• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Federal Budget Pours Tens of Billions Into Clean Economy March 28, 2023
Somali Canadians Aid Drought-Stricken Homeland as 43,000 Reported Dead March 26, 2023
B.C.’s New Energy Framework a ‘Smokescreen,’ Critic Warns March 26, 2023
SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Defuse the Climate Time Bomb’ with Net-Zero by 2040, Guterres Urges G20 March 20, 2023
Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action March 20, 2023
Next
Prev

Wilkinson Links Teck Decision to Rising GHG Emissions from Alberta Oilpatch

February 21, 2020
Reading time: 2 minutes

sbamueller, Oil Sands Discovery Centre/flickr

sbamueller, Oil Sands Discovery Centre/flickr

10
SHARES
 

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has put Alberta on notice that its rising greenhouse gas emissions will be a factor in the federal cabinet’s impending decision on the proposed Teck Frontier tar sands/oil sands mine.

In a letter Wednesday to his provincial counterpart, Jason Nixon, Wilkinson said there is a “significant risk” the province will exceed its emissions cap of 100 million tonnes per year by 2030, the Globe and Mail reports.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“If the Frontier mine is approved and constructed, it would emit 4.1 megatonnes of greenhouse gases annually,” the Globe explains. [Environmental groups put the total at 6.0 megatonnes—Ed.] “Those emissions would fall under a provincially legislated cap on oil sands emissions, which Mr. Wilkinson said is already closing in on its limit, before factoring in several other approved but not yet built oil sands projects.” 

If all of those projects were built, the Globe adds, the province’s emissions would exceed 130 megatonnes. “In a brief statement, Jess Sinclair, a spokeswoman for Mr. Nixon, said the province takes ‘issue with some of the assertions’, particularly around how close Alberta is to hitting its cap.”

While Alberta claims its oilpatch emissions stood at 67.7 Mt in 2018, Ottawa says the total will hit 86.5 Mt this year.

“In his own public letter sent on February 12, Nixon accused Wilkinson of ‘changing the goalposts’ by bringing forward the cap at the last minute as a potential condition related to the Teck project and attempting to negotiate through the media rather than directly with the Alberta government,” CBC writes.

“During our discussions, at no time did you communicate to me that the 100 megaton[ne] cap on sector greenhouse gas emissions needed to be in regulation,” Nixon wrote. “In fact, when I directly asked you whether you thought the cap needed to be formally brought into regulations, you told me it was fine as it was. Similar assurances were provided at the officials’ level.”

Wilkinson replied the federal government has always wanted Alberta to bring the cap into force, after it was legislated but not implemented by the province’s previous NDP government.

“We continue to encourage Alberta to follow through and fully implement its legislation to limit emissions to 100 million tonnes from the oilsands,” he wrote. “Alberta is the largest emitting jurisdiction in Canada, in both real and per capita terms,” he added, and “we need to work together” to meet and exceed the country’s 2030 emission reduction target and hit net-zero emissions by 2050.



in Canada, Carbon Levels & Measurement, Ending Emissions, Energy Politics, Legal & Regulatory, Sub-National Governments, Tar Sands / Oil Sands

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

kelly8843496 / Pixabay
Finance & Investment

BREAKING: Federal Budget Pours Tens of Billions Into Clean Economy

March 29, 2023
638
TruckPR/flickr
Hydrogen

Opinion: Hydrogen Hype Sabotages Potential to Decarbonize

March 28, 2023
378
icondigital/pixabay
Supply Chains & Consumption

New Federal Procurement Rule Requires Biggest Bidders to Report Net-Zero Plans

March 28, 2023
183

Comments 1

  1. Richard Troy, P.Eng says:
    3 years ago

    Open pit mining is the most destructive and deadly method of petroleum extraction. It is like War on the Land and People. Mining give Oil Sands the name Tar Sands. If we and millions continue to clog every strees with r cars we must decrease GHG emissions and increase Public Transit. Vast, poisonous Tailings Ponds are the final assault on Nature and Indigenous People downstream. In Situ with CCS are options.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

kelly8843496 / Pixabay

BREAKING: Federal Budget Pours Tens of Billions Into Clean Economy

March 29, 2023
638
TruckPR/flickr

Opinion: Hydrogen Hype Sabotages Potential to Decarbonize

March 28, 2023
378
Faye Cornish/Unsplash

Abundance, Not Austerity: Reframe the Climate Narrative, Solnit Urges

March 26, 2023
154
U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement/flickr

Willow Oil Project in Alaska Faces Legal Challenges, Economic Doubts

March 19, 2023
757
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons

B.C.’s New Energy Framework a ‘Smokescreen,’ Critic Warns

March 28, 2023
59
icondigital/pixabay

New Federal Procurement Rule Requires Biggest Bidders to Report Net-Zero Plans

March 28, 2023
183

Recent Posts

UNICEF Ethiopia/flickr

Somali Canadians Aid Drought-Stricken Homeland as 43,000 Reported Dead

March 29, 2023
37
Prime Minister's Office/flickr

Biden’s Ottawa Visit Highlights EVs, Clean Grid, Critical Minerals

March 28, 2023
87
EUMETSAT/wikimedia commons

Cyclone Freddy Leaves Over 500 Dead on Africa’s Southeast Coast

March 23, 2023
63
Kern River Valley Fire Info/Facebook

SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Defuse the Climate Time Bomb’ with Net-Zero by 2040, Guterres Urges G20

March 20, 2023
340
IFRC Intl. Federation:Twitter

Devastating Impacts, Affordable Climate Solutions Drive IPCC’s Urgent Call for Action

March 21, 2023
1k
U.S. National Park Service/rawpixel

Window for 1.5°C ‘Rapidly Closing’, IPCC Warns

March 20, 2023
98
Next Post
LoggaWiggler / Pixabay

Skyrocketing Price Drives Down Public Support for Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}