Anyone who watched the head of the Alberta Energy Regulator refusing to answer questions yesterday during the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development’s hearings into Imperial Oil’s Kearl site tailings pond spill in May 2022 has to wonder what the actual purpose of the provincial agency is. Alberta Energy
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The Daveberta Podcast: Episode 68: The 1976 Coal Policy and stopping open-pit mining in Alberta’s Rockies
Kevin Van Tighem joins the Daveberta Podcast to discuss one of the biggest issues in Alberta politics today – the expansion of open-pit coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Kevin explains how the 1976 Coal Policy protected larges swaths of the Rocky Mountains from open-pit coal
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney’s Coal Facts and Myths
The Economist considered a number of cover illustrations for its Making Coal History edition before settling on a lump of coal on display under a bell jar like an artifact in a museum. While The Economist was chronicling the demise of coal the Kenney government was busy cancelling Lougheed’s Coal
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ottawa taps the brakes on huge coal mine expansion near Jasper National Park; Alberta’s UCP stays mum for now
Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson tapped the brakes Thursday on the Vista coal mine expansion near Hinton with an announcement Ottawa will take a look at the environmental impact of the project after all. The same afternoon, the Alberta Government led by Premier Jason Kenney, which has never met a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s making Ottawa’s environment minister suddenly give the Vista coal mine proposal the fish eye?
Yesterday we learned that Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal environment minister, is reconsidering a decision he made in December to leave it up to the industry-funded Alberta Energy Regulator to decide if a huge coal mine expansion should be approved near Hinton, just east of the Jasper National Park gate. Even
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 47: If you ain’t oil, you ain’t much
Oil well liability became a big issue in Alberta politics this month when rural municipal politicians raised giant red flags about the estimated $173 million in unpaid municipal taxes as a result of some oil and gas companies nearing insolvency and many more companies just believing paying taxes is voluntary.
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 41: The federal election and Jason Kenney’s Ontario whistle-stop tour
What is missing from the federal election debate, Premier Jason Kenney’s whistle-stop tour through Ontario, and the fall session of the Alberta Legislature are some of the hot topics Dave tackles with this week’s guest co-hosts – Natalie Pon and Justin Archer. Natalie Pon is a chartered professional accountant and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Corporate Mapping Project names top fossil-fuel emitters, enablers and legitimators, unlocks online database
“The fossil fuel industry … is the biggest obstacle to real action on climate change today,” says the co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project, which this morning published an eye-opening list of the 50 most influential players in the industry and a publicly accessible database with information on more than
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Supreme Court ruling tomorrow could leave Albertans on the hook for corporate toxic mess cleanup
The Supreme Court of Canada will announce its ruling tomorrow morning in a case that could leave taxpayers on the hook for a toxic mess left by a bankrupt oil company – and by extension a whole raft of corporate polluters, not just in the oil industry. If the Supreme
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: Canadians should be on red alert over Redwater Energy case
Guest Post by Regan Boychuk Regan Boychuk is an independent researcher in Calgary and part of ReclaimAlberta.ca, which advocates solutions to the crisis of aging and expired Alberta oil and gas wells. He is the former public policy research manager of the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute. DJC It’s time for Albertans to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: In a democracy, quiet is rarely a good sign, and Alberta’s relationship with Big Oil is very quiet indeed
PHOTOS: Part of the Jackpine Oilsands Mine north of Fort McMurray, formerly owned by Shell and now operated by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (Photo: Pembina Institute.) Below: Author Kevin Taft. Guest Post by Kevin Taft Kevin Taft is a best-selling author, well-known speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta. He
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Opposition parties strangely quiet as Alberta Finance Minister stops the ABC Sector gravy train
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci considers a reporter’s question during Friday’s news conference (screenshot). Below: Alberta Workers Compensation Board CEO Guy Kerr and Alberta Energy Regulator CEO Jim Ellis. Being a conservative in opposition apparently turns what your Mama taught you on its head: If you can’t say anything
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP moves to rein in Tory patronage and boondoggles at Alberta’s many boards, agencies and commissions
PHOTOS: NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci on the day he was sworn in. Below: The full list of agencies to be amalgamated or eliminated by the government in the first round of its “ABC” review; NDP Environment Minister Shannon Phillips; and Tory health …
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Brian Jean Embarkes on Post Truth Politics
“Fact-checking was a great development in accountability journalism…[but] one-off fact-checking is no match for the repeated lie.” Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose opposition, published an article in the Calgary Herald last week. It was heavy on the repeated lie and light on everything else. Jean’s premise is: pipelines
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Lobbyists, agencies, government-funded ideological front groups face setbacks in wake of Alberta’s Orange Wave
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature Building as it transitions to Orange from Blue. Whatever will the lobbyists do? Below: NDP-connected federal lobbyist Robin Sears and Conservative-associated Alberta lobbyist Hal Danchilla. WANTED: Someone – anyone! – willing to work for major national lobbying firm in Alberta. New Democratic Party connections essential! Orange
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jim Prentice’s Budget: The Not-So-Subtle Language of Money
“There is no fortress so strong that money cannot take it.” — Cicero On Mar 24, 2015 Jim Prentice sent Albertans a message of such heartless cynicism that only the most naïve amongst us would fail to understand. Money talks. Here’s what Jim Prentice’s Budget 2015* told Albertans. Corporations matter,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The ‘Petroleum Party’ in full cry about Neil Young: what are they afraid of? Not what Northwestern Alberta doctors fear
Neil Young: Giving as good as he’s been getting during an all-out attack by the Petroleum Party. Below: Dr. John O’Connor, vilified by the hirelings, toadies and pet legislators of the petroleum industry; Edmonton Journal reporter Sheila Pratt. Here in Alberta, the Petroleum Party dominates everything – the federal government,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Fear And Loathing In Peace River
While the Harper cabal proceeds full-tilt with its tarsands advertising campaign, the details of which Canadians are being denied, a game of inconvenient truth versus consequences is being played out in Peace River, Alberta. According to a report in The Edmonton Journal, Peace River may be making people sick. The
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: CNRL’s Primrose Problem: A Slow Motion Blow Out
When King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson it was scandalous. When the Alberta government abdicated the regulation of Alberta’s natural resources to an industry-led agency nobody raised an eyebrow. The new Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is 100% funded by industry. It’s chaired by an industry lobbyist,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Energy policy think tank sues Alberta over right to speak at tar sands hearings
The Pembina Institute is suing the Government of Alberta over its decision to bar the energy policy think tank from participating in the regulatory review of a proposed in situ oilsands project. The post Energy policy think tank sues Alberta over right to speak at tar sands hearings appeared first
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