 Environment - January 30, 2008 |
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Critics pan green plan
Government defends environmental plan as realistic and achievable |
By Ryan Tumilty
Staff Writer
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Premier Ed Stelmach introduced his new plan to address greenhouse gas emissions last week, but critics have already said it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
The new plan calls for a government industry council to look at implementing a carbon capture and sequestration network.
This technology takes carbon dioxide from industrial process and stores it underground where it can enhance the recovery of older oil fields.
The technology requires industrial plants, such as the upgraders, to separate carbon dioxide from other gases, which can add millions to their investment.
Dan Woynillowicz with the Pembina Institute said not only does the plan fail to address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, it is unfair to industries that need certainty in their investments.
"It is delaying action and a technology that could be implemented now rather than as a more expensive retrofit later," he said.
Woynillowicz said if the plan had directed all industrial emitters to include carbon capture in their plants before they are built it would save money in the long run.
He said the proposed government industry council is a waste of precious time.
Alberta Environment spokesperson Kim McLeod said the government wants to identify the best ways to use carbon capture technology before implementing it.
"The government industry council will look at where we can get the best reductions right off the bat," said McLeod.
Robert Pearce, president of North West Upgrading, signed an agreement last September to provide carbon dioxide to a company that uses it for enhanced oil recovery.
He said new and changing regulations are part of doing business in the energy sector.
"I worry about regulations generally, that is a part of the business, but at the same time there comes a point when it is necessary to get on with doing business," he said.
Low targets?
The government is proposing a 14 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 from 2005 levels through this new initiative, but McLeod said it is a much bigger target when the pace of emission increases is taken into account.
"Without this plan in place our emissions would double at the pace we are going," she said.
Overall the government predicts the new plan will reduce greenhouse gases in 2050 by 50 per cent and projects nearly 70 per cent of those reductions will come from carbon capture technology.
Pearce said he shares the optimism for the potential of carbon capture, which is why North West spent millions on it for the Sturgeon County plant.
"We are certainly a big believer in carbon capture and sequestration as a tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
Woynillowicz said the targets simply aren’t good enough and fall well behind what is being done in other jurisdictions.
He said the government is under the delusion it is helping industry with low targets, but eventually other levels of government will step in and change things.
He called the plan empty rhetoric and said the government needs to step up to the plate.
"This plan is a plan to do more planning. It is more talk than action," he said. "We emit almost a third of emissions in Canada."
McLeod said this plan works for Alberta.
"The provinces are looking at what is going to be in their best interests," she said. "We have to look at the best opportunities for reductions for our province."
McLeod said Alberta has looked at the numbers and set a realistic and achievable goal.
"Alberta has done economic analysis, looked at where we can get reductions and then set those targets." |
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