Canada and Alberta should set more stringent environmental targets for the oilsands and diversify energy trade away from the U.S., former environment minister Jim Prentice told the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
“Let me be categoric: neither industry nor the governments of Canada or Alberta can defend themselves in the absence of credible, science-based data that substantiates the fact that we are protecting the environment,” the senior executive vice-president of CIBC said in remarks provided to iPolitics.
Prentice said the absence of that data has left the oilsands vulnerable to criticism, but that investment in more “robust monitoring systems” could help mitigate the image problem.
Putting them in place, he continued, “will allow the industry to get out in front of its critics by setting tougher targets and benchmarks with respect to impacts on water, air and land.”
To that end, Prentice sang the praise of new Alberta premier Allison Redford, citing her recent address to the Economic Club of Canada as an “important new direction for the Government of Alberta”, and quoting from the script.
“Environmental sustainability is our most important shared outcome. In expanding our energy sectors, we must avoid compromising the health, safety and competitiveness of our agricultural, fishery and forestry industries,” he quoted the premier.
He also supported Redford’s focus on opening up new markets for Canadian energy, made more pressing by the “troubling” Keystone XL decision.
Having only one market for its single most valuable export commodity is too risky, he said. It’s forcing Canada to be a price-taker rather than a price-maker.
“Today, no one seriously advocates that Canada should be dependent on a single continental buyer for its oil. Even the Americans don’t say that anymore. We have been driven — perhaps by American politics, but driven nonetheless — into the international marketplace.”
Far from disastrous, therefore, Prentice said the Keystone decision is an opportunity.
“From our perspective, as a country that prided itself on being dependable, the whole sad Keystone experience has had a transformative effect on Canadian energy policy,” he said.
And though his central message hasn’t been popular in Alberta, he said, he continues to stand by it.
“I’ve said that in a low-carbon world, energy leadership and environmental leadership are two sides of the same coin. Canada will either be an environmental leader or have other jurisdictions dictate our environmental policies,” he said.
“While the delay on Keystone XL is not precisely an unfolding of this prediction, it’s close enough that you can feel the backdraft.”
Origin
Source: iPolitico
“Let me be categoric: neither industry nor the governments of Canada or Alberta can defend themselves in the absence of credible, science-based data that substantiates the fact that we are protecting the environment,” the senior executive vice-president of CIBC said in remarks provided to iPolitics.
Prentice said the absence of that data has left the oilsands vulnerable to criticism, but that investment in more “robust monitoring systems” could help mitigate the image problem.
Putting them in place, he continued, “will allow the industry to get out in front of its critics by setting tougher targets and benchmarks with respect to impacts on water, air and land.”
To that end, Prentice sang the praise of new Alberta premier Allison Redford, citing her recent address to the Economic Club of Canada as an “important new direction for the Government of Alberta”, and quoting from the script.
“Environmental sustainability is our most important shared outcome. In expanding our energy sectors, we must avoid compromising the health, safety and competitiveness of our agricultural, fishery and forestry industries,” he quoted the premier.
He also supported Redford’s focus on opening up new markets for Canadian energy, made more pressing by the “troubling” Keystone XL decision.
Having only one market for its single most valuable export commodity is too risky, he said. It’s forcing Canada to be a price-taker rather than a price-maker.
“Today, no one seriously advocates that Canada should be dependent on a single continental buyer for its oil. Even the Americans don’t say that anymore. We have been driven — perhaps by American politics, but driven nonetheless — into the international marketplace.”
Far from disastrous, therefore, Prentice said the Keystone decision is an opportunity.
“From our perspective, as a country that prided itself on being dependable, the whole sad Keystone experience has had a transformative effect on Canadian energy policy,” he said.
And though his central message hasn’t been popular in Alberta, he said, he continues to stand by it.
“I’ve said that in a low-carbon world, energy leadership and environmental leadership are two sides of the same coin. Canada will either be an environmental leader or have other jurisdictions dictate our environmental policies,” he said.
“While the delay on Keystone XL is not precisely an unfolding of this prediction, it’s close enough that you can feel the backdraft.”
Origin
Source: iPolitico
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