EDMONTON – U.S. President Barack Obama clearly tied the fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to its impact on greenhouse gas emissions in a major speech Tuesday laying out a plan for his country to fight climate change.

Obama’s new national climate change strategy could have wide ranging implications for Alberta and Canada’s own efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. But the immediate focus here Tuesday was on its implications for TransCanada’s $5.3 billion pipeline proposal, expanding capacity for Alberta bitumen to reach the U.S. Gulf Coast for refining.

Keystone has become a flashpoint for environmental groups wanting to slow the pace of oilsands expansion to fight greenhouse gas emissions and protect against spills. In the face of that opposition, Canadian leaders, including Premier Alison Redford, have devoted much effort to selling the project and the province’s environmental credentials.

Obama singled out the pipeline project about halfway through his speech, saying a U.S. energy strategy must be about more than just producing oil. “It’s certainly going to be about more than just building one pipeline,” he said to the audience listening in the hot sun at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

“I know there’s been, for example, a lot of controversy surrounding the proposal to build the Keystone pipeline, that would carry oil from Canadian tar sands down to refineries in the Gulf,” he said.

Keystone will only get a green light if the U.S State Department thinks the project serves the nation’s interests, he said to applause, which means it must not significantly “exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

“The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward. It’s relevant,” he said.

Like almost every other discussion related to Keystone, reaction to Obama’s comments was sharply divided. Energy industry representatives, including TransCanada, said they believe the pipeline will meet Obama’s criteria. But environmental groups said they believe it will fail the greenhouse gas test.

Alberta officials have worked hard in recent years to sell U.S. decision-makers on the pipeline, which is viewed as a critical piece of infrastructure with a capacity of 830,000 barrels a day that would help reduce the oil glut and potentially increase the price Alberta gets for its oil relative to the North American benchmark.

Redford and Alberta’s Energy Minister Ken Hughes were unavailable to comment Tuesday as they focused on southern Alberta’s flooding crisis. International and Intergovernmental Relations Minister Cal Dallas said in a written statement the province welcomed Obama’s new climate change policy. “Americans should feel confident that Alberta is the safest, most secure and responsible energy supplier to the United States,” he said, adding that the province is committed to carbon reductions.

Dallas, and federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, pointed to the U.S. State Department’s draft environmental impact assessment released in March that said the pipeline expansion would have little impact on the growth of Alberta’s oilsands and its associated greenhouse gas emissions.

Oliver said at a televised press conference after Obama’s speech that he does not consider it “a given” that Keystone will be approved. “I just think again if you look at the facts and the science, we’re comfortable the project will be approved,” Oliver said.

TransCanada, the company at the centre of the debate, said in a statement Tuesday it believes the pipeline complies with Obama’s criteria. Like government officials, spokesman Shawn Howard pointed to the State Department’s draft review.

“These reviews have found that, from a global perspective, the decision whether to build the proposed project would be unlikely to substantially affect the rate of extraction or combustion of Canadian oilsands crude and its global impact,” Howard said. “If Keystone XL is not built, it’s clear that the oil will move by market, by truck, rail and tanker, which will significantly add to global greenhouse gas emissions to move the product.”

But environmental groups such as Greenpeace Canada and the Sierra Club said Obama’s decision to make greenhouse gas the litmus test for Keystone should make it easy for him to reject the pipeline.

“If President Obama is going to be following the signals that he gave today, denying Keystone XL would be a very measured and cautious approach to addressing climate impacts,” said Nathan Lemphers, a senior policy analyst with the Pembina Institute.

Based on his analysis of the climate impacts of Keystone, presented on behalf of the environmental think-tank in Washington earlier this year, Lemphers said estimates filing the Keystone pipeline with oilsands bitumen will require a 36 per cent increase in production from today’s levels.

“That’s the equivalent of putting over four million cars on the road,” he said. “That’s not inconsequential.”

Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason said he thinks Obama’s speech Tuesday points to trouble for the pipeline. “I think that is not good news for Alison Redford, who desperately wants this pipeline to be approved,” Mason said.

Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin, the party’s environment critic, said he thinks Keystone may still be approved, but said Alberta must do more to prove it is making real improvements reducing carbon. “This government has not made anybody, including the Obama administration, convinced of their efforts,” said Anglin.

After weighing Obama’s comments, Greg Stringham, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ vice-president of oilsands and markets, said he believes Obama’s speech is another step toward Keystone’s ultimate approval when considered in conjunction with the State Department draft environmental review.

“It’s still a political decision so we’re looking for certainty and we’re hoping it will be sooner rather than later,” Stringham said. “But as we look at the process through this, as the State Department is working on their final environmental impact assessment, we don’t see anything that would have changed the conclusions they came up with in March.”

Obama is expected to make a final decision on Keystone by the end of the year.

