Dear Readers: It’s August.We should be enjoying what’s left of summer but with the Smith government it’s one stupid thing after another.
Smith’s decision to impose a 6 month moratorium on new renewable energy projects was the last straw. Yesterday I sent a letter of protest to Smith, Nathan Neudorf (Minister of Affordability & Utilities) and a host of other UCP cabinet ministers to tell them (politely) they’d lost their minds.
Here’s the letter:
I am a lawyer with 30 years of experience in Alberta’s energy sector (oil, natural gas, petrochemicals and pipelines) including more than a decade as General Counsel, VP Law. I am deeply concerned that the Smith government’s decision to halt new wind and solar power projects for six months will cause irreparable harm to Alberta’s economy, its effort to mitigate climate change and its reputation as a leader in renewable energy development.
Specifically I’m concerned about:
- Economic harm: the moratorium puts at risk $3.7 billion in investment and 4,500 jobs at a time when the U.S. is bending over backwards to attract such investment and create such jobs.
- Government interference in the free market: the renewables energy sector has found unprecedented success without the government’s help, but the sector is facing increased risk and uncertainty as a result of the government’s interference in the free market. Frankly it looks like the government is picking winners (traditional fossil fuels) and losers (renewable energy). Why?
- Government interference in private contracts: these projects are the result of extensive negotiations between private landowners and private companies. When an agreement is reached, it is formalized in a binding contract which is reviewed by the AUC. The AUC allows intervenors who object to the project to make submissions. After reviewing the evidence, the AUC makes a decision. This moratorium undermines the regulatory process.
- Lack of respect for business: The media reports the government consulted with 200 stakeholders but not one renewable energy company. The CEOs of these companies would have had to explain to their lenders, investors, shareholders and employees why their government treated them so shabbily. Speaking from personal experience in the traditional energy sector I have never seen a government treat any sector with such disrespect.
- Lack of respect for Albertans: The moratorium hobbles the renewable energy sector at a time when we need it most. This damages Alberta’s reputation as a leader in renewable energy.
- Rationale: The government’s press statement said the moratorium was necessary to address certain policy issues. The AUC letter attached to the statement lists two: (1) the development of power plants on high value agricultural lands and (2) the lack of mandatory reclamation security requirements. The AUC suggests these issues could be addressed by “a dedicated period of engagement…followed by government direction.” The AUC did not ask for a moratorium until the inquiry is completed. (NOTE: the government appears to have mischaracterized the AUC letter in the link provided in its press statement).
- Additional rationales: The government’s press statement lists three additional issues: (1) impact on Alberta’s pristine viewscapes, (2) development on Crown lands, and (3) impact on Alberta’s generation supply mix and system reliability. All of these are important and should be examined, but none of them require an immediate moratorium on new renewables projects.
- And yet another rationale: After a couple of days of blowback, Premier Smith added another reason for the moratorium. She blamed it on the federal government saying the feds don’t want Alberta to build any more natural gas plants. Assuming this is true, it’s irrelevant because Premier Smith can argue building natural gas plants is solely within provincial jurisdiction or she can invoke the Sovereignty Act and ignore any federal law or policy she deems to be harmful to Alberta. Delaying new renewal project applications by six months has no bearing on Smith’s courses of action.
- Climate change targets: Alberta has an opportunity to work with the federal government to meet the fed’s 2035 emissions targets and avail itself of the $40 billion the feds have earmarked to ease that transition. The moratorium creates instability and uncertainty that will undermine the growth of Alberta’s renewable energy sector, this will decrease our chances of meeting the 2035 targets and torpedoes our ability to get a piece of the $40 billion on offer.
The government’s press statement was headlined “Creating Certainty For Renewables Projects” but the decision to halt new renewables projects did the opposite. The UCP government touts itself as an open-for-business, no-red-tape type of government and yet when it comes to renewable energy it slapped a “closed for business” sign on the door.
As an Albertan with a long history in the energy sector, I expect better of my government.
Sincerely….
I’ll let you know whether any of our government representatives deigns to reply. In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt for everyone to send a note to the premier at: premier@gov.ab.ca and Nathan Neudorf at au.minister@gov.ab.ca
Susan on the Soapbox 
Can’t agree more with your letter. We all know this is being directed from the Premier’s office. The Premier let the cat out of the bag last week when she complained to a reporter that the NDP had caused high energy prices by accelerating the movement away from coal. Strange times given the government’s own ‘Environmental Plan’ states the transition as an achievement towards Alberta’s own aspirations in a Net Zero province by 2050. Stranger yet that the province can somehow tackle ‘reliability’ in the power grid in six months, when it takes years to re-design an hourly bid power market to accommodate base load providers that need either a capacity market or a long-bid process to make them competitive with wind and solar. Instead, they are choosing to simply create all kinds of subjective rules to slow the wind and solar industry from even entering their supposed deregulated energy market, and keep the window open for their donors bids.
Really good points Ken. Seems to me when the experts, be they economists, law profs like Nigel Banks and Martin Olszynski, and the CEOs of renewable energy companies all agree, and their positions are not countered by the CEOs of natural gas companies, then there’s no why to characterize Smith’s decision as anything but political.
The weird thing is this decision violates so many of the UCP’s beliefs. They believe in the sanctity of property rights and the free market, but have blown up contracts freely entered into by landowners and renewables companies,. They say they stand for small government and less red tape, but they’re interfering with the existing regulatory process and damaging Alberta’s reputation in an industry that is investing more than a trillion dollars world wide.
It’s insanity.
Great letter. Stupid public policy.
Thanks Dale. You’ve summed it up perfectly!
Alberta Environment Minister [!] Rebecca Schulz appears to share Smith’s spoiled toddler attitude toward the federal gov’t:
She goes on about the Co-op composting bags, which I agree the feds are wrong on; but that is so small compared to the stupid moratorium mistake, and why is Schulz spouting BS about it? I will wait for the experts to dump on her arguments.
