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So, msg from my 35 yrs of research on Cdn env policy: When officials say they seek to "balance the economy and the environment," here's what they really mean: 1/n #abpoli @EdmontonJournal #cdnpoli
edmontonjournal.com/business/energ…
@edmontonjournal They mean that the private sector will set the limits of the regulation according to the cost they are willing to pay without sacrificing profit. A proposed threshold above this "bottom line" will provoke threats of disinvestment. @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau 2/n
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau Env regulation is almost never consistent with what science tells us we need to do, with the precautionary principle, or with the requirements of social justice. 3/n @350 @Ippc2019 @JonathanWNV #ClimateStrike
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 If the "polluter pays" principle were actually applied, profits for privately-owned extractive industries and some manufacturing would be wiped out. In some cases, they would never have gotten off the ground (like the oil sands). 4/n
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 The oil&gas corps will, of course, demand the less stringent methane regs. The govt of Canada will settle on some threshold that is acceptable to these emitters, instead of issuing a regulation based on BATs to capture the gas from different sources. 5/n
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 The numbers might come from the Alberta Enbridge Ministry of Energy, or from the federal DOE, but they will not be consistent with what the science on the climate breakdown tells us we need to do. I live to be proven wrong. 6/n
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 The "economy" is a capitalist economy, not a reified, ahistorical object that fell out of an economics textbook. Capitalists and governments beholden to the expansion of the capitalist economy determine environmental regulation within the limits acceptable to capital.
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 In this system, the needs of "the environment" and the needs of "the economy" can never be "in balance." The former is sacrificed to the latter systematically (although there may be occasional displays of independence from a govt facing strong public pressure).
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 Methane regulation is not, ultimately, an "economic" problem; it is a political problem. It is about which "bottom line" publics are willing to accept when profits are pitted against a livable planet. 9/n
@edmontonjournal @JonathanWNV @cathmckenna @JustinTrudeau @350 @Ippc2019 Large corporations and most govts want us to believe that we should trust them to set regulations that "balance" environmental interests with private interests (and above all, economic growth). This is not what they are doing. They do not deserve our trust. 10/n
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