All posts by Canadian Press

Judge blasts Alberta government for silencing oilsands critics

October 2, 2013Energy and Resources, Politics, Tar Sands, Western CanadaCanadian Press

tarsands industry-kris krüg — Oilsands infrastructure near Fort McMurray (photo: Kris Krüg)

EDMONTON – Alberta’s Environment Department has been rebuked by a judge for working behind the scenes to silence groups that question the effects of oilsands operations on the environment.

“This is a black mark for the government of Alberta,” Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank at the heart of the dispute, said Wednesday.

[quote]Alberta needs to walk the talk and be judged on its actions both in terms of environmental performance of the industry and its actions in terms of the regulatory process.[/quote]

In a ruling filed Tuesday, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Marceau said a provincial director who in 2012 refused the Oil Sands Environmental Coalition standing into a review of a proposed oilsands project was adhering to a 2009 internal department policy memo.

The coalition includes a number of environmental groups, including the Pembina Institute and the Fort McMurray Environmental Association.

That memo, said Marceau, made it clear that the coalition was to be thwarted because its member groups refused to work with the government through such initiatives as the Cumulative Effects Management Association.

Marceau said the director then “breached the rules of fundamental justice” by beginning from a place of bias.

See no evil, hear no evil

Nowhere in the law, wrote Marceau, “is there a suggestion that promoting Alberta’s economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner permits the director to reject statements of concern from those persons or groups who voice negative statements about proposed oil sands development.”

The 2009 memo made it clear that the Oil Sands Environmental Coalition, or OSEC, should no longer be given standing at regulatory hearings into oilsands projects on the grounds it was not directly affected by the impact of the operations.

Up until that point OSEC had been routinely granted standing.

The memo, sent to the deputy minister, the top bureaucrat in the department, singled out the Pembina Institute, noting that the institute, “as reflected in (its) recent publications about the oilsands, are less inclined to work co-operatively.”

Marceau noted that the department’s director of the northern region, who is not named, then used that exact reasoning in June 2012 to reject the coalition’s application to be allowed to speak on a proposed Southern Pacific Resource Corp. (TSX:STP) in situ oilsands mining operation on the MacKay River in northeastern Alberta.

“The reasons provided (by the director) are so close to being identical (to the memo) they seem to have been cast from the same template,” wrote Marceau.

He noted OSEC was not made aware of the 2009 memo at the time and therefore could not respond to it.

Environmental coalition must be heard

In his decision, he quashed the decision to exclude the coalition from the hearings.

OSEC has argued it is directly affected by the project, given that it has a licence to occupy land for recreational purposes downstream. It argues there are larger environmental concerns, given that the project would require up to 1.7 million litres of fresh water every day. It says air quality could also be affected and says the project would be in the middle of the habitat for a threatened caribou herd.

Environment Minister Diana McQueen was not made available for comment Wednesday. She is in Europe meeting with leaders to try to head off a European Union directive that would label oilsands oil more environmentally harmful than conventional oil.

Government denies policy against environmental groups

Department spokeswoman Jessica Potter said no decision has been made on whether to appeal Marceau’s ruling. But she said there will be a review of the decisions on who gets to speak on the Southern Pacific proposal.

“As a result of the ruling we are preparing a new assessment for this project,” said Potter.

She declined to discuss the 2009 memo or whether McQueen was aware of it, but stressed, “We don’t have a policy towards the OSEC. There’s no specific policy against a specific group.”

“Banana Republic stuff”

NDP critic Rachel Notley said McQueen needs to cut short the European trip and return immediately to address the issue.

“This government has a law on one hand that they publish, and secret policies on the other hand that they implement behind closed doors,” said Notley.

“If that’s not bad enough, it turns out the secret policies that they’re implementing behind closed doors are designed to punish and to silence those who might disagree with their policies on the oilsands.

“This is banana republic stuff.”

Notley said if McQueen knew about the memo and didn’t act to stop it, “we need to talk about whether she should be in that position any longer.”

Notley also said Jim Ellis, the deputy environment minister at the time of the 2009 memo and now the CEO of Alberta’s new energy regulator, should resign.

Wildrose Party chimes in

Wildrose environmental critic Joe Anglin said the memo is further proof of a Progressive Conservative government that in its zeal to clamp down on dissent makes it even harder to prove to the world it is serious about reducing pollution in the oilsands.

“The worst thing we have ever done to our oilsands is we’ve gone out and created this story about how wonderful we are, but then we don’t practise it,” said Anglin.

“It does the industry a disservice and it does the public a disservice.”

