Having a bit of a cross-country tour today... from NL this morning where feds gave offshore O&G $320m back to AB this afternoon, where Minister Nixon is set to announce new methane emissions reduction programs funded by TIER (that's the carbon tax on large emitters). #ableg
... which also means I'm back listening to Vivaldi, the #ableg call-in hold music.
OK! Nixon is at Total Combustion Inc. to announce some new methane reduction programs. He says the gvt has a long history of partnering with the energy industry. #ableg
Nixon says "not one word" of the Throne Speech was dedicated to the oil and gas industry. My note: Aside from this part #ableg#cdnpoli
ANYHOO, Nixon says $25m from the large emitter carbon tax will go to upstream methane reduction, including a 50% rebate (max $1m for oil and gas producers). $27.6m will ID opportunities to improve detection and reduction of methane emissions #ableg
Nixon says the feds are living in a "fantasy land," btw, with their approach on energy and whatnot #ableg#cdnpoli
We're into the nitty-gritty of the new methane programs now... O&G operators will have to have operations in AB that fall under Section 8 of the AER regs. And I'm not sure it'll interest all y'all, but they have a list of qualifying projects. Full list at Carbon Connect #ableg
We're passing the mic to Julie now. No, I don't know who Julie is, but I like her tone. She seems friendly. #ableg
Nixon says the way forward is to capitalize on the expertise of industry in Alberta to create jobs and reduce methane emissions. NOT punishing hockey moms and hockey dads. #ableg
Asked Nixon will Alberta commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. In short: Nope, and just saying you will isn't the same as having a plan. #ableg
Anyway crikey that was a *very* short #ableg presser. Later, kids
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Premier Smith insisted Alberta Electric Systems Operator asked for a pause on renewables. In fact, internal emails show the AESO head was 'not comfortable' with the plan but was told to 'support the minister without reservation'. Via @DrewPAnderson #ablegthenarwhal.ca/alberta-renewa…
This is a really important read by my pal @DrewPAnderson. Made all the more 🔥 when you re-watch the video from the press conference in which Smith doubles down on the AESO asking for the renewables pause. Here, I’ve clipped it for you 😊 #ableg #cdnpoli
@DrewPAnderson “The desire to halt the new project pipeline is a very troubling message for me, and is something we need to provide good messaging against…when we have the opportunity,” the AESO head wrote to colleagues in June 2023. Does that sound like a man who asked for the pause? #ableg
Oh hey the Alberta government is having an townhall about the drought. I don't remember seeing any notification of this at all, but anyway Minister Schulz is up now. "I don't think Alberta will receive enough precipitation to prevent a severe drought," she says #ableg
The town hall about Alberta's drought is here... ag, environment and municipal affairs ministers all on the call and there is lots of time for Qs. #ableg #cdnpolivideo.teleforumonline.com/video/streamin…
These are alarming numbers NOT limited to sthrn Alberta. Many rivers and reservoirs are at or near historic lows "due to several years of below average precipitation." Old Man reservoir 28% capacity, normal range 62-80%. St. Mary's reservoir is at 15%, normal values 41-70% #ableg
Oil sands companies in the Pathways Alliance have awarded a $10m contract to Wood, a global engineering company, to develop detailed plans for a 400km CO2 pipeline that will eventually link >20 oil sands facilities with a storage hub near Cold Lake #cdnecon#oott#ableg
Wood’s work will focus on the main transportation line linking 14 oil sands facilities to the storage hub (think pipe size, materials, monitoring station design, route). It’ll also help inform overall capital and operations cost estimates #cdnecon#oott#ableg
The oil sands work will support a regulatory application later in the year. Pathways expects $16.5b to spent on the carbon capture network (including $ from governments). It reckons the project will ⬇️ net carbon emissions by 10-12m tonnes/year by 2030 #cdnecon#cdnpoli#ableg
Huh. Thomas Dang has stepped down from NDP caucus. RCMP searched his home lately #ableg
Notley is talking now. Something about the covid19 records page. She says Dang visited the page and notified AHS about his concerns regarding privacy on that website. She says they have a longstanding policy that caucus members under police investigation can't be in caucus #ableg
I spoke to groups who got notices from the anti-oil Alberta Inquiry into foreign funding. If they do reply, commissioner Steve Allan reckons 14 days is enough time to consider 1,200 pages of responses he could get b4 the report's due /1 #ableg#cdnpolitheglobeandmail.com/business/artic…
Also, remember how Kenney repeatedly referenced the Pembina Institute when he promised this inquiry during the election? Pembina got less $$ from international grants than from O&G companies that contracted the think tank to help find environmental solutions. /2 #ableg#cdnpoli
The same is true for Greenpeace. It got $2.9m in foreign donations from 2007-2018 for oil sands campaigns, but $5.6m from Albertans over the same period. /3 #ableg#cdnpoli
Alberta gets another credit downgrade. S&P has lowered from A+ to A, citing large deficits averaging more than 25% of revenues during fiscal 2020-24. Says pandemic has "further worsened AB's budgetary
balances" which had not yet recovered from oil price slump /1 #ableg#cdnpoli
S&P says Alberta's downgrade is "the culmination of the two powerful economic shocks that Alberta has endured in the past six years," adds the province entered the pandemic with "relative fiscal weakness" b/c of the prolonged oil slump that started in 2014 /2 #ableg#cdnpoli
S&P adds Alberta's budgetary results deteriorated & its tax-supported debt burden "rose to a greater extent" than all other Canadian provinces." Consequently, AB's operating and after-capital deficits are the largest of any local/regional gvt in Canada /3 #ableg#cdnpoli