43 per cent of the province’s electrical generating capacity), as will promised energy efficiency programs and the ramping up of renewable energy projects. She says she wants to “start down the road” to a diversified economy,” ending “the boom-and-bust roller coaster” inherent in an oil-based economy. Exciting stuff, though she’s also big on boosting the province’s oil refining industry, and NDP MLAs spotted sporting “I heart the oil sands” T-shirts make it clear that this is still a tar-sands-friendly government.
UP TO GREEN STANDARDS?
As the NDP enviro critic, Notley slammed the province’s “fox guarding the henhouse model” of oil sands monitoring. Now the official NDP platform promises to “strengthen environmental standards, inspection, monitoring and enforcement to protect Alberta’s water, land and air.” Beyond that, it’s thin on details, but environmentalists will be watching closely to make sure the henhouse gets a new guard.
BURIED CARBON
Eco-heads may have been confused by the NDP’s promise to kill funding for carbon-capture-and-storage programs and use that cash for transit instead. Wouldn’t capturing gargantuan tar sands emissions do more than boosting buses to slash Alberta’s GHGs? Not according to Mike Hudema, Alberta-based Greenpeace climate campaigner, who says CCS is a “huge corporate boondoggle,” particularly in the tar sands.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE REST OF CANADA
A greener Alberta means a greener Canada and will hopefully pull the rug out from under the feds’ nasty habit of sabotaging global climate talks.
ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation