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$Obey law, minister tells New Brunswick fracking protesters$

Obey law, minister tells New Brunswick fracking protesters

October 1, 2013Energy and Resources, FrackingCanadian Press

Obey law, minister tells New Brunswick fracking protesters — Fracking protest in New Brunswick (photo: Colin McPhail)

HALIFAX – New Brunswick’s minister of energy is urging people participating in a demonstration against exploration for shale gas fracking to obey the law.

Craig Leonard says while he recognizes the right to protest against the industry, matters will be turned over to the police if such protests break laws.

Leonard’s comments came as the RCMP monitored a protest today near Rexton.

Some people have blocked an entrance in the area where SWN Resources is storing natural gas exploration equipment.

Leonard was in Halifax to deliver a speech at an annual energy conference hosted by the Maritimes Energy Association.

During his speech, Leonard said a well regulated shale gas industry could create an economic renewal in his province, estimating there may be enough gas to provide the province with all of its electricity needs for the next half century.

Climate Change will hit Canada harder: international report

September 30, 2013Climate Change, Climate ScienceCanadian Press

OTTAWA – The latest international report on climate change confirms that global warming is amplified in Canada and the trend is going to continue, the David Suzuki Foundation said Monday.

The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was partially released Friday before being unveiled Monday in its entirety, confirms the planet is heating up and that it’s likely human activities are to blame.

The Suzuki foundation, however, said the detailed report shows that climate change hits harder in northern countries such as Canada. Global warming is magnified at or near the polar regions, largely due to the loss of ice and snow cover.

Canada has seen double the average warming

Canada has experienced double the average global temperature increase during the last century, the foundation said, while adding that it’s not too late to cut carbon emissions and avert the worst effects of global warming. Said Ian Bruce, the foundation’s science and policy manager, in a statement:

[quote]Our future will not be determined by chance. It will be determined by choice: either we ignore the reality of the science or we make changes to reduce carbon emissions.[/quote]

Harper Govt claims climate change “leadership”

The Harper government greeted the preliminary details of the report last week by saying it’s already acting to cut greenhouse gas emissions and by taking some partisan potshots at its political rivals.

The government is already “playing a leadership role in addressing climate change,” Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Friday.

“Unlike the previous Liberal government, under whose watch greenhouse gas emissions rose by almost 30 per cent, or the NDP, who want a $21-billion carbon tax, our government is actually reducing greenhouse gases and standing up for Canadian jobs.”

Canada falling far behind on emissions targets

Aglukkaq’s own department, however, says the country is on pace to make it only halfway to its promise to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Aglukkaq’s comments drew scorn from both the Liberals and the NDP.

With LNG emissions, BC will fail to meet climate targets

September 29, 2013Carbon Tax - Cap and Trade, Climate Change, Energy and Resources, LNGCanadian Press

VICTORIA – A report presented to the United Nations indicates British Columbia is meeting its legislated targets to cut greenhouse gas pollution, but environmental leaders say that won’t last much longer even if the province sets up a smokescreen to hide the air pollution created by proposed liquefied natural gas operations.

Environment Canada’s national inventory submission in April to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change shows B.C.’s greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions have declined almost six per cent since 2007 when the province passed its law to cut the emissions by 33 per cent by 2020.

The inventory report, which measures GHG emissions from farms, factories, vehicles, gas fields and numerous other entities, measured B.C.’s carbon dioxide emissions at 59,100 kilo tonnes in 2011 — the most recent numbers. In 2007, when B.C. passed its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, Environment Canada reported that B.C. emitted 62,600 kilo tonnes of GHG’s.

The report stated Canada’s total GHG emissions for 2011 measured 702 megatonnes, up 19 per cent since 1990, when the report first started measuring pollution emissions.

Liberals not serious about GHGs: Former climate science advisor

But B.C. climate scientist Mark Jaccard, who helped the Liberal government develop its climate targets law and implement the carbon tax, said he’s given up on Canada’s GHG reduction plans and is now working with the California Energy Commission which is advising U.S. President Barack Obama on cutting emissions.

Jaccard said if B.C. really wanted its residents to know if the province was hitting or missing its targets Premier Christy Clark would call in independent reviewers to examine the results.

“If Christy were like (former premier Gordon Campbell), she would have them estimate, and then publicly release, the effect of LNG and other policies on B.C.’s GHG target,” he said. “If Christy were like (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper she would not.”

