EDMONTON – Premier Alison Redford isn’t waiting until Wednesday to head to Ontario for the opening of the annual premiers’ conference.

She’s already there.

She’s in Toronto to meet, as she regularly does, with leaders in the investment banking community to discuss economic growth in Alberta. But this time she’s making an extra stop to meet with officials of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

She doesn’t call it an arm-twisting session, but you have to wonder if that’s what it’s all about given how she had to browbeat some foot-dragging insurance companies into honouring sewer backup claims after last month’s disastrous flood.

“I want to make sure that moving forward from sort of an institutional level that Alberta is getting fair treatment with respect to how insurance companies will be dealing with property issues and evaluation of property,” said Redford in a telephone interview from Toronto.

Redford’s post-flood badgering won’t end there. She will discuss the flood at this week’s premiers’ conference not as an item in itself but as something of a cautionary tale about the need for everyone to better prepare for future disasters.

“It’s going to be important for us to come together as provinces and talk about how these sorts of disasters impact us and what we do in terms of long-term mitigation in partnership with each other, and also with the federal government to make sure we’re not only responding to these circumstances, but doing everything we can in terms of infrastructure,” said Redford who wants the federal government to help cover the cost of mitigation projects. As Redford points out, Ottawa has to cover 90 per cent of disaster assistance anyway, so it might as well invest money now to save money later.

It’s not Redford’s intention to come up with a national plan for flood mitigation at this week’s Council of the Federation meeting. That’s not how the council meetings work (when they work at all). Instead, when the conference wraps up on Friday, we’ll probably see a communiqué that begins with the premiers’ eight favourite words: “The premiers called on the federal government to …”

It’ll be relatively easy for the premiers to agree on something as noble as disaster mitigation, especially if they’re asking Ottawa to pay the tab.

Then there are the issues where differences will appear in the premiers’ solidarity even if the cracks are hairline thin, as is the case with their reaction to the federal government’s new Canada Job Grant program designed to help train 130,000 Canadians.

The program will see Ottawa clawing back the $300 million it gives to the provinces and territories each year under the current Labour Market Agreements set to expire in 2014. Many premiers want the power to opt out of the new and potentially problematic system “with full compensation.”

Alberta, though, isn’t dead set against the program that might actually help ease the province’s chronic shortage of skilled labour.

Redford admits she has questions about how the program will be administered, but her criticism is muted. “I think that we’re very supportive of making sure it’s a fair program.”

Redford is not itching for a fight with her colleagues, and, in fact, says she’s not out to grab “sexy headlines,” but to find areas of common interest.

In return, she’s looking for support for a Canadian Energy Strategy. Redford, along with two other premiers, will be submitting a report updating the council on the progress of the strategy that’s designed to co-ordinate each province’s energy plans, whether it’s a national electricity grid for Manitoba’s hydro power or new pipelines to ship Alberta’s bitumen to Asia.

Again, don’t expect anything to be resolved or announced on this issue, but at the very least, Redford is hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s battle with B.C. Premier Christy Clark over the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

That’s not to say there won’t be tension among the premiers. Oddly enough, this week’s meeting might get interesting over a topic that itself is a bit of a snoozer: Senate reform. Or, more accurately, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall’s support for a national movement to abolish the Upper Chamber.

The two premiers are close allies, but on this issue Redford can’t seem to help herself from scolding Wall.

“Let’s pull back a little bit and understand we actually have a Constitution and we have processes that we do need to follow with respect to Senate reform,” said Redford, sounding a bit like the professor lecturing a naive student. “Simply saying that we don’t like the Senate and it should be abolished is not a constructive contribution to what we want the outcome to be. People may decide that they don’t want a Senate, others may decide that they want it to be equal, elected and effective — not everyone will decide they want it to be equal — but that’s where the conversation has to take place. To simply say we don’t like it and let’s vote on it is not how we do things in Canada.”

A polite dispute between premiers over the constitutionality of Senate reform might not make for the sexiest of headlines — but, hey, it’s the Council of the Federation. That’s about as sexy as it gets.

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EDMONTON – A study of thousands of environmental problems in Alberta’s oilsands has found that fewer than one per cent have drawn any enforcement action.

Independent researchers Peter Lee and Kevin Timoney have assembled a database of more than 9,000 environmental incidents since 1996.

The incidents vary from unplanned releases into the Athabasca River and the discovery of unregistered waste sites, to excessive smokestack emissions

The study concludes the province’s records on environmental contamination are incomplete and riddled with errors, leaving no way to really understand industry’s impact on the region.

The researchers also found that enforcement action was only taken in 0.9 per cent of the more than 4,000 cases where an oilsands facility broke an operating condition.

Timoney says the same problems recurred time and time again, suggesting environmental performance isn’t improving.

Both Lee and Timoney are environmental researchers who have been critical of the oilsands in the past.

The current study is not published in an academic journal, but has been peer-reviewed.

The Alberta government may adopt new rules to deal with building in flood-prone areas, Premier Alison Redford said Thursday.

• Listen: Political analyst weighs in on the premier’s actions in High River

“It doesn’t matter where you live in this province, we cannot continue, as a provincial government, to say to people, ‘It’s okay to build in a floodway’ — it’s not the right decision,” said Redford.

“We think that if people have the information with respect to that they’ll make constructive choices, take responsibility for their life and move ahead.”

The premier insisted decisions should be made quickly so residents have the information before rebuilding.

Funding to rebuild

Redford said the province has been clear from the start that its disaster recovery program will provide funding for uninsurable losses.

• Calgary flood victims eligible for up to $10K

The province pledged up to $10,000 for flood victims to rebuild homes and lives, but says there could be more in the future.