And Smith may well be relying on Rob Anderson’s bad advice:
Also a column by Smith in Feb 2021; I don’t know if she was parrotting Rob Anderson, but similar nonsense
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-collapse-of-power-grid-in-texas-a-wake-up-call-for-alberta
Valerie, as we just learned from the Rob Anderson clip, the UCP government is low on facts and high on rhetoric. This will not serve them (or us) well.
That is the biggest concern. Danielle Smith is trusting Rob Anderson. He too is a lawyer, but I think is strictly using his opinion (low knowledge) instead of critical thinking ( facts).
A lot of untruth in his rhetoric.
Interesting comments. So those monster chimneys from gas a coal plants are apparently just gorgeous especially when they spewing tons and tons of black smoke into the atmosphere.
It is hard to believe these people even have a brain of some sort.
So apparently decommissioning a Wind Turbine is a disaster but decommissioning a power plant or better a nuclear power plant is the easiest clean job in the world.
Rob get a job in Macdonald’s and take Danielle to wash the dishes.
Leave government to those that can think clearer.
Or better leave government to those that can think AT ALL.
Hello Susan,
Sure, it creates certainty – the certainty that the current Alberta government will act to decrease and/or prevent as much wind and solar energy development as possible. (Of course, I am never sarcastic.)
On the serious side, the reasons for this decision by Danielle Smith sound phony. I doubt that even oil and gas executives appreciate this portrayal of their industry as obstructionist.
Christine…you make a very good point in your reference to oil and gas company executives. I notice that not one of them has come out in support of Smith’s decision. That speaks volumes doesn’t it.
Susan, as a lawyer who has experience in the energy sector, do you see a legal clash coming between oil and gas mineral right holders, and renewable energy development, that may need the same land surface for development. Oil and gas can kick farming and ranching off the land. Will they be able to do it to a solar or wind farm, that is already in operation? I can’t help but wonder if the moratorium on renewable development is more about the typical UCP penchant to not thoroughly think things through, before they bring in any new policy, program, or regulation, often resulting in legal short comings and bad government policy.
I suspect it’s because the oil and gas industry are among the Cons’ largest donors, and getting that donor money trumps everything else in Con land.
Kelly Miller, you may be right, but the oil and gas guys are awfully quiet about this one. Supporting Smith’s moratorium on renewable energy projects doesn’t play well when they’re boasting about their Pathways Alliance and how they’re reducing emissions.
There’s already been at least one decision by the Alberta Utilities Commission that might very well have prodded Smith & the TBA Looney-Tunes mob to shut down renewables development for seven months (not six as all MSM reporters have said).
Lisa Young wrote a column in her Substack blog “What Now?!?” that discusses the reasons (more accurately, excuses, obfuscations and bafflegab) behind the Smith/TBA government’s move:
https://lisayoung.substack.com/p/strategy
About halfway in, there’s a reference to an article published on the ABLwag.ca web site; here’s a link:
Nigel Bankes, “Conflict in Paradise” (3 August 2023), online: ABlawg, http://ablawg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Blog_NB_AUC_Conflict_in_Paradise.pdf
Bankes reports on the AUC decision of Nova Solar versus PrairieSky Royalty Ltd (PSK). Nova wanted to build a PV system on land for which PSK owned the mineral rights. PSK tried to make Nova pay for the possible(!) disruption of drilling around or between Nova’s solar panels. PSK doesn’t drill for anything; they lease the mineral rights they own to drilling companies for a share of revenue (when a government does this, it’s called a royalty payment).
AUC told PSK they weren’t entitled to compensation. PSK didn’t have a lessee lined up; they just wanted to make sure they were covered for potential losses due to increased costs. AUC said forget it.
There’s way more in Bankes’ review of the decision. It’s worth reading, to get some insight into the convoluted world of Oilberduh resource law and regulation.
Mike J. Thanks for the links to the articles by Nigel Bankes and Lisa Young. Both set out the issues very well.
docpop1, yes, I do believe the conflicting interests of surface rights owners and subsurface mineral rights owners plays into this. The economics prof Aidan Hollis brought this up last week, pointing to the Nova Solar vs PrairieSky Royalty Ltd case that Mike J points out, the AUC granted Nova Solar’s application for a solar power project on agricultural land, despite PrairieSky’s objection that if the solar power plant went ahead it would trash the value of PrairieSky’s subsurface mineral rights.
Law prof Nigel Banks provides a nice overview of the issues, noting that these types of disputes are not new ( see also: gas storage facilities vs conventional oil and case, and carbon capture and storage vs conventional and unconventional resource activities). The Regulators have plenty of precedents they can draw upon when considering these cases. .
Here’s the link: https://ablawg.ca/2023/08/03/conflict-in-paradise/#more-13324
The use of directional drilling has eliminated the need to get landowners permission for getting the subsurface oil and gas. The industry can drill out a township (36 sections) of land from one multiple-well site. It saves drilling straight down at the rate of 2 wells per quarter section of land. In a township that would have been nearly 288 wells that needed pipelines to connect. Now the well bores become the pipelines to the gathering tank farms.
Papajaxn: as you point out, we’re at the mercy of the industry more than we know. .
I would just point out that the ability of oil drillers to kick farmers and ranchers off their land has no justification. The fossil drillers can easily find an adjacent landowner who wants oil junk on their land and can directionally drill to the formation they want. They have done that type of drilling since Leduc # 1 blew out in 1947. This entitlement was put in place for the convenience of the fossil gang at the expense of farmers and ranchers and should be repealed immediately.
Caron, to add to your point. While the UCP government says it values property rights the fact of the matter is the landowner owns the surface rights to his property and the oil or natural gas company owns the mineral rights under that surface. This means the oil/NG company can apply to the regulator to force the landowner to give it access to the minerals (ie oil or natural gas) whether the landowner likes it or not. Which, when you think about it, makes a mockery of the UCP’s belief that property rights are sacrosanct.