Jaccard said the B.C. government needs to feel continuous pressure from British Columbians about its legislated goal to cut GHG emissions by 33 per cent within the next seven years. Said Jaccard:

[quote]They are not interested in climate and GHG reduction. I work with groups making suggestions to the Obama government and associated institutions. And I work directly with the California Energy Commission. And I have done a bit for Canada’s Auditor General. But since Gordon Campbell left and since Stephen Harper got a majority there is no interest in people like me from our provincial and federal governments.[/quote]

B.C.’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets law mandates regular reporting of the most up-to-date emissions numbers.

Campbell’s Liberals also established a Climate Action Secretariat to support programs across the province that reduce GHG emissions. The secretariat now is part of the Ministry of Environment.

Weaver: LNG emissions make BC’s climate targets ‘meaningless’

Victoria-area Green party MLA Andrew Weaver, who with Jaccard once served on Campbell’s blue ribbon environmental advisory Climate Action Team, said Wednesday the B.C. Liberals want to tell British Columbians the province is meeting its reduction targets, but once the LNG plants fire up, those targets are meaningless.

“They simply cannot go down the path and produce the LNG they want to produce and stay within their targets without abandoning them,” said Weaver, also a noted climate scientist.

[quote]Natural gas is not clean energy. I always call it cleaner energy. It’s cleaner than coal, but it’s not clean energy.[/quote]

Weaver said clean energy is renewable energy like electricity or wind.

cleanest LNG in the world“British Columbians are essentially being sold a bill of goods when they are told that somehow we’re going to have the because the reality is we are not on that path,” he said. “Some honesty in this discourse would be really appropriate.”

Liberals water down Clean Energy Act for LNG

Earlier this week, a report by Tides Canada released a report that concluded B.C. will not achieve its goal to develop the cleanest LNG plants in the world because natural gas fuelled operations will produce LNG emissions three times dirtier than electricity-driven plants in Australia and Norway.

In July 2012, the Clark government amended its Clean Energy Act to declare that the natural gas used to fuel LNG operations would be clean energy, but Weaver said calling natural gas clean may help the B.C. government get around its own emissions law, but Canada is duty-bound to report the real numbers to the United Nations.

“We have to have an honest discussion, a transparent discussion, one where you’re constrained by the truth to say that we are heading down a path where we are willingly and knowingly going to break this law,” he said. “That to me is troubling.”

NDP vows to hold Liberals to GHG targets

Outgoing New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix said his Opposition party intends to hold the government to its emission targets.

“This is an example of a government divorced from reality,” he said.

[quote]They claim emissions aren’t emissions anymore.

[/quote]

Government offers no specifics on meeting targets with LNG emissions

But Environment Minister Mary Polak steadfastly maintains the government is committed to meeting its emissions reduction targets and she’s counting on industry and governments, local and provincial to find ways to cut GHG emissions.

She said her major challenge remains developing a clean environmental policy that doesn’t adversely impact the bottom line of the companies looking to develop the LNG market.

Polak wouldn’t speculate on suggestions by Weaver and Jaccard that the government will completely exempt emissions from natural gas fuelled LNG plants from the targets law.

“You’re still dealing with a hypothetical,” she said. “On top of that, there’s every likelihood that you will see a range of approaches from different companies and different technologies,” she said.

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Harper government claims to be leader on climate change action

September 28, 2013Canada, Climate Change, Climate Science, PoliticsCanadian Press

OTTAWA – The Conservative government has responded to an international report on “unequivocal” global warming by slamming past Liberal inaction and renewing its warning of an alleged NDP carbon tax.

The latest report Friday from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the planet is heating up and that it’s “extremely likely” human activities are the cause.

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia,” said the scientific report released in Stockholm.

[quote]The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.[/quote]

The report says the effects are especially apparent in the Northern Hemisphere, affecting everything from sea ice and snow fall to permafrost.

“Multiple lines of evidence support very substantial Arctic warming since the mid-20th century,” says the document.

Haper government playing ‘leadership role’ on climate change?

While environmental groups and some governments around the world used the report as a clarion call for action, Conservative Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq issued a statement saying her government is already “playing a leadership role in addressing climate change.” Said Aglukkaq in the release:

[quote]Unlike the previous Liberal government, under whose watch greenhouse gas emissions rose by almost 30 per cent, or the NDP, who want a $21-billion carbon tax, our government is actually reducing greenhouse gases and standing up for Canadian jobs[/quote]

Canada, however, is on pace to achieve only half of its 2020 promise to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 per cent below 2005 levels, according to Environment Canada.

And of the reductions made, 75 per cent were attributed to provincial actions in a 2012 report by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy — a group the Conservative government has since closed down.

US on track to meet its targets

The State Department in Washington, meanwhile, reported Thursday that the United States is on track to meet its 2020 target.

