9 Feb 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Ian Bickis
THE CANADIAN PRESS — CALGARY

Anew report from the University of Calgary says there should be time limits on how long oil and gas wells in Alberta can be kept on standby because of the growing liability overhang.

Oil and gas producers partially close off, or suspend, wells rather than go ahead with a sometimes costly reclamation because the wells could be worth producing from again in the future.

The report by Lucija Muehlenbachs at the university’s School of Public Policy, however, says that most of the roughly 80,000 inactive wells in the province likely wouldn’t be restarted even if oil prices or technology significantly improve.

“Looking at what we’re seeing in the data of wells moving in and out of activity, it’s very rare,” Muehlenbachs said.

Her research has found that even if oil prices were to double, only about 12 per cent of oil wells would be reactivated. And if a technology breakthrough were to increase reserves five-fold, only about 10 per cent of oil wells and six per cent of gas wells would likely be restarted.

The report finds that most wells aren’t fully reclaimed to avoid the cost of doing so, and with no time limit on how long they can remain on standby, there’s a risk that companies might not be around in the future to pay for those liabilities.

“This is an accumulation of liability,” said Muehlenbachs. “If they’re allowed to leave them inactive, then why not just leave them inactive forever?”

The orphan well fund, which manages wells where the owner has gone bankrupt or can’t be found, has already gone from 162 in early 2015 to 1,395 as of last December.

Many other jurisdictions also don’t have limits on formally abandoning and reclaiming a well, but about a third of American states have a limit ranging from six to 300 months with possible extensions, Muehlenbachs noted.

Mark Salkeld, president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, asked the federal government last year for hundreds of millions of dollars to help clear the backlog of inactive wells and put members back to work.

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27 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Dean Bennett THE CANADIAN PRESS — EDMONTON

Jean says merger would be done under Wildrose rules

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean has opened the door to uniting with the Progressive Conservatives to end more than a decade of bruising political infighting between Alberta’s centre-right parties.

But Jean said if it’s going to happen, the Wildrose members have to say yes, and it will be done under the Wildrose umbrella and under Wildrose rules.

“While I am confident that Wildrose would defeat (Premier Rachel Notley’s) NDP on our own in the next election, consolidating and uniting like-minded conservatives under a single banner is the best chance that we’ll be successful,” Jean said Thursday in a video statement released online to the media and to party members.

Jean also said if the party votes to merge, he will step down as leader and run in a leadership race to be held this summer.

“Let me be clear on this point — I plan to be Alberta’s next premier,” said Jean.

“It is my vision and my plan to make Alberta a place of unparalleled greatness, leading the strongest period of job creation in our history.”

Jean said he is acting on the wishes of most party members who have told him over the past year that he should pursue unity, but only in a way that honours the Wildrose commitment to grassroots democracy. He said he and other caucus members will attend town hall meetings to gauge the interest and attain a clear mandate to hold such a vote “if the PC members select a dance partner that we’ve been looking for.”

The Progressive Conservative party is currently in a leadership race that has two of the four candidates running on a promise to get a deal with the Wildrose.

Candidate Jason Kenney said if he wins the March 18 delegated vote, he will seek a mandate to dissolve the party and merge it with a dissolved Wildrose party to create a new conservative entity, possibly titled the Conservative Party of Alberta.

He wants party members to make major decisions and to have a united party ready to fight the next provincial election in the spring of 2019.

Kenney lauded Jean’s announcement.

“This demonstrates real leadership on Brian’s part and it demonstrates that he’s in touch with the common sense of common Albertans who are telling us to bury the hatchet, park the egos, park the brands and labels and get past a decade of division,” he said.

Asked about Jean’s plan to keep the Wildrose framework and funding intact, Kenney said that will be sorted out.

“I’m not going to get into legal argy-bargy at this point. The fundamental question is whether or not we seek unity.”

Earlier Thursday, PC leadership candidate Richard Starke, a staunch critic of Kenney’s unity plan, reversed course and said he, too, would seek some kind of accommodation with the Wildrose, although he didn’t give details on what that might look like.

The other two PC candidates, Calgary lawyer Byron Nelson and former PC MLA Stephen Khan, are running to rebuild, not merge, the party, which finished third in the last election after governing Alberta for more than four decades.

Kenney’s campaign has polarized debate within the party. Critics say he is moving the PCs to the fringe and away from the political mainstream by embracing the Wildrose brand of social conservatism.

PC party members also voted overwhelmingly last spring to rebuild the party and not pursue any mergers.

Both Kenney, Jean and Starke say time is of the essence to avoid future vote-splitting that will allow the NDP to come up the middle in 2019 for a second consecutive majority government.

They say the NDP’s economic policies, including a carbon tax and higher minimum wages, are impeding an economic recovery from low oil prices.

While Jean spoke of working together, his speech revealed scars that remain from the bruising right fight.

“Our party must never be a home for cronies who want to use government and politics for their own personal gain,” he said.

“In the last election, Albertans soundly rejected those who put personal ambition ahead of principles.”

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27 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Ian Bickis THE CANADIAN PRESS — CALGARY

TransCanada Corp. has submitted a new presidential permit application to the U.S. Department of State for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The application comes only days after U.S. President Donald Trump asked the company to reapply and signed an order to help expedite the project.

The pipeline would ship oil 1,900 kilometres from Alberta to Steele City, Neb., where it would connect with other lines leading to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said the project, which would carry some 830,000 barrels of oil a day, remains in the interests of both Canada and the U.S.

“This privately funded infrastructure project will help meet America’s growing energy needs as well as create tens of thousands of well-paying jobs and generate substantial economic benefit throughout the U.S. and Canada,” Girling said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Trump directed the State Department and other agencies to make a decision within 60 days of a final application and declared that a 2014 environmental study satisfies required reviews under environmental and endangered species laws.

A day later, Girling, speaking publicly for the first time since Trump’s move, said the company was talking with shippers to determine if they still support Keystone XL.

The company still faces bitter opposition from environmentalists, landowners and aboriginals who are determined to block Keystone XL, with hundreds protesting in front of the White House on news of Trump’s order.

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28 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Ian Bickis THE CANADIAN PRESS — CALGARY

NEB to restart hearings

TransCanada won’t be getting a regulatory decision on its Energy East pipeline any time soon. The National Energy Board panel tasked with reviewing the $15.7-billion project decided Friday to throw out nearly two years of decisions made by the previous panel, which stepped down after concerns about a potential conflict of interest.

The board said all hearing steps and related deadlines for the TransCanada project no longer apply as it begins to determine a new list of issues, list of participants and new process for reviewing the application.

“After much thought and consideration, we feel that restarting the Energy East and Eastern Mainline hearings with a clean slate is the best course of action,” NEB spokesman Marc Drolet said in an email.

“We understand there have been process missteps in the past, and that our decision may be an inconvenience to some.”

The previous Energy East pipeline panel, which had been reviewing the project since TransCanada submitted its application in October 2014, stepped down last September after concerns were raised about a potential perception of bias after members met privately with Jean Charest while he was a paid TransCanada consultant.

A new panel was appointed earlier this month, with all three members committing not to speak with any members of the previous panel to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest.

Much has changed in the pipeline world since the last panel stepped down, including federal approvals of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain and Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline projects, while the election and recent actions of U.S. President Donald Trump have opened the potential for TransCanada’s Keystone XL to go ahead.

“From the perspective of how much supply we have in the basin and how much potential pipeline capacity we have, things have changed quite dramatically,” said Jackie Forrest, vice-president of energy research at ARC Financial Corp.

She said there’s still the potential for Energy East, with its 900,000 barrels a day of committed shipments, to go ahead, even if there was excess capacity.

“That’s the old way of thinking, that supply must equal pipeline capacity. Really what Canadian industry needs is access to new markets,” Forrest said.

TransCanada spokesman Tim Duboyce said they will be reviewing the NEB’s decision to understand its impact on the project and the company, but similarly said the project remains important.

“Energy East remains of critical strategic importance because it will end the need for refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick to import hundreds of thousands of barrels of foreign oil every day, while improving overseas market access for Canadian oil,” said Duboyce in an email.

TransCanada isn’t starting entirely from scratch, with the NEB saying the company does not need to refile the more than 30,000-page application it submitted after 18 months of public consultations.

The new panel will, however, have to decide if the application is complete, and only then will the 21-month countdown start again.

Those who have already submitted an application to participate in the review process also don’t need to reapply.

The new panel will review all of the filed applications and release a new list of participants.

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23 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Cathy Bussewitz and Geoff Mulvihill
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — HONOLULU

States that depend heavily on federal renewable energy tax credits, grants and research, much of which comes from the Energy Department, are unsure what to expect with Donald Trump in the White House President Donald Trump has disputed climate change, pledged a revival of coal and disparaged wind power, and his nominee to head the Energy Department was once highly skeptical of the agency’s value. What this means for states’ efforts to promote renewable energy is an open question.
Associated Press photo
In this 2013 file photo, wind turbines lining the Altamont Pass near Livermore, Calif., generate electricity. California, Hawaii, Oregon, New York and many other Democratic-leaning states have ambitious goals to wean themselves off fossil fuels, but they rely heavily on federal grants, tax credits and research to support their efforts, programs that could evaporate or be cut significantly under the new Trump administration.

States that are pushing for greater reliance on wind and solar power are not quite sure what to expect as Trump takes over. Many of them depend heavily on federal renewable-energy tax credits, grants and research, much of which comes from the Energy Department.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Trump’s pick to lead the department, presents a contradictory figure: A Texas oil promoter, he also oversaw a huge expansion of wind-energy production while governor. When he ran for president in 2011, he included Energy on a list of departments he thought should be abolished, though he disavowed the idea Thursday at his Senate confirmation hearing.

“We don’t know what version of Perry is going to show up,” said Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, Austin.

Renewable energy accounts for about 15 per cent of the electricity generated in the United States. And 29 states have set targets for boosting their reliance on such power.

Officials, experts and advocates in more than a half-dozen states with some of the most ambitious goals told The Associated Press that they are on course to meet their targets. Most said that while Trump policies could slow the expansion, they won’t stop it.

The price of harnessing the power of the sun and wind has dropped so much that in many areas of the country, experts say it could be competitive with traditional power sources such as coal and natural gas even without federal subsidies. Further, they do not expect a fast repeal of the key federal tax credits that have propelled the industry for years.

Still, policies aimed at bringing more renewable power online quickly are not expected while Trump is in office.

“We need to be moving faster, not slower,” said Jeff Forward, president of the trade group Renewable Energy Vermont. “I fear we’re tapping on the brakes right now.”

Those who promote renewable energy are concerned because Trump has expressed doubts about whether climate change is real, even though scientists agree that it is happening and that the burning of fossil fuels is a major reason for it.

Trump also has called for reviving the coal industry, which has struggled in part because of the rise of renewable energy. And he has criticized wind turbines near Palm Springs, California, both for killing birds and for looking like a “junkyard.”

Perry, at his confirmation hearings, said he believes climate change is happening and that some of it is caused by human activity. He also said he favours an “all of the above” energy policy, the way he did in Texas, and wants the federal government to continue research on renewable energy. He didn’t say what he thought of green energy tax credits and other incentives.

The federal wind credit is set to be phased out in 2019, and the solar one, four years after that. Those incentives and other federal spending on renewable energy in fiscal year 2015 totalled about $10 billion, nearly twice as much as similar subsidies for fossil fuels.

In Hawaii, federal tax credits reduced the price for developers and homeowners by about $125 million annually from 2011 to 2014, according to an analysis by Blue Planet Foundation. During that time, the portion of the state’s electricity coming from renewables nearly doubled from 12 to 21 per cent.

Randy Iwase, chairman of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, said incentives are important to the state’s goal of having 100 per cent of its power generated from renewable sources by 2045, the nation’s most aggressive target.

“We are in a toddler stage,” he said. “When you lose focus, when attention is distracted, when you make it less of a priority, the toddler kind of wobbles.”

The Energy Department said in a report last year that the cost of getting power from wind fell more than 40 per cent from 2008 to 2015, and solar panel prices dropped more than 60 per cent in that period.

Market forces have made green power big in Republican-led states, with wind turbines springing up along the Great Plains from Iowa to Texas. In those places — many of which have low or no green-energy requirements — the arguments for renewable power are more often cost savings and job creation, rather than the environmental benefits.

In December, Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio vetoed a bill that would have delayed the requirements there. This month, Phil Scott, the new GOP governor in Vermont, affirmed his commitment to Vermont’s goal of 90 per cent green power by 2050.

Meanwhile, some Democraticleaning states have been pushing their requirements upward. Since 2015, both New York and California have increased their targets to 50 per cent by 2030, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated he would like to go further than that.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, said he is committed to meeting the state’s target regardless of what policy changes come from Washington.

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22 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Stephanie Labbe Southern Alberta Newspapers

The Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) is excited for its new proposed Water Charter 2017 which is targeted to benefit the southwest part of the province.

Anna Garleff, communications specialist for the OWC, says this water charter is important because it is a formal confirmation from both citizens and their municipal leaders they are not only standing behind watershed protection on a theoretical level, but people throughout the Oldman Watershed now recognize there is a heightened sense of urgency and people are ready to act.

“We hope that all the municipal, county and industry leaders will sign on and that key community organizations and schools will also want to throw their support behind the movement and show the rest of the province that southern Alberta can demonstrate leadership,” says Garleff.

Municipal leaders can add themselves to this charter and be a part of the initiative.

It was a good day for the OWC, when on Nov. 3 the City of Lethbridge added itself to the charter. By signing the charter, the community pledges it will do what it can to help better the watershed. Other communities or groups that have signed up include the M.D. of Pincher Creek, Coalhurst, Nobleford, Pogo Bros and Vauxhall.

Garleff says Nanton has also expressed interest in signing the charter and will be following up with the OWC in the new year. Many irrigation district administrators have shown interest as well.

“We hope that people will find out that watershed stewardship is very rewarding and that it is easy and fun to make positive change. We hope people will make new connections and friendships and experience the satisfaction of having done something truly beneficial for everyone who lives, works and plays in the Oldman including for our furred and finned friends,” adds Garleff.

Garleff says the activities of the charter will kick off on the May long weekend and organizations can participate at any time. Water acts can range anywhere from garbage pick-ups and weed pulls to stopping the purchase of bottled water.

People can also take part in storm drain clean ups, stream bank restoration work and bridge decking. These activities can be done anywhere in the watershed. With this charter, the OWC will also organize classroom presentations.

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20 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
J.W. Schnarr
[email protected]

The disconnect between the agriculture industry and consumers, and the truth behind some of the myths surrounding the beef industry, were explored by guest speaker Jude Capper at this year’s Tiffin Conference.

“( The disconnect) seems to be getting bigger with the rise of media people who like to tell the consumer what they think we do rather than what we actually do,” said Capper.

Capper is an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in Oxfordshire, U.K. Her research focuses on modelling the environmental impact of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef — projects include the effect of specific management practices and technology use upon environmental impact.

Some popular media myths explored by Capper include the effectiveness of the “Meatless Monday” campaign; ecological impact of beef production; differences between grass-fed and grain-fed beef; the image of the “factory farm” versus the reality; and the perceived dangers of hormones in beef.

“Meatless Monday” as an environmental movement doesn’t have the impact some believe it does, according to Capper.