Excellent letter. I am so pleased you sent it to Smith and UCP others. Let’s hope they have the sense and the character to reverse their fool’s decision. Thank you.
Thanks David Blaine, my husband and I were debating whether Smith will back down from the moratorium given the backlash. Kenney’s UCP did back away from its plan to allow coal mining in the Rockies. So you never know.
Having said that Kenney was ten times smarter than Smith, so she might stay the course.
Kind of makes you wonder just what “solution” she expects the AUC to come up with at the end of the day, doesn’t it. .
Given the current indisputable evidence of life-threatening climate change, it is inconceivable that our UCP political representatives are willing to sacrifice our lives and the futures of our children to maintain economic support from the oil and gas industry. The election of populists of this nature clearly illustrates one of the weaknesses of democracies that an informed and intelligent electorate will make discriminating votes based on analyses of political platforms. Another weakness illustrated is the naive notion that elected individuals will represent their constituencies when in fact, they represent the wishes of their funding agents and distort the nature of reality to lead their constituents to believe that what they are doing is in favour of the electorate. The principles of democracy are to be admired, application of those principles often leaves much to be desired.
David we need a system change and fast. Unfortunately it is not in the interest of our representatives. It is much easier to just scream slogans of paying patrons.
Democracy has been taken over by corporate and super rich interests and it will not change without a big fight. Hard to convince people of what is coming. Climate change is just one of the crisis but not the only one.
You think the communist revolution was intense? Just wait for the next one.
How naive we all are. You have not seen yet what humans can do when pushed to the limits.
💯 agree! Your response is a great response to this “head-scratcher” policy by UCP. TY!!
This announcement doesn’t have me wondering why.
It’s as clear as an azure sky of deepest summer that Rob Anderson, Alberta’s actual gov’t leader it appears, is purposefully, and unabashedly hypocritically abusing Albertans’ gov’t for his own personal ‘sneer-signalling’, because in his mind that’s what floats his and the average UCPer’s boat. It’s ugly, but he may be right. It’s exactly the same ‘pleasure’ UCP folk must derive from coal-rolling cyclists with an illegally (“Good people break bad laws” dontcha know) tuned dual-ee; this is just them doing them, and damn the hypocrisy of such action by a self styled ‘lil gov’t’.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
GoinFawr: You bring up a very interesting point, namely how much control does Rob Anderson have over Danielle Smith? Given Smith’s tendency to implement Anderson’s ideology–his Free Alberta Strategy and his opinions of the renewable energy sector are just two examples–it would seem his influence overshadows that of anyone else inside or outside Cabinet. It’s a scary thought. And a little ironic given how much the Right objects to “unelected officials” (Hinshaw, various Supreme Court judges, etc) having too much control over our lives.
Linn: thanks. Like many of the Smith government’s decisions, it’s a ‘head scratcher’ because it makes no sense. That’s what makes me wonder what else is going on. If she was persuaded to do this by the oil and gas companies, why aren’t they standing shoulder to shoulder with her proclaiming their support of the moratorium. So far it’s been crickets.
Great letter
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Thanks Linda, everyone should send a letter to the Premier, Nathan Neudorf and their own MLA. We stopped them from coal mining in the Rockies. We can stop this too.
I am totally disgusted by the arrogance and autocacy of the UCP. They didn’t talk to the industry. What have they been doing for 4 years to plan for this. WHat alternatives to a moratorium did they consider.
Trolls live under the bridges in Alberta. They won’t let anyone cross until they pay the toll. What is the toll? Are the Panama Papers a work in progress?
Mm. you’re right, they’re everywhere. I retweeted an ABLawg post that analysed the legal issues and concluded the moratorium was motivated by political reasons, not technical ones. The so-called ‘friends of science’ tweeted back that the ABLawg post was a conspiracy theory (legal analysis be damned). So I checked to see who these guys were. Turns out they’re a bunch of “earth, atmospheric, solar scientists and engineers who conclude the sun is the main driver of climate change. Not you, Not CO2.”
Need I say more?
This is an awesome article. https://cleantechnica.com/2023/08/08/alberta-halts-new-renewables-because-they-were-too-successful/
It’s an excellent letter, Susan, Thank you.
These lawyers bring many receipts to the argument:
Thanks, Valerie, this link should be required reading for anyone who thinks Danielle Smith and the TBA Party can do anything right. (Of course, they wouldn’t believe it, but that’s a different problem.)
No quibble at all with Susan’s take on the whole sordid UCP “Look! A Werewolf” heel-turn on renewables.
Here is constructive, perhaps cynical thought for erstwhile renewable energy companies seeking to enter the Alberta market –
“Did you really think a petrostate like Alberta, with its snuggle-bunnie lovefest between a utterly captured legacy political party /and the mining elite shotcallers was going to welcome disrupters like you into their jurisdiction without a howdy-do?
No – like every other global petrostate, you have to find, snuggle and pay the favored energy political party UCP bagmen for preferences for your project – don’t matter that its wind or solar or geothermal or SMTs- its pay to play in UCP Alberta – the legacy O & G mafias know this and factor it into their operations and play this ground game every day.
You renewables fellas gotta get with the plan – you pay the UCP party in hard or soft dollars, you get your project done. Don’t want to pay? This whimsical delay shit playing out right now is what you can expect in the near, medium or long term”.
Just calling it as it is.
My initial comment was, “Stupid, duplicitous, ignorant”. Too old now to worry about being a wordsmith!
Yet another amazing, righteous contribution Susan, thank you.
Great letter Susan and thank you for starting this because I think they need to be hit really hard on this one to avoid a collapse of investment which is exactly what Danielle Smith wants but does not have the courage to say it. Also I am always worried when she finds a new fad, which now seems to be nuclear which goes well with her fluffy character. Who in the right mind thinks that after the 260 billion dollar clean up we are facing in this province, need to add to it the problem of nuclear waste?