John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, is nonetheless calling Friday’s IPCC report “another wake-up call.”

“Once again, the science grows clearer, the case grows more compelling, and the costs of inaction grow beyond anything that anyone with conscience or common sense should be willing to even contemplate,” Kerry said in a statement.

Harper won’t take ‘No’ for an answer on Keystone XL

The contrast in tone on the climate file between Ottawa and Washington was reinforced Thursday when Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a forum in New York that “you don’t take ‘No’ for an answer” on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

The TransCanada project to export Alberta bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, which still needs President Barack Obama’s approval, has become a potent symbol for American environmentalists.

Critics fuming over Conservative comments

Aglukkaq’s sharp-elbowed, partisan response to the IPCC report left environmental critics fuming.

“We have an opportunity to rise to the challenge of protecting our kids’ future, so let’s not blow it to score political points and prop up oil company profits,” said Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada.

New Democrats said the minister’s comments embarrass Canada.

“This report should be a call to action for one of the greatest environmental challenges of our generation,” said NDP environment critic Megan Leslie, “not the basis for Conservative attacks on non-existent NDP policies.”

John McKay, the Liberal environment critic, labelled Aglukkaq’s release “really stupid.”

“As long as you’re not serious about pricing carbon, you’re not serious about climate change,” said McKay, something he said a number of provincial governments have already recognized.

Canada will face disproportionate effects from climate change

The IPCC report, the fifth by the UN-sanctioned intergovernmental panel, is designed to provide governments with solid scientific evidence to support policy making.

The reports also make up the baseline for UN negotiations toward a new global climate deal, which is supposed to be completed in 2015.

To that end, the IPCC reported that each of the last three decades has been successively warmer than any since 1850.

“In the Northern Hemisphere, 1983–2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400 years,” said the report.

Canada can expect disproportionate climate effects because of its northern latitude.

“From a Canadian point of view it’s important to remember that the temperature change we experience in Canada is larger than the global average temperature change,” Greg Flato, a climate scientist with Environment Canada, said in an interview.

“That’s been the case in the historical observations and that’s been projected to continue in these climate model projections of the future.”

Fossil fuels driving climate change

Burning fossil fuels is the driving force, says the report.

Thomas Stocker, a co-chair of the IPCC working group, flatly asserted in an accompanying release that “substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions” are required.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers noted that global energy demand is expected to grow by 35 per cent by 2035.

“Most economists agree that most of this demand will be met by fossil fuels for the foreseeable future,” CAPP spokesman Alex Ferguson said in an email.

Ferguson said the oilsands account for just 0.14 per cent of global GHG emissions, and Alberta requires a carbon tax of $15 per tonne — something many other oil exporting countries don’t have.

That won’t dissuade environmental critics who have long argued the Harper government’s emphasis on pipeline building, energy exports and oilsands expansion simply can’t be reconciled with overall emissions reductions.

Amid the accusations and counter-claims, Ian Bruce of the David Suzuki Foundation said the IPCC report actually does offer a message of hope, if governments have the will to hear it.

“Our parents’ generation didn’t know about climate change, but we do,” Bruce said. “It’s really up to our generation to tackle this problem.”

Panel: Climate change ‘extremely likely’ man-made

September 27, 2013Climate Change, Climate ScienceCanadian Press

International panel- Climate change 'extremely likely' man-made — Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

STOCKHOLM – Scientists can now say with extreme confidence that human activity is the dominant cause of the global warming observed since the 1950s, a new report by an international scientific group said Friday.

Calling man-made warming “extremely likely,” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change used the strongest words yet on the issue as it adopted its assessment on the state of the climate system.

In its previous assessment, in 2007, the U.N.-sponsored panel said it was “very likely” that global warming was man-made.

Warming ‘hiatus’

One of the most controversial subjects in the report was how to deal with a purported slowdown in warming in the past 15 years. Climate skeptics say this “hiatus” casts doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change.

Many governments had objections over how the issue was treated in earlier drafts and some had called for it to be deleted altogether.

In the end, the IPCC made only a brief mention of the issue in the summary for policymakers, stressing that short-term records are sensitive to natural variability and don’t in general reflect long-term trends.

“An old rule says that climate-relevant trends should not be calculated for periods less than around 30 years,” said Thomas Stocker, co-chair of the group that wrote the report.

Many scientists say the purported slowdown reflects random climate fluctuations and an unusually hot year, 1998, picked as a starting point for charting temperatures. Another leading hypothesis is that heat is settling temporarily in the oceans, but that wasn’t included in the summary.

Stocker said there wasn’t enough literature on “this emerging question.”

