Viewpoint: Sustainable long-term energy plan needed

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on February 4, 2021.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is dead, probably forever. It is an unfortunate decision by President Biden, but he is applauded by supporters in the United States and in Canada.

The completion of this project would have been a boost to Alberta. Jack Mintz, University of Calgary School of Public Policy, has written that about 15,000 direct and indirect jobs would have resulted in Canada, as well as additional jobs in the U.S.A. TC Energy planned to operate the line with renewables to have minimum emissions. Indigenous peoples would have had a $785-million stake in Keystone.

The United States still imports around $42 billion of oil from other countries annually -Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Columbia, Mexico and Venezuela. Keystone could have replaced some of these sources.

Premier Kenney invested substantially into this project, $1.5 billion direct investment with a TC loan guarantee up to $6 billion. Kenney is criticized that he gambled too much on a high-risk project.

Academics, University of Alberta and Mount Royal, condemn his whole approach to the energy industry. He should be developing a working relationship with environmentalists rather than his current antagonism. His government should consider alternate sources because the fossil-fuel industry is dying. The federal government, like the national media, isn’t any more sympathetic. Keystone is only one project, USA-Canada relations are still intact.

Donald J. Savoie, l’Université de Moncton, explains. Keystone is outside 1867 Canada [Quebec and Ontario]. It is a regional project, and Alberta will have to manage on its own. On the other hand, General Motors and Chrysler crashed in 2008; the Harper Conservatives bailed them out in excess of $3.5 billion because that was in the national interest.

The Federal Government will pay the dairy farmers $1.4 billion over three years for three trade deals, including the CUSM Agreement, which will allow foreign dairy products into Canada. Seventy per cent of the dairy farms are in Quebec and Ontario.

Alberta is helpless to force a revocation. Ottawa could impose tariffs on selected imported U.S. products and charge royalties on U.S. social media platforms. Use the continental trade agreement which supports cheap, reliable and responsible energy development.

Stronger measures would disallow all imported U.S. dairy products forthwith. Meng Wanzhou is hustled out of the country in exchange for the two Michaels imprisoned in China. Evidently Trudeau did not make any demands. Alberta and TC may turn to the courts, but legal experts advise that it would fail.

A better relationship with environmentalists will probably mean accepting their agenda of shutting down the fossil-fuel industry and with an accelerated shift to renewables – wind, solar, biomass and geothermal, and to their related industries, retrofitting, reforestation and electric vehicles. This new economy will have 270,000 unemployed Albertans for hire. Will this new economy compensate workers and generate tax revenues comparatively to the alleged outdated economy?

The International Energy Agency reports that oil and gas products, plastics and hydrogen will be needed even with zero emissions. It appears that another approach is to develop a sustainable North American long-term energy plan which balances conventional sources with renewables rather than the current independent piecemeal decisions.

Larry Samcoe is a Medicine Hatter. His column, Viewpoint, will run on the first Thursday of each month. Feedback can be sent to letters@medicinehatnews.com.

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