It is clear that she just does not have any problem choosing sides and she is also very clear on the side she was and is a lobbyist for.
It is sick to see this province being devastated by obvious idiots that care only about what is in it for themselves. They know they have their days counted and so it is free for all to get as much as they can.
Of course your letter is not like my rude one but I think this government does not deserve anything better than mine. By the way Brian Jean is the minister of energy and he needs to be included. This man has a character level of -10 on a 1 to ten rating system. So much for his courage to get rid of Jason Kenney and support another premier like Danielle Smith. Very smart indeed or should I say very opportunistic.
Carlos: When I see Danielle Smith, or when I hear her speak, I know something isn’t quite right. There seems to be some sort of darkness present. The way she behaves makes her predecessor look like a church choir boy. Her demeanor is very off putting to me. There is narcissistic characteristics, and arrogance. It’s not beneficial to Alberta, or to Canada.
Carlos, I agree with your BJ rating. I suspect sometimes people lose their moral compass when the guiding light of a family passes away or some other trauma. Brian Jean told me in an earlier campaign that he was a graduate of environmental sciences in his first degree.
Dwayne
Danielle is off putting alright. Her arrogance is nauseating.
papajaxn – I am glad you agree with my rating. Brian Jean is not someone I trust or like.
Thanks Carlos. In Smith’s press statement condemning the feds’ clean electricity regulations she says if the feds won’t fall into line with Alberta’s Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan Alberta will “chart its own path” to ensuring we add an appropriate amount of high-efficiency natural gas base load to the grid “while incentivizing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) abated natural gas generation, small modular reactors, hydrogen generation and a sustainable amount of wind, solar and other renewables to drive down electricity costs and hydrogen generation, let alone large scare CCUS, so I guess that leaves natural gas generation. Fancy that.
As a lawyer I’m interested in what she does next. Will she implement the Sovereignty Act (which will surely fail) or take the more conventional and prudent route of challenging the fed’s jurisdiction under the Constitution (which is what I’d recommend, but hey, I’m just a lowly lawyer and she’s got Rob Anderson, right?)
I think @molszyns has pointed out that Smith can’t go to the courts about this until the feds actually pass a law and that may be years down the road. So hopefully Smith will be gone by then. We need to make sure TBA does not get to take her place.
I would definitely follow Martin Olszynski to learn more about this, also Andrew Leach @andrew_leach . More lawyers, eh.
I’m suspended from twitter and since June I can only see a few tweets and can’t follow conversations, which is really annoying. But I can follow some people’s twitter feeds on Muck Rack, such as Leach.
You made some very important points, Susan, and coming from your background in the energy sector so absolutely credible- and I hope our government pays heed.
Most Alberta young people from their teens to their forties will tell you that climate change is their #1 concern, and are very aware that we are hurtling past the climate tipping point for old Mother Earth. This summer we are seeing the hottest temperatures recorded EVER all round the globe. Hawaii is on fire today, for crumb’s sake. Farmers in the south of our province are wringing their hands with the drought, while the wildfires in the north rage out of control. Man-made climate change is not mythological, it’s not a hoax- we are living and breathing in it every day.
It is vital that we have governments that will work with all other levels of government, all jurisdictions and every industry to try to get a handle on this. Our young people need hope and confidence in their future and in their leaders. We have to take what opportunities we have right now to move away from carbon fuels. Lord knows we have the resources and the brain-power here to do it.
The messages the UCP government are sending out are very damaging, and may very well have other unintended consequences. How many people considering living, working or going to school here are concerned about the mind-set that is being communicated here? A pebble thrown in to a pond makes many ripples, but an “asteroid” with the Smith government’s pronouncements has devastating consequences. So much ineptitude. Shock and awe.
Thank you, Susan, for a very clear and succinct explanation of why the UCP’s moratorium is so wrong. It didn’t sit well with me when I heard it on the news, but, not having your background in the field, I couldn’t possibly line up the arguments the way you have. Well done!
Thanks Minnie. I know what you mean about the moratorium (and many policies) not sitting well. My husband says it’s because we’re trying to use logic to understand illogical things so it’s hard to figure out where to begin..
Here it comes – the consequences
https://ca.yahoo.com/finance/news/renewable-energy-workers-albertas-pause-183817650.html
Carlos, I guess some workers matter more than others, right?
Susan how can I not agree? That the UCP decides to stop 25 billion dollars of possible investment in Wind and Solar which would produce transition jobs and would help us to a much easier move to new industries, is to me so amazing that I no longer refrain to call them by the labels they deserve – these are people with serious cult mental issues. I can no longer believe this is a serious party really. Does anybody in Alberta, other than the half that voted for them, believe these people are normal?
Thank you Susan. Your letter was spot on but I am worried that is will be lost on Dodo Danielle and the unhinged chaotic party. They don’t understand that their actions have consequences. They have no plan, much like the Klein government – it’s more like let the chips fall where they may. And when, after 6 months, no one wants to start up in Alberta, they will have to find someone to blame…it’s like something on a loop tape.
Sharon, I sent it to Smith and got a very nice “thanks for your interest, now go away” response. Obviously I’m paraphrasing but that was the jist. I figure the more letters we, the public send, the harder it will be for her to justify this moratorium. The sooner it is lifted the better.
I don’t think we should be surprised. Solar in particular is becoming cheaper and more efficient by the day……what’s more, the sun can’t be monopolized so the potential for local autonomous energy is literally off the charts. We recently attended a workshop in Calgary where we learned the panels are 95% recyclable, so none sense about decomissioning is just that……none sense.
Of course, the recycling facilities need to be built……..but we have 20 odd years to do just that in Alberta….and you just replace the modules when the ones we have up now reach their best before date….you don’t have to ‘decomission’ anything noxious, like you do with fracked gas wells, or bitumen tailings ponds.
