1/Today, @ABDanielleSmith wrote a letter to @JustinTrudeau.
The "alternative" she proposes to federal Just Transition legislation has zero credibility.
Read on. I'll explain what she's really up to.
#cdnpoli #ABleg #ABpoli @Alberta_UCP @albertaNDP
alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=864345ACB8E57-EDE2-9E30-E4C39E3CD61D148D
2/"Dear Prime Minister;
I am writing to once again raise Alberta’s serious concerns with the proposed federal ‘Just Transition’ legislation."
No, she isn't. The three pages after that sentence are little more than a brochure for Alberta oil & gas.
energi.media/markham-on-energy/danielle-smith-has-an-oil-and-gas-marketing-plan-not-a-climate-plan/
3/Some version of the plea for more oil and gas production and exports appears more than a dozen times in the letter.
Ok, Premier, we get it already. You're not selling used cars.
*My apologies to new and used car salespeople. You're better than that.
4/"It is also critical to the security of our nation and allies to lessen dependence on fuel sources from unstable, undemocratic and dangerous countries with atrocious environmental records."
May we stop with Ezra Levant's Ethical Oil nonsense?
It's not a thing. Seriously.
5/"Commit your Government to actively partnering with Alberta to expand LNG exports to Asia and Europe as part of our nation’s overall emissions reduction strategy."
The call for higher LNG exports appears 4x in the letter. I have problems with Smith's LNG fixation.
6/LNG plants are being built in BC, not in Alberta. Most of the gas will be produced in BC, with perhaps a bit of knock on benefit for AB production.
The small benefit to AB doesn't justify the enormous political pressure Smith is applying to Ottawa.
lngcanada.ca/news/lng-canada-receives-provincial-and-federal-approval-for-environmental-assessment/
7/If Smith wants AB gas production to grow, why not push ahead with "blue hydrogen," which is produced from gas, with emissions stored underground (CCUS).
AB already has a hydrogen road map and an industrial cluster in the Edmonton Regional Hydrogen Hub.
alberta.ca/hydrogen-roadmap.aspx
8/Smith keeps tilting at windmills instead of working on the projects that are on the table, the ones that could generate the capital investment and good paying jobs she complains Trudeau is trying to kill.
The LNG ship has sailed. The window of opportunity has closed.
- 30 -
9/"It also creates a chilling effect on investors considering large scale investments in the Alberta and Canadian energy sector."
Speaking of sailed ships...
Here's a CD Howe economist, no less, explaining that AB O&G has stopped investing in growth.
youtu.be/HQrPik4zR3w
10/CEOs know the peak oil demand is coming by 2030. They're battening down the hatches. Best case, according to the AB Energy Regulator, capital expenditures will be flat. And that capex is mainly sustaining capital to maintain oil sands supply and replace conventional supply.
11/This paragraph is hilarious.
Smith calls for AB and Ottawa to design "a series of incentives" to accelerate "private/public investment in projects and infrastructure that utilize and develop Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS), Bitumen Beyond Combustion...
12/...Geothermal technology, petrochemicals, hydrogen, lithium, helium, zero-emissions vehicles and nuclear technologies."
Why hilarious?
Because the two governments are already working on all of those files, sometimes cooperating, sometimes not depending on what is needed.
13/For example, Bitumen Beyond Combustion is an Alberta Innovates project and funded by the Province.
Oil sands CCUS has been funded mostly by Canada, though AB has played an important role in developing storage and appears ready to commit some funding.
youtu.be/Lyz2U0Wfd3A
14/Bottom line: these are complex files where both govts have been working together in one form or fashion for years.
Well, except for zero-emissions vehicles. Alberta has shown zero interest in electric cars and trucks.
Still, there is no crisis.
15/But there is also no urgency in Alberta, or at least not enough of it. While industry and govt are advancing some energy transition files, the emphasis for both seems to be protecting the oil and gas status quo.
Meanwhile...
share.transistor.fm/s/38875f32
16/My optimistic view of Smith's letter is that it could signal that her govt gets the that the "age of clean energy technology manufacturing" (according to the IEA) has arrived in a rush and it's time for AB to get serious about the energy transition.
energi.media/news/new-age-of-clean-technology-manufacturing-countries-industrial-strategies-key-to-success/
17/This feeds my pessimism:
"...any Federal legislation or policies your government seeks to implement in the coming months, or that legislation will face irrepressible opposition from Alberta."
Irrepressible?
Is Germany sending Leopard tanks to Alberta? Someone alert the PMO.
18/Frankly, the entire letter is a hot mess of lies, misrepresentations, status quo thinking, chest thumping, and bad faith.
No one can take it seriously.
Still...
19/It wouldn't surprise me if Trudeau agrees to meet Smith, as per her request to "turn the page starting with a meeting between us next month followed by a dedicated effort to craft “Sustainable Jobs” legislation..."
20/Natural Resources Minister @JonathanWNV has said that he doesn't care for the term Just Transition.
Maybe a meeting between Smith and Trudeau turns down the heat, leads to different language and messaging, and a new bill.
Here's the template to do it.
youtu.be/hHazpJ5ffO0
Markham Hislop
@politicalham
Journalist. Writes about the energy transition, tech, clean energy, politics/narrative, oil/gas. My job is to be accurate and to tell the truth. Full stop.