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The group started in 2006 to try and get inactive gas wells cleaned up. Cattle were getting into the wells.
“It’s kind of a watch dog organization to … develop long-range planning tools for current and future development in the area,” says Anne Stevick, the president of CALUA.
The proposed transmission project is projected to install a transmission line from Pincher Creek south through Mountain View, Cardston, then further east and north to Foremost.
Stevick says they have been told by Alberta Electric Systems Operator officials there are going to be additional wind farms in southwestern Alberta and they need the Alberta taxpayers to provide them with a powerline to transport that power.
“The residents in this area of the M.D. of Pincher Creek and also from the County of Cardston are very upset, that this line is unnecessary, that the wind industry is not going to develop like it has and that this is going to obliterate the landscapes for no reason,” says Stevick. “I think it’s very important to have this group, because as individuals you feel like you’re fighting a losing battle.”
Stevick adds she, along with her husband, are passionate about this group and stopping unnecessary projects, because of their past experiences. The couple used to live west of Pincher Creek on the Castle River when the Oldman River Dam was being proposed.
She went through three years of ‘not very fun times’ trying to protect their land and the riparian areas.
“We felt, what their tactics always are is to divide and conquer, so they take the easy fruit first and offer people money and take the ones that are wanting the money and will sign up right away and then neighbours start fighting with neighbours and then the companies just walk through and do what they want,” says Stevick.
“When we first heard about this powerline, we felt it was very important to have an organized group of landowners, to communicate with each other to try and keep it from splitting our community apart.”
Stevick had approached CALUA about this transmission project and got them on board with going against it.
“We’re just hoping that by the time they get to southern Alberta, somebody will wake up, come to their senses and say, really do we want to do this to our province and make our citizens pay for it through higher power bills and taxes,” says Stevick.
She adds CALUA hopes to completely stop this transmission project from happening. They understand it’s not an easy process and there’s a large chance they won’t be able to stop it.
The Livingstone Landowners group has also been going through the same process with a powerline that’s proposed to be going in the Porcupine Hills near Cowley. That group has been able to successfully get a hearing with the Alberta Utilities Commission, but they have been fighting for two years.
Stevick says if CALUA can’t get the transmission line stopped from Goose Lake to Etzikom Coulee, they would hope to have the line go in the least intrusive route so as to minimally impact the environment and people.
So far, CALUA has been approaching provincial ministers and MLAs to try and question the need for this powerline. On May 28, CALUA brought forth a petition to the M.D. of Pincher Creek No. 9.
Stevick says it’s a thick binder full of signatures against the proposed powerline. The group has been going around to residents in the M.D. of Pincher Creek with the petition asking them to sign it, saying they are against future wind development in M.D. of Pincher Creek along with any large transmission lines.
Along with a signature, each person writes down their land location where CALUA shades in the areas that people are against the transmission line.
“The map has a lot of areas coloured in showing where people are opposed to it,” says Stevick.
This summer, AltaLink is going to be mailing out its preferred route. Following the mail-out, AltaLink will hold public open houses where Stevick and CALUA will take their petition and questions to them.
“We plan to go to provincial, try and get the attention of some provincial ministers and talk to them. We are trying to work together with our other groups like the Livingstone Landowners group as a cohesive group to keep on making noise,” says Stevick.
CALUA is waiting to take their next step this summer when they can bring forth their concerns to AltaLink.
In the meantime, they are making sure landowners are up to date on new information.

EDMONTON – The issue of how best to develop and transport Canada’s energy resources has inspired fierce debate and Amit Kumar wants to add the voice of science to that conversation.

The University of Alberta mechanical engineering professor was named Monday as the first academic to hold two new research chairs that will allow him and a team of 20 researchers to assess how Canada can produce energy more efficiently while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving water.

Kumar was appointed the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Chair in energy and environmental systems engineering. He was also named as the inaugural Cenovus Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering.

Kumar and other U of A researchers will create computerized models that examine the economics and environmental impacts of producing energy, whether it’s from coal, wind, hydro, biomass, natural gas or oil.

“What our research program does is it basically puts all these different types of energy systems in perspective in one picture to compare them,” Kumar said.

“This type of research has not been done earlier.”

The findings will aid governments in the drafting of policies and will help industry to make investment decisions, he said.

The research, funded by a Canadian oil company and federally and provincially funded research agencies, will also investigate the best technologies to use with different energy sources.

“This chair is basically looking at development of computer-based engineering models where we assess different types of energy systems — renewable and non-renewable,” Kumar said.

“What are their environmental impacts? How much is their greenhouse gas emission? How much water is required to produce a unit of energy? What is the land footprint? How much land is required to produce energy from a particular source? And we are also looking at the economics.

“What is the cost of producing energy from different sources?”