“The $10,000 is an initial payment,” said Redford. “People should not assume that is all they are going to get.”

She said the province handed out more than 36,000 prepaid debit cards to flood victims around the province, worth a total of $62 million.

High River recovery

Redford also addressed recovery efforts in High River, Alta. — one of the communities that was hit hardest by the June 20 flooding.

• Boil water advisory lifted in most parts of High River, Alta.

The provincial state of emergency ends Friday, but Redford said the town will still be under a local state of emergency as it rebuilds.

Much work is still needed, but the local government can now lead the effort, she said.

“I’m very confident moving forward that tomorrow morning, people can continue to know that all the systems are in place that are going to ensure that everything carries on as effectively as it has before.”

Rebuilding underway

The Town of High River was also given $50 million to keep essential services up and running.

Redford said 90 per cent of High River residents are now back home.

• High River residents return to flood-ravaged homes

She said the roughly 20,000 tonnes of garbage removed from flood-damage houses is equivalent to the amount taken out of the community in the last 10 years.

Associate Minister Rick Fraser and other provincial officials appointed to flood recovery will remain on the ground in High River to provide support to the town in its rebuilding efforts.

Volunteers still needed

Redford said there is still a critical need for volunteers to help clean up the flood-ravaged community just south of Calgary.

Roughly 15,000 volunteers have responded to the call so far, according to the Mission Possible organization that has been on the ground in High River since July 1.

• Volunteers head to High River to help flood victims

The group says it is waiting for a further assessment of homes affected by flooding to begin a new phase of recovery. Many of the group’s volunteers are also heading to Siksika Nation east of Calgary today, which was also devastated by flooding.

Members are currently helping companies collect the garbage removed from homes, which litters the streets of the community. Volunteers are asked to report to the High River rodeo grounds to check in and receive a safety orientation.

Insurance apology

Major insurance companies continue to have a change of heart, after earlier rejecting residential flood claims.

• TD Insurance to cover sewer backup after flood victim anger

The latest, AMA Insurance, took out a full-page newspaper ad today to apologize to its customers. It says it is reversing some of its claim decisions.

High River homeowner Deborah Spence is relieved AMA Insurance has softened its stance. Her family learned yesterday afternoon that the company had reconsidered and will now cover them for damage caused by a sewer backup.

“It’s an absolute disaster that … the province has never seen the likes of,” she said. “That was the basis on which they took a closer look and have approved us for sewer backup.”

Other insurers to recant include the Royal Bank of Canada and TD Insurance.

Provincial financial support

The province committed an initial $1 billion to support the recovery efforts and provide financial support to municipalities and First Nations that experienced uninsurable infrastructure damage. That money is also to cover costs incurred for emergency operations and response.

There were 28 local states of emergency in place at the height of the flood. That number has now dropped to six.

The province says disaster recovery program centres, which opened rapidly in communities across southern Alberta after the flood devastation, will remain open to address the needs of every flood victim.

The disaster recovery centres in High River located at the Welcome Centre at the High River rodeo grounds and Foothills Youth Foundation are open until July 16.

CALGARY – For many Albertans, August is synonymous with Taber corn. But the famed sweet cobs could be hard to come by this year, due to a hailstorm earlier this month that pounded crops in southeast Alberta.

David Jensen of Jensen’s Taber Corn said the vast majority of his corn stalks were broken or flattened in the July 5 storm. While he still hopes to get a decent crop off (damaged corn plants will usually put out secondary shoots and start over), there’s no way he’ll be ready to harvest by the first of August. In fact, it could be mid-August or later before any of the coveted golden ears start showing up for sale.

“It’s going to be late, and I think there might actually be a shortage this year,” Jensen said, adding there was already going to be less corn this year because one of the retirement of one of the Taber area’s major growers. “There were fewer acres seeded this year.”

Sweet corn is not a crop that grows easily in this province, said Alberta Agriculture crop specialist Harry Brook. While silage corn can be grown throughout Alberta, even as far north as the Peace River country, corn for human consumption requires very warm growing conditions. Only a small pocket in the southeast corner of the province — the Taber area — can boast the heat and sunshine needed to make growing sweet corn worthwhile.

“Almost invariably, we just don’t have the heat,” Brook said. “When you come right down to it with the whole Taber corn thing, it’s a very small area that is pretty much providing the corn to the rest of the province.”

That means that one storm can wreak havoc with supply. Bob Kendall, manager of Crossroads Market in Calgary, said he’s already heard from his suppliers that the Taber corn crop has been virtually “wiped out” by hail.

“It’s like the B.C. farmers with their cherries. If they get a frost, it can wipe out a whole crop,” Kendall said. “(Taber corn) is a popular item, but that’s part of farming. You take your chances. We’ll still offer other types of corn here, like B.C. corn.”

A warm September could go a long way toward helping this year’s corn crop bounce back and ensuring farmers get a decent yield in the end. But Melonie McKee, manager of the Millarville Farmer’s Market, said sales in September are never as good as sales in August, when kids are still out of school and barbecue season is in full swing.

“Our numbers are lower generally anyway, in those last few market days, so it will make a difference,” she said.

Jensen — who is also president of the Alberta Corn Growers Association — warned that a late corn crop could lead to more instances of “counterfeit” corn. For years, corn growers have been fuming about what they say are fraudulent corn sellers trying to pass off lower quality produce as Taber corn.

Jensen said if people have any doubts, especially about corn purchased at roadside stands, they should ask to see a certificate of authenticity that includes the name and phone number of the farm.

“With the crop being late, you’re probably going to see corn out there that’s not Taber,” he said.

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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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