We’ve also heard rumours that solar panel manufacturing was coming to Alberta….and I don’t think the moratorium applies to that. Nor does it apply to installations under one megawatt……so perhaps those of us who understand the fundamentals of climate change, might take this opportunity to become micro generators. It certainly cuts your electricity bills down to not much more than the obscene rent the private providers charge for using those transmission lines we the public built years ago.
All in all…….if we Act on what we know and value…..Smith’s decision to come out of the petro closet might be a good thing. Opens a few eyes don’t it?
Ingamarie: Thanks for highlighting the real issues here: solar is undercutting the natural gas market. I also love your suggestion that we become “micro generators.” As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Surely even Smith wouldn’t ban Albertans from putting solar panels on their homes…there’s only so much she can meddle with the free market.
Exactly Susan……even if the ‘free market’ is a myth the likes of the Manning centre crowd might like to tweak……..you can’t legislate the entire populace….
Smith most likely would not ban solar panels but she could restrict or eliminate credits for selling excess energy from solar panels back to the grid, offering pennies on the dollar. There is a precedent for this in Florida with Jennifer Bradley’s Florida Senate Bill SB 1024.
What would our chances be in a court of law? In several jurisdictions governments are being sued for not doing enough to prevent climate chaos. Here we have a case of exacerbating climate chaos. Would it be worthwhile to begin raising money for a suit?
In one US jurisdiction — Montana, of all places — a court has already ruled in favour of the plaintiffs in a case like this.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/montana-climate-lawsuit-1.6935978
Reynold and Jerrymacgp: this is an intriguing question. I’ll check with my friends at ABlawg.
This article talks about the importance of the Montana case in the US:
https://theconversation.com/montana-kids-win-historic-climate-lawsuit-heres-why-it-could-set-a-powerful-precedent-207907
It also mentions and links other cases including this one in Ontario:
https://theconversation.com/court-decision-in-youth-climate-lawsuit-against-ontario-government-ignites-hope-206275
There appears to be a movement in BC: https://suebigoil.ca/
Breachmedia article, which might help explain why the CPC will not allow Breachmedia at their convention.
https://breachmedia.ca/sue-big-oil-climate-crisis-bc/
Another article about climate lawsuits:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-from-montana-to-ontario-youth-take-to-the-courts-as-a-last-resort-to/
It includes a link to this UN report on climate litigation:
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-climate-litigation-report-2023-status-review
The letter says it all!
great letter. Thank you.
Susan: Sorry that your summer was interrupted by the UCP’s foolishness. I don’t know how much more of the UCP antics people will be able to stand. Going backwards, instead of forwards is what the UCP are doing so well. There is no progress, and it ends up costing us so much, financially, on the environmental side, as well as in personal terms. Nobody comes out winning here. Anything the UCP happens to get involved with, they end up damaging. I’ll play some more fitting music. This song is 40 years old and is from The Fixx. It’s called One Thing Leads To Another. It was written by Alfred Agius, Cy Curnin, Peter John Greenall, Adam Woods, and James Fletcher West – Oram.
TY for the informed explanation. I thought it was just one more dumb decision but now I know how utterly damaging this really really dumb and harmful decision is in all respects.
Susan: Here is my next song pick. It is a Robbie Robertson track, by The Band, called Rag Mama Rag. It is from 1969. Robbie Robertson passed away on August 9, at age 80. The only surviving member of The Band is Garth Hudson. After Robbie Robertson left The Band, he had a great solo career. The Band and also Robbie Robertson, are in my music collection.
Susan: Here is my final song pick. This is a Jimmy Page and Robert Plant composition, from Led Zeppelin, called That’s The Way. It is from 1970. This is also in my music collection.
Unbelievable! Once again thanks for your eagle legal eye on Alberta politics – you help me keep track from the other side of the Rockies.
I have to agree that the UCP action is/was meant to reduce/remove the competition. Which is short term thinking. Unless the goal is to render the competitions finances to the point where it would be relatively easy to buy a controlling interest? One must figure that someone is poised to make out like a bandit from this…..
This announcement by the federal government today may explain the timing of the stupid moratorium announcement.
https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/federal-government-releases-new-draft-regulations-on-clean-electricity/article_26e9f99a-9678-5f0b-a45c-40b5f05328e7.html
Smith and her foolish advisors probably thought they were being real cagey anticipating the feds’ new rules. I am so sick of their spoiled brat behaviour.
They only listen to looney-tune groups like this one:
https://www.desmog.com/2023/08/10/wind-concerns-group-that-calls-co2-gas-of-life-praises-albertas-renewables-moratorium-danielle-smith/
Part of their strategy is to get governments to impose moratoriums on clean energy rojects. Climate change deniers have pivotted from denying climate change to slowing down any action against it.
You will have noticed the oil industry using the same strategy of failing to use the technology they have to cut emissions because they would have to spend money on it. They blame the feds of course.
Valerie, excellent point regarding how the climate change deniers have changed their strategy. I see a reprise of the same behavior from another industry – tobacco companies had in house proof that smoking did have a direct link to cancer literally decades before they were finally brought to account. Of course smoking is still a thing & those addicted to nicotine are going to smoke regardless of how graphic the image might be on the cigarette package.
My own personal take is that climate change is cyclical & would occur regardless of human activity. That having been said, I totally agree that human activity has magnified the effects of climate change by a considerable degree. Our emissions have effectively super charged the cycle so if we’ve a shred of self preservation we should be doing what we can to reduce those emissions. The problem with getting folks to buy in to making the necessary adjustments is that they will expect instant results. The fact that the cycle will continue despite making those changes isn’t going to help get folks on board.
@Linda: There is a crucial difference between natural cycle climate change and human-caused global warming: time. Natural cycle climate change takes tens or thousands of millennia to transpire. Human-caused global warming has happened with alarming speed, in a matter of a mere two or three human generations — a blink of an eye in geological time scales. And it is accelerating.