The two research programs have $4.4 million in total funidng, including a $3 million endowment from Cenovus Energy, $925,000 from NSERC, $250,000 from Alberta Innovates — Bio Solutions and $250,000 from Alberta Innovates — Energy and Environment Solutions.

“From my perspective, it’s really critically important that our legislators and our policy-makers have good, fact-based, science-based information on which to design new policies that will allow us to continue with resource development in a very responsible fashion,” said Cenovus president and CEO Brian Ferguson.

In his speech at the announcement, Ferguson said Kumar’s research will allow “good, quality legislation and policy that’s based on good, thoughtful science, that’s based on facts, and it’s not based on exaggeration and it’s not based on populist politics.

“To ensure the long-term viability of the industry, Cenovus and its peers must constantly look for better ways of doing things.”

He gave the example of pipelines to carry Alberta bitumen to market, now a hotly debated topic in Canada and the United States.

“As these pipelines have been delayed, the industry has turned to more and more rail transport. We already know the cost difference between shipping oil by rail versus pipeline, but we don’t know the difference between the two when it comes to the life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions,” Ferguson said.

“That’s just one of the important pieces of research that Dr. Kumar and his team are undertaking in the months ahead which will be tremendous new information for us all.”

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Original source article: New University of Alberta research chair to assess energy efficiency

EDMONTON – The new board overseeing the energy industry includes experts from the oil and gas, forestry and electricity industries, as well an internationally known environmental expert from Toronto with experience at the United Nations.

Three Calgarians are on the board: Cameron Bailey from the oilpatch; rancher David Chalack; and Sheila O’Brien, who has 30 years experience in the energy industry.

They will be joined by Edmonton resident Peter Flynn from the electricity sector, and Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former undersecretary general of the environment for the UN and a former federal assistant deputy minister of environment.

Energy Minister Ken Hughes said in a news release he is pleased with the diversity of the board for the new Alberta Energy Regulator, which will take over from the decades-old Energy Resources Conservation Board next week with the goal of streamlining approval of applications for new oil, gas and coal projects.

The new regulator, which officially starts up June 17, will also take over responsibility for handing out environmental permits for new projects and enforcement of provincial environment laws. That job is now done by the environment department.

The new board will “ensure our province leads the country and the world in balancing resource growth and our strong environmental commitment,” said Hughes.

Board chairman Gerry Protti, also appointed by Hughes, is a founding member of the industry lobby group the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. CEO Jim Ellis is a former deputy minister in the environment and energy departments.

The new board also includes: small business owner Fred Estlin from Grande Prairie; and Andy Neigel from Athabasca, who has 30 years in the forestry industry and runs Boreal Management Group.

Rachel Notley, New Democratic environment critic, says the new EAR started off with a “serious credibility problem ” when Protti, an industry insider, was appointed as boss.

“The new board members have a lot of work to do to overcome that bad start,” said Notley, adding that putting environmental enforcement under the regulator is heading in the wrong direction.

The board appointed five people, four from Calgary and one from Banff, as full-time officers to hear arguments about projects that go to public hearings.

Brad McManus, currently acting chair of the ERCB, becomes chief hearing commissioner.

The hearing officers are Alex Bolton and Rob McManus, both former ERCB members, Christine Macken, currently a member of the province’s Environment Appeals Board, and Barbara McNeil, chair of the Banff Development Appeal Board.

Unlike the ERCB, where board members also doubled as hearing officers, the board of the AER will not preside over public hearings.

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ZAMA CITY, Alta. – A pipeline operated by a Texas-based oil company has leaked 9.5 million litres of industrial waste water in northern Alberta.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board said the spill was first reported by Apache Canada Ltd. on June 1.

The pipeline breach is about 20 kilometres northeast of Zama City, a remote community near the Northwest Territories boundary.

“The affected area is undergoing cleanup, environmental monitoring, wildlife protection and remediation efforts and is currently estimated at 42 hectares,” the company said in a release Wednesday.

Apache said the nearby Zama River has not been affected by the leak, which has been plugged.

An Apache official declined to answer questions about the Zama spill.

Waste water that is extracted during oil and natural gas operations contains oil, gas, salt and other minerals.

Bob Curren of the resources conservation board said Alberta regulators didn’t learn how big the spill was until Tuesday.

“At the outset we were unaware that it was of this extent or volume,” Curren said from Calgary. “If we had known that up-front we would have made the announcement at that time.

“Once it was determined that the volumes were at this level we immediately moved to issue a news release.”

Greenpeace Canada said the area of the spill is an important wetland and habitat for animals and birds.

The environmental group calls the leak one of the largest of its type in Canadian history.

Keith Stewart, a Greenpeace spokesman, said this kind of waste water is full of toxic compounds.

“This is a massive spill of toxics into one of the most important wetlands in Canada, if not the world,” he said from Toronto. “The government shouldn’t be trying to hide these kinds of things.”