She said the total carbon footprint from meat in Canada amounts to about 3.9 per cent.

“What that means is if everyone in Canada went meatless every Monday for a whole year, the national carbon footprint would come down less than 0.55 per cent,” she said. And because the meat needs to be replaced with another food, the idea is misleading to the public.

In regards to the ecological impact of beef production, Capper said efficiencies at all levels of production have led to larger yields. Between 1977 and 2007, water use in the U.S. was reduced by 12 per cent, land use reduced by 33 per cent, and carbon footprint by 16 per cent.

“They are all really good gains simply made because they were getting better at caring and breeding and feeding those animals,” she said. “Not because anybody was thinking about carbon.”

There is a perception that grass-fed beef must be better than corn-fed beef, which is part of the image of the “factory farm,” sometimes mistaken as feedlots.

But what they fail to see is how most of a feedlot cow’s life was spent on pasture, and that they are moved to feedlots for the final few months before being processed.

Capper said in Canada, the average cow-calf operation has 59 cows.

“There is a perception to the consumer that (ranchers) have these big factory-type farms,” she said. “But it’s completely wrong.”

Finally, the idea of hormones in beef and dairy has been overblown, according to Capper, and has not been helped by marketing campaigns aimed at providing “hormone-free” meat.

“There are hormones in just about everything we eat with the exception of maybe salt and sugar,” she said.

The total concentration of estrogen in implanted beef is about 5.1 nanograms of estrogen per 200gram steak, according to Capper. Compare that to the estrogen in a single birth control pill, which has 35,000 nano-grams of estrogen.

“If any person was going to be biologically affected by the estrogen in beef, they would have to eat more than 1,500 kilograms per day,” she said.

Capper said the ag industry needs to be better at informing the public. The reality of farmers and ranchers as stewards of the land and caretakers of their animals is a message that more people need to hear.

“The perception to the consumer is the image of big, bad farmers throwing stuff in the water, not caring for animals, and so on,” she said. “And it isn’t true at all.”

The Tiffin Conference is a one-of-a-kind event in southern Alberta and has been an important platform for discussing current issues and trends in the red meat industry.

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14 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Jim Bronskill THE CANADIAN PRESS — OTTAWA

Supreme Court rules against woman

The Supreme Court of Canada says an Alberta woman cannot sue the province’s energy regulator as part of her claim that hydraulic fracturing so badly contaminated her well that the water can be set on fire.

In a 5-4 ruling Friday, the high court rejected Jessica Ernst’s argument that a provincial provision shielding the regulator from legal action was unconstitutional.

Ernst began legal action against the regulator, Calgary-based energy company Encana and Alberta Environment in 2007.

She alleges that fracking on her land northeast of Calgary released hazardous amounts of methane and other chemicals into her well and that her concerns were not properly investigated.

Ernst sought damages of $50,000 in claiming the regulator breached her constitutional right to free speech.

She said that from November 2005 to March 2007, the regulator’s compliance branch cut off contact with her, saying she would have to raise her concerns only with the regulator and not through the media or other public means.

Ernst claimed that infringed her charter right to free speech — effectively punishing her for the public criticism and preventing her from speaking out further.

The Alberta courts cited the immunity provision in provincial law and exempted the Alberta Energy Regulator from the lawsuit.

Ernst argued at the Supreme Court that the immunity clause in the Energy Resources Conservation Act was unconstitutional because it barred her claim for charter damages.

In the court’s reasons for judgment, Justice Thomas Cromwell said Ernst could have asked a court for judicial review of the regulator’s purported bar on communication with her. If she had established a case, the court could have set aside the regulator’s directive, he wrote.

“While an application for judicial review would not have led to an award of damages, it might well have addressed the breach much sooner and thereby significantly reduced the extent of its impact as well as vindicated Ms. Ernst’s charter right to freedom of expression.”

Cromwell also noted the regulator has the public duty of balancing several potentially competing rights, interests and goals. Allowing people to bring claims for damages against the regulator has the potential to deplete its funds and time.

In addition, Cromwell wrote, it could “chill” the regulator’s ability to carry out its duties in the public interest.

In a dissenting opinion, four judges, including Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, said it was “not plain and obvious” that Ernst’s claim was barred by the immunity provision. They said it was arguable that the regulator’s allegedly punitive actions fell outside the scope of the provision.

The judges added it was premature to address the constitutionality of the immunity provision, and Ernst’s claim should be returned to the Alberta courts to decide “the important issues of free speech and charter remedies that her case raises.”

Ernst said she is “horrified” by what the ruling will mean to other Canadians whose drinking water could be affected by fracking chemicals.

“If they get contaminated or harmed, or their children get cancer from the fracking chemicals or get sick, and they present evidence to the regulator, and the regulator violates their charter rights in response and engages in abuse of process as they did with me — it is really terrible,” she said.

Cory Wanless, one of Ernst’s lawyers, said the ruling was actually a 4-4-1 split as one judge dismissed the appeal on technical grounds.

Wanless said the ruling does not resolve some of the key issues, including whether a government can pass a law that prevents people from going to court to challenge a regulator if they believe their charter rights have been breached.

“This judgment is going to cause some head-scratching among the legal community,” he said.

Ernst said she plans to focus her time and money on continuing her lawsuit against Encana and Alberta Environment.

She said she expects others will file similar lawsuits over regulators and fracking. “I worked as hard as I could to get as far as I could and now it is somebody else’s turn. I throw the gauntlet down.”

A spokesman for the Alberta Energy Regulator said the agency was reviewing the decision.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, an intervener in the case, said it was disappointed with the court ruling.

“This decision has worrisome implications for people across the country seeking to hold government appointed decision-makers accountable for egregious unconstitutional actions,” said Laura Track, the association’s lawyer.

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13 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald
Bill Graveland
THE CANADIAN PRESS — HANNA

Two small western towns where coal is king look to the future in uncertain times

The companies come and go, but the coal remains. It’s been the major provider here. – Joe Jarina – Retired Sparwood coal miner
There’s a lot of speculation that you’re going to lose a bunch of your population. How can you get any business or convince industry to invest in our community? That’s a big hurdle right now. – Chris Warwick – Mayor of Hanna

Closure of coal-fired power plant in Hanna could cost 200 high-paying jobs — The hand-painted sign on a bumpy road on the east side of Hanna speaks volumes.

“Hanna supports coal, cows, gas and oil,” it says bluntly. The sign includes a circle with a line through it over the words “carbon tax.”

The town of 2,700, 230 kilometres northeast of Calgary, like many rural Alberta communities, has largely lived off agriculture.

But a large vein of thermal coal east of town led to the construction of the coalfired Sheerness generating plant in the early 1980s and has provided welcome jobs and business in the region ever since.

People worry that economic boost is threatened by a new carbon levy and the provincial government’s plan to shut down coal-fired power plants by 2030 and move exclusively to natural gas, wind, solar and hydro energy instead.

Alberta’s climate-change plan includes an accelerated phase-out coal, which accounted for 55 per cent of electricity generation in the province in 2014.

“If it’s a complete 100 per cent closure we’re going to lose 200 full-time, well paying jobs. That’s about 7.5 per cent of our population,” says Hanna Mayor Chris Warwick.

“To put that into real life numbers, Edmonton losing 7.5 per cent is about 62,000 people — Calgary’s around 90,000 — so it’s a massive hit. These are well paying jobs so it’s not a good situation for us.”

Warwick says some families are already looking at moving out of Hanna if they can find work elsewhere and he worries about a snowball effect.

“It’s really hard right now even just to attract any investment into town. There’s a lot of speculation that you’re going to lose a bunch of your population. How can you get any business or convince industry to invest in our community? That’s a big hurdle right now.”