The recent crisis of floods in some parts of the world, including Atlantic Canada, and wildfires in others, including many regions of Canada as well as Hawaii, is directly attributable to global warming. And we are now seeing predictions of a more severe Atlantic hurricane season due to increasing ocean temperatures, again attributable to global warming.
There is another crucial difference between previous natural cycle climate changes, and human-caused global warming: our built environment. When sea levels rose or fell due to prehistoric climate change, there were no seaside cities to flood; and when untended wild forests burned in the distant past, there were no houses, barns, cottages or sheds to be destroyed, and the animals that roamed those forests simply had to either migrate, adapt or perish, totally unable to affect the event in any way.
I expect more from my government too. Alas…
Keep up the good work Daniel your right on track hold the line. Do not let the feds dictate what is right for alberta. We do not need renewables never have never will. Cradle to grave carbon is not being taken into consideration the model does not take into account the carbon produced to manufacture these and the carbon and other environmental impacts to clean them up at end of life. Windmills and solar panels are not net zero if cradle to grave model is used.
They may not be net zero Lori, but they are way ahead of bitumen and fracked gas when it comes to emissions. As to the grave end of things……..I’ve heard solar is 95% recyclable…we should be building those facilities now….
An industry that produces the emissions our unconventional fossil fuels produce (remember, the easy to extract stuff is mostly gone) looks a bit two faced suddenly becoming concerned with the relatively modest emissions of clean energy………..particularly when those tailings ponds….observable from space…..keep growing: With no technology in sight so far for cleaning them up.
A pretty blatant example of the double standard in action, if you ask me.
It would be interesting to know what is the good work that Daniel (Danielle) is doing.
Coal mines inside the Parks?
Moratorium on Renewables?
Privatizing healthcare?
Conspiracy theories ?
Against Vaccines?
Horse medication for Covid?
Banning masks at Health Care Facilities?
So hold on to what?
‘We do not need renewables never have never will.’
Seriously?
I will make sure that once electric and hydrogen cars become normal that we will provide certain old gasoline cars have their exhaust into a garage for those that are addicted to it.
Nothing is perfect in this world but lets us be a bit smarter when making these kinds of comparisons.
The ucp claim that the Federal Gov’t have a Ideology driven agenda . I do not think taking steps to reduce our emissions is somehow based on a “belief system” rather than based on scientific evidence is a rather weak point of view . This ucp outfit is paranoid about the fact that Alberta’s potential for Renewable Energy is greater than the fossil fuel sector . They have their wagon hitched to the big oil boy pony .
Susan: I can only imagine the look on Danielle Smith’s face, after the Supreme Court of Canada rules against her silly and juvenile tirades. Danielle Smith will try again, and end up with the exact same results. She is acting worse than a teenager, who wants to have her own way, but doesn’t understand that there are rules and parameters that Mommy and Daddy make, for the well being of the entire household. Whoever is advising Danielle Smith is very misinformed. It could very well be Preston Manning. His advice to her when she was the Wildrose party leader, made the Wildrose go the way of the dodo bird, and also resulted in Danielle Smith getting voted out. Danielle Smith doesn’t seem to be an independent, or a logical thinker. What she does believe, is so farfetched, and she has to retract, after the matter. I believe Peter Lougheed was a lawyer, in addition to being premier of Alberta. If he were still alive, I don’t think he’d be giving Danielle Smith praise. He’d condemn her and the UCP for taking Alberta in a backwards direction. As for longevity of being premier, it may very well much be that Danielle Smith’s days are numbered. She is trying to do anything to get the support of the UCP, and Albertans, but it’s likely that Danielle Smith will be dumped, and the UCP will be looking for leader number three. Whoever replaces Danielle Smith could end up being worse than she is, which is a horrible thought unto itself.
Susan: When Danielle Smith ends up losing these court battles with the federal government, the columnists at Postmedia will cringe, and their heads will blow up like a bag of microwave popcorn. There won’t be another provincial election until 2027, and unfortunately for them, they won’t be able to advocate for Danielle Smith. She will likely get dumped like garbage on trash collection day.These columnists won’t be able spout off lies, and point fingers at Rachel Notley and the NDP. At this point, the UCP have already been in power longer than the NDP, so the UCP will have to take responsibility for the direction Alberta is going in. The federal government, being the Liberals, also will not be able to get blamed. Maybe the UCP will implode, and Preston Manning, the architect of the party, will sulk off into obscurity, and continue to live off of his very fat political pension, from being a career politician? The columnists at Postmedia, who advocate for the UCP, will be hard pressed to throw their support for another UCP MLA, or cabinet minister to become leader of the party, because the leadership material is comprised of political retreads, with no track record of stability. Even Danielle Smith’s own political track record isn’t that stellar. When we have a former Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, who wasn’t well favoured by Canadians in the past, saying that Danielle Smith’s approach with the Sovereignty Act isn’t going to get anywhere, this really says something. To my knowledge, Brian Mulroney happens to be a lawyer, and he has about a decade of experience in the Prime Minister’s seat. He would understand what the provincial governments are allowed to do, and what they won’t be able to get away with. Danielle Smith appears to be very green in political matters, as well as with other issues, and goes by her own emotions, and that has landed her in hot water. If she is left on her own, and has to encounter questions from reporters, at a press conference, or from other politicians, in the Legislature, she can’t give a proper answer, because there is nobody who can tell her what to say, or she can’t make up something beforehand. Danielle Smith’s followers go along with whatever she says, because they also appear to be politically obtuse, and also go by their own emotions, and support the UCP, because it has the name Conservative in it. The UCP are anything but a Conservative party. They are molded on other political parties, and politicians, who aren’t Conservatives either, such as the Social Credit Party, the Reform Party of Canada, Preston Manning, and Ralph Klein. None of these did any good.