Greenpeace called on the Alberta government to release the findings of a pipeline safety review that was completed last year.

The province commissioned the report following spills from oil pipelines owned by Plains Midstream Canada in central Alberta last June and in April 2011 in north-central Alberta.

The Apache website says the corporation has oil and natural gas operations around the world including the Gulf Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, the North Sea, Australia and Argentina with assets in 2011 worth US$52 billion.

For at least the second time this year the National Energy Board (NEB) has done what it does best:  protect pipeline companies.

A high-stakes showdown erupted Tuesday between the Redford government and Alberta Health Services board after directors refused to spike executive bonuses — and the spat is expected to trigger the departure of the superboard’s chair just nine months into the job.

While no formal confirmation of the move came Tuesday, several sources confirmed board chairman Stephen Lockwood is expected to leave the position Wednesday.

It’s unclear whether he’s poised to resign or Health Minister Fred Horne will force him to leave. Horne has scheduled a news conference Wednesday to comment on the situation.

One source said the entire AHS board could be ousted and it’s likely a new chair will be named Wednesday.

Reached late Tuesday, Lockwood said he would comment after today’s developments, “if any” occur.

At a board meeting, Lockwood said he planned to “continue to lead until I don’t think I can be effective, or until I’m asked to depart.”

Observers say the public blow-up between AHS and the Tory government raises new questions about whether political “games” are interfering with the health superboard’s ability to run the medical system.

Opposition critics blasted the board’s decision to shell out pay at risk that could hit $3.2 million to the 99 senior leaders for the fiscal year 2012-13, when other areas such as home care and palliative care are being pinched.

The dramatic situation unfolded rapidly Tuesday when Horne issued a statement just before the AHS board was to hold a news conference on its financial statements, which contain bonus pay information. The minister said the government “cannot and will not accept” the health authority’s decision to award pay at risk.

Horne said the bonuses can’t be awarded at a time when front-line staff such as doctors and teachers are taking wage freezes and directed AHS to rethink the decision.

However, in a board meeting organized on the fly Tuesday afternoon, the AHS directors ignored the directive and approved the organization’s financial statements, including pay at risk.

“Today is not about pay at risk,” Lockwood said. “It’s about an arm’s length relationship between government and Alberta Health Services.”

He noted the payments were first approved by the board in February, and will be eliminated moving forward.

“We’re talking about autonomy and integrity,” Lockwood added.

“It’s about the ability of AHS to operate independently from government.”

Lockwood, president of trucking company Mullen Group, was appointed in September 2012 to a three-year term as AHS board chair. He had previously said the organization will cut executive bonuses in the 2013-14 fiscal year, but it would be unreasonable to eliminate performance pay promised under the terms of the last contract.

Lockwood has in the past called on elected politicians to not interfere with the running of the health system.

However, Horne also announced Tuesday the government would launch a sweeping review of how boards and commissions are run, starting with AHS, to ensure Albertans “can have trust and confidence in the decisions made by boards and commissions.”

The AHS review will be complete by Sept. 1, 2013.

Lockwood shot back that the government already concluded a review of AHS governance last year and called a second report a waste of taxpayer money.

The board chair also openly questioned why the Redford-government directed AHS to hold back on the release of its annual report and financials.

“In my view, good governance and best practice would include releasing documents like that as soon as they’ve been approved by the board.”

A former AHS chief executive ousted amid a political fracas over ER waits in 2010 said the Alberta government is once again trying to meddle where it doesn’t belong.

“It’s obviously political interference,” said Stephen Duckett, whose contract was terminated in November 2010 by the AHS board, under pressure from government.

Pay at risk, a portion of salary that executives must earn based on reaching year-end performance goals, is a clear example of why AHS must be allowed to operate free from politics, Duckett said from Australia.

AHS executives earn salaries based on the mid-range of the scale for similar positions, and the bonus structure ensures Alberta attracts good talent, he said.

“It’s a game isn’t it, that’s being played in the political arena,” Duckett added.

“What is the point of having a board if the minister wants to get involved in decisions at this level, just because of political pressure.”

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, said the situation is a no-win for the governing Tories, since it created AHS and appointed the board — and the health authority has been dogged by controversy surrounding executive compensation.

But the optics of allowing the board to give bonuses to its top brass while the medical system is being squeezed “just looks horrid,” he said.

“This is a significant challenge to the government because if they intervene, they did create an arm’s length agency to run health care. And if they don’t, it looks like they have no control over the health-care system,” said Bratt.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the situation showed Horne had lost control of the health system.

She said he now has two choices: Order the board to cancel the bonuses, or fire the AHS directors.

“Because what we’ve seen here is open defiance. We’ve seen an AHS board that don’t believe they have to answer to anyone,” she said.

With files from James Wood and Chris Varcoe, Calgary Herald.

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