Alberta has pledged to work with Ottawa and communities affected by the phase out to explore options for the future, including transitioning to gas or hydro. The province has appointed a panel to meet with municipal leaders, workers and companies with the goal of easing the transition.

Still businesses are worried.

“We all have the entry-level jobs that everybody can get, but you can’t take the professional jobs that make the $80,000-plus a year. That’s a huge hole and I don’t know how we’re going to fill it,” says Murray Moench, who owns Hanna Motor Products.

He says it’s too soon to panic because wind turbines and solar power are not that effective and cost more.

Dale Crowle, who runs Hanna Building Supplies, says his customers are concerned.

“There’s going to be a lot of job losses. The tax base will be tough, resale on housing will be tough. There’s not a lot of new homes going up in Hanna,” he says.

“People are nervous. We see it every day here. It’s going to be tough.”

It’s a different situation 450 kilometres to the southeast in Sparwood, B.C., where coal is still king.

“The companies come and go, but the coal remains. It’s been the major provider here,” explains Joe Jarina, who retired a few years ago after more than 40 years in the coal sector.

Jarina has worked at three different sites in the Sparwood-Elkford Valley area and under different owners but, like many people, he simply refers to the operators as “the company.”

“Generally anybody you work for is the company”, he says with a chuckle.

Sparwood, unlike Hanna, has metallurgical coal, which is almost entirely exported to Japan and Korea for steelmaking.

That makes the product exempt from carbon tax.

Jarina comes from a coal mining family that has been in the area since the early 1900s. His father, an underground miner, was crushed by a rock when Jarina was 12 and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

But coal has remained a source of pride.

“It’s got the community together through good times and bad. It’s nice to live in a small town and the coal industry has provided jobs — good-paying jobs — and it’s really helped the town.”

Sparwood’s mayor says an increase in world prices over the past few years has kept the mountain community humming. Teck Resources employs about 4,000 people at its five steelmaking coal operations in the area.

“We’re very dependant. Coal is what we are — 90 per cent of the people who live in Sparwood are dependant on coal one way or another, whether it’s directly with Teck or sub-trades, or contractors,” says Mayor Cal McDougall.

“As the price of coal goes, so goes Sparwood.”

McDougall says even when prices for met coal were at rock bottom, the community managed to survive.

“Teck did a real good job in this downturn. They didn’t panic. They didn’t start laying a bunch of people off. They cut back on some of their contractors, which hurt. But the Teck guys, they kept them all.”

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Letters to the Editor

5 Jan 2017
Lethbridge Herald

Much of the debate over the recently enacted carbon tax, it seems to me, misses the point.

The debate is often portrayed as a struggle between business people and consumers on the one hand, and unyielding environmentalists on the other. Actually, it is a little more complex than that. Admittedly, there are firmly committed environmentalists who are unlikely to compromise on either pipelines or oilsands extraction. But lost in the debate played out on editorial pages and newscasts is that both businesses and consumers have much more to gain from well-thought-out environmental initiatives than is generally recognized.

Albertans will be challenged to find new markets for our energy, agricultural, forestry and industrial products at a time when our traditional market in the United States appears to be softening. For many of these exports, our environmental credibility will have a lot to do with how well they are received.
Both the federal and Alberta governments recognize the link between sustainability and market access. The legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions in the oil patch at 100 megatons per year is a reflection of that fact. So, too, was the federal government’s insistence that Alberta put a carbon tax in place prior to approving two unpopular pipelines to the West Coast.

Alberta is in the unenviable position of deriving much of its wealth from an environmentally suspect source. Short of leaving the oil, gas and bitumen in the ground, Alberta needs to develop regulations, processes and innovative technologies that persuade our customers that we are serious about mitigating the environmental impacts associated with the energy sector.

Moreover, we should expect that future Albertans will be pressed to do the same thing in the agricultural, forestry, and manufacturing sectors.

Robert (Bob) Tarleck

Lethbridge

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