Dear Ms. S:
Your missive to Cherokee Dan was most lucid and cogent. My fear is that you were casting pearls and your polite and kind arguments were far too subtle. We have to remember that Smith is a woman that firmly believes smoking is good for you, horse de-wormer cures Covid and a child is responsible for his/her cancer. Reason, facts and logic are anathema to the woman.
Plus she did warn us earlier that the O&G CEO’s tell her what to do so we should not be too surprised with this latest development.
The most disappointing part in all of this is if an election were held tomorrow, the UCP would be re-elected.
Jaundiced Eye: Thanks. Your last sentence is a timely reminder that we need to get serious about supporting the NDP the only viable alternative to the UCP, starting now!
I believe history repeats – especially in RW Alberta PC/UCP circles. I take extreme comfort that none of last 6 PC/UCP Premiers lasted their first term and that its a matter of months, not years, that Duh-Duh-Danielle is going to be weighed, judged and found entirely wanting in an immolating leadership review.
The hubris of Take Back Alberta (take back what you fools? You’ve never let it go in 70 years!), the hurry-up and get ‘er done Independent Alberta rump and uneasy greasiness of the Con center uncomfortable with TBA’s fascistic nativist simple-mindery will lead to unusual internal foment and disunity. I predict the party will split – it cannot hold.
Prepare yourselves for 3 odd years for a series of one-step forward/15 steps back self-destructive O & G pandering, pathetic distractive Fed-baiting and general inadequacy/incompetence on every single provincial governing file.
When oil prices collapse below typical sunny day projections (not if), the process of finding the UCP utterly disgusting will accelerate into the new provincial election.
Demographics and increasing urbanization are against them – enjoy the show folks.
The documents appear to show that Premier Smith is lying about the timing of the moratorium and the reasons for it, for which she has changed her story a few times I think.
See this seven tweet thread by Andrew Leach:
Also this story by Dean Bennett of Canadian Press
https://globalnews.ca/news/9896102/alberta-premier-danielle-smith-contradictory-green-energy-pause/
The CP story has been used by various news media, but the updated detailed version is on Global; probably others will update.
Interesting legal implication:
Interesting take on this manoeuvre by the UCP government. Just a lay person here, but it occurred to me that maybe some of these green energy companies might have cases for legal action against our provincial government? Just a passing thought but …. they may get compensation from- you guessed it- the poor old Alberta taxpayers. So cynical.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Susan!! These are times when everyone must sleep with one eye open .. the dragon queen may strike at any time and in any direction . So glad to see you jump on this issue.
How on earth have we dug so deep?? Yuck…
People are asking how could this happen? The answer is very simple. Alberta voters.
You got that right. Alberta uninformed, illiterate voters that just want easy money and believe in Snow White and the seven Dwarfs.
Jaundiced Eye: Nailed it!
Here’s a good summary of the situation:
https://energi.media/markham-on-energy/smith-is-smothering-albertas-response-to-energy-system-disruption/
Smith says we can’t reach net-zero by 2035, but last year AESO published a report on how we could do exactly that. So who advised Smith that we could not do it? Or did she simply decide to lie and drag her feet for the benefit of the fossil fuel industries and the large utilities?
Why does Smith think she gets to tell Albertans which kind of energy we must use?
Although Ottawa and the party currently in power Federally is seldom very popular in Alberta, I think it is fair to say there is currently no consensus in Alberta about how to deal with climate change and energy transition.
There is one side that would seem to like to do everything it can to spite Ottawa and I feel this is where this sudden, unexpected and arguably unnecessary moratorium on renewable energy projects seems to come from. They seem to want to do whatever they can to upset, provoke and frustrate the Federal government and its initiatives. However, as the old saying goes, it is not generally wise to cut off your nose to spite your face.
There is another side that realizes that climate change and energy transition are world wide issues. This is not just about the current Prime Minister and his plans. Of course, if another party were in power Federally those would change somewhat, but the rest of the world and the underlying problem related to climate change would not go away. A transition will happen and resisting it will only make things more painful for us.
It is unfortunate this moratorium will result in lost investment, lost jobs, lost investor confidence and lost momentum here in Alberta. A real conservative government would understand this, but who we have in power now in Alberta are not that – they are culture warriors who want to make stir up conflict with Ottawa for their own political benefit or satisfaction.
There are of course legitimate issues about rural land use, but if that is a big concern it would not be difficult for the province to put some modest restrictions in place so the most productive agricultural land is not used for other things. However, rather than using a scalpel and such surgical precision, the province is using a moratorium which is a sledgehammer. Perhaps the province doesn’t truly know what to do here, but even if this is so, shouldn’t they just stick to the conservative maxim and do as little as possible to interfere?
In the news this week: the Alberta Government has made the decision to ‘de-privatize’ testing services. Labs/personnel under Dynalife, the private entity that was contracted to provide lab testing by the ever thoughtful UCP, are now going to be absorbed by Alberta Precision labs. This decision driven by the less than stellar performance of Dynalife in Southern Alberta – apparently they do an excellent job in Edmonton but could not duplicate that performance elsewhere. Details as to how Dynalife will be compensated for the take over not yet available. If/when those details do become public knowledge I expect that Dynalife will have received one whopping amount of taxpayer dollars. Yet another example of how privatization benefits taxpayers – the taxpayers who own the private service, that is. The rest of us? Not so much.
Linda, this privatization/de-privatization exercise is enough to make your head spin.
I applaud the government for de-privatizing Dynalife, but I worry that it is only a temporary respite. The people running the government lab will fix the problems and get lab services running smoothly again, only to have the government sell it off to the private sector who will cut wages, reduce staff, and introduce shortcuts (all in the name of efficiency) and we’ll be right back where we started. In a big fat mess.
But we can take comfort that the government’s ideology will be well served and someone, somewhere will make a tidy profit, (That was sarcasm!)
Second try – WordPress is not feeling well this morning
Deregulation, privatization, globalization and whatever other ‘…ations’ of neo liberals is finally come to show us its miraculous garbage. It stinks all over the world.
Remember Government is not in the business of doing business? – the excuse to sell public airports, habours, highways and whatever else built with public money and offered to the super rich friends for nothing. This is how Russia created the oligarchs, this is how the transformed its middle class into more poverty, this is the cause of geniuses like Trump, Boris Johnson and our own Pierre Poilievre now displayed on television as the great family man, the reasonable politician that likes to be friends with White Nationalists, convoy rednecks and attacking other politicians in Parliament as if their days are counted as democrats.
For at least 3 decades we have been warned this experiment was not only a direct attack on the middle class but also a subtle way of transforming our balanced societies into unstable, precarious and disintegrating cities with homelessness, mental health issues everywhere and hopelessness. This is how they establish their control over us.
Premiers come and go and leave behind what we are now seeing in our cities. Ralph Klein was a god for these Conservatives. He killed our health care system. Deregulated electricity is another disaster and never mind the UCP line up of ministers in trouble with the law.
Our current premier is a liar and suffers from some major delusions but this weekend had to do what we all knew 20 years ago, returning testing under public system control – the privatization of medical tests was another disaster and millions flow to the hands of those who manufacture these scandals that make them rich, It is called disaster capitalism.
This is a good article on some of the disasters that we now have to pay because there is no accountability in government at all. We have to change this system before we all become the new failed states in the west. If you have doubts or think impossible just look better at what this is all about.
https://albertapolitics.ca/2023/08/thanks-klein-albertans-are-getting-hammered-as-deregulated-july-electricity-prices-jump-128-over-last-year/
30 Years ago we were told clearly about the consequences of climate change. Of course it all was dismissed as left wing propaganda.
We all know what happened to the Cod fish right? Salmon is going the same way but again that is all communist propaganda.
Here is another warning. I can see already where we are heading with our forests.
Unfortunately nothing stops other than by the collapse.
Human beings will be the last great collapse.
Read this article if you want and ignore it at your own peril but believe me, this is our next earthquake in Canada and we will do the same thing we have been doing for decades – IGNORE it.
Why are governments ignoring all these issues and pointing fingers to Brazil and their Amazon forest? Because we have to hide the fact that our boreal forest is going faster than theirs. Hide the truth and everything will be alright until the cookie jar is empty.
This is horrible and we should know better, we claim to be the first world? In what way? Destroying our environment is criminal and should be dealt with that way.
We are only 30 million people in this vast land and we are already running out of basic resources.
We are not the only ones of course. I read this weekend that 90% of rivers in Britain are now contaminated with human feces. France is struggling to get a clean place to do outdoors water events in next year Olympic Games. This is true for most so called civilized countries in the world.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/08/21/analysis/our-forests-have-reached-tipping-point
Carlos, I worry about the impact of these “earthquakes” to use your terminology on the mental health of the next generation. I’m starting to read about children whose mental health is suffering as a result. They can see what’s coming even if we choose to ignore it.
Danielle Smith is now asking us to limit the use of electricity. She just wants to built more plants for her landlords in the Oil Field.
So as usual she lies and lies and lies ad nauseum.
So I do my bit to at least get some people to read this article.
She is so smart that she put a moratorium on renewables as we all know. She does not give a crap about those that are loosing their jobs. She only cares about those that work on the industry that possibly pays her under the table. I am sure it is much more profitable than a restaurant. She pretends that she does not even know about the moratorium – It is simply not important – 118 projects. Imagine if the Federal government had stopped them. She is simply the greatest IDIOT that has ever run any province in this country.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/08/31/news/real-story-behind-alberta-power-alert
Good article Carlos. I think more reporters have to be as blunt as this one who said “[Smith] regularly claims the incoming regulations will bar provinces from adding more gas generation. This is false. The federal regulations will allow new gas generation, as long as the facilities use carbon capture technology to curb a majority of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions created.”
In fact, I’d like it if reports would be even more blunt. Instead of saying “this is false” they could say “this is a lie.”
This is a lie – exactly but somehow we live in this world where we can no longer say it. People are afraid of saying so.
She actually has more than one lie in what she said but now if it comes from the Conservatives it does not matter because if it is a lie it becomes a fact regardless of what we think.
That is an enormous problem and we should always call it out.
IT IS A LIE
Danielle Smith lies and we should always call it out – EVERY SINGLE TIME
If the UCP keeps on going like this, there may be a mass exodus from Alberta.
Going to try to post again – first time failed
Well the prospect of the Conservatives in power at the same time as Trump in the Whitehouse is dangerously becoming a possibility.
I seriously do not recognize our country anymore.
Justin Trudeau is not my favorite prime minister but Pierre Poilievre 16 points ahead in the polls?
We are willing to vote for a person that sided with the convoy, White Nationalists and whatever conspiracy theories the far right aligns with?
WOW this is not just becoming leaving Alberta. Pretty soon we will all be refugees, some of us for the second time!!!
What a mess and lack of everything. Now Pierre Poilievre calls it the ‘Common Sense’ revolution. Really?
So it makes sense not having an environmental policy after what we are experiencing in Canada? So what is it? Accelerate oil production and go after the non existing cod fish and salmon, open coal mines in the parks, dump all the tailing ponds in the river, cancel day care subsidy, lower the taxes for the corporations and the super rich so they can put butter back on the table and subsidize oil even more? Same old same old conservative agenda?
Ok now I am starting to believe a collapse is not just possible, it is going to happen within our lifetime.
Susan in reply to your previous comment, it is not just children that are affected. I decided to go to our office downtown to work rather than staying home for my own mental health and what I have seen here is to say the least absolutely scary.
I do not think that I need to describe. It is very sad.
I certainly feel my mental health has deteriorated. I can only imagine what young people think of us adults (maybe) these days.