Improved climate change models

The IPCC said the evidence of climate change has grown thanks to more and better observations, a clearer understanding of the climate system and improved models to analyze the impact of rising temperatures. Said Qin Dahe, co-chair of the working group that wrote the report:

[quote]Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.[/quote]

The full 2,000-page report isn’t going to be released until Monday, but the summary for policymakers with the key findings was published Friday. It contained few surprises as many of the findings had been leaked in advance.

Sea level projections rise, temperatures increases cool

As expected, the IPCC raised its projections of the rise in sea levels to 10-32 inches (26-82 centimetres) by the end of the century. The previous report predicted a rise of 7-23 inches (18-59 centimetres).

But it also changed its estimate of how sensitive the climate is to an increase in CO2 concentrations, lowering the lower end of a range given in the previous report. In 2007, the IPCC said that a doubling of CO2 concentrations would likely result in 2-4.5 C (3.6-8.1 F) degrees of warming. This time it restored the lower end of that range to what it was in previous reports, 1.5 C (2.7 F).

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The IPCC assessments are important because they form the scientific basis of U.N. negotiations on a new climate deal. Governments are supposed to finish that agreement in 2015, but it’s unclear whether they will commit to the emissions cuts that scientists say will be necessary to keep the temperature below a limit at which the worst effects of climate change can be avoided.

Using four scenarios with different emissions controls, the report projected that global average temperatures would rise by 0.3 to 4.8 degrees C by the end of the century. That’s 0.5-8.6 F.

Only the lowest scenario, which was based on major cuts in CO2 emissions and is considered unlikely, came in below the 2-degree C (3.6 F) limit that countries have set as their target in the climate talks to avoid the worst impacts of warming.

Kerry: ‘another wakeup call’

“This is yet another wakeup call: Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. “Once again, the science grows clearer, the case grows more compelling, and the costs of inaction grow beyond anything that anyone with conscience or common sense should be willing to even contemplate.”

At this point, emissions keep rising mainly due to rapid growth in China and other emerging economies. They say rich countries should take the lead on emissions cuts because they’ve pumped carbon into the atmosphere for longer.

Climate activists said the report should spur governments to action.

“There are few surprises in this report but the increase in the confidence around many observations just validates what we are seeing happening around us,” said Samantha Smith, of the World Wildlife Fund.

The report adopted Friday deals with the physical science of climate change. Next year, the IPCC will adopt reports on the impacts of global warming, strategies to fight it and a synthesis of all three reports.

Scientists as certain of climate change as they are that smoking kills

September 24, 2013Climate Change, Climate ScienceCanadian Press

by Seth Borenstein – Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Top scientists from a variety of fields say they are about as certain that global warming is a real, man-made threat as they are that cigarettes kill.

They are as sure about climate change as they are about the age of the universe. They say they are more certain about climate change than they are that vitamins make you healthy or that dioxin in Superfund sites is dangerous.

They’ll even put a number on how certain they are about climate change. But that number isn’t 100 per cent. It’s 95 per cent.

And for some non-scientists, that’s just not good enough.

In science, no such thing as 100%

There’s a mismatch between what scientists say about how certain they are and what the general public thinks the experts mean, experts say.

That is an issue because this week, scientists from around the world have gathered in Stockholm for a meeting of a U.N. panel on climate change, and they will probably issue a report saying it is “extremely likely” — which they define in footnotes as 95 per cent certain — that humans are mostly to blame for temperatures that have climbed since 1951.

One climate scientist involved says the panel may even boost it in some places to “virtually certain” and 99 per cent.

Some climate-change deniers have looked at 95 per cent and scoffed. After all, most people wouldn’t get on a plane that had only a 95 per cent certainty of landing safely, risk experts say.

But in science, 95 per cent certainty is often considered the gold standard for certainty.

“Uncertainty is inherent in every scientific judgment,” said Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist Thomas Burke. “Will the sun come up in the morning?” Scientists know the answer is yes, but they can’t really say so with 100 per cent certainty because there are so many factors out there that are not quite understood or under control.

George Gray, director of the Center for Risk Science and Public Health at George Washington University, said that demanding absolute proof on things such as climate doesn’t make sense. Gray, who was chief scientist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the George W. Bush administration, noted:

[quote]There’s a group of people who seem to think that when scientists say they are uncertain, we shouldn’t do anything. That’s crazy. We’re uncertain and we buy insurance.[/quote]

With the U.N. panel about to weigh in on the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of oil, coal and gas, The Associated Press asked scientists who specialize in climate, physics, epidemiology, public health, statistics and risk just what in science is more certain than human-caused climate change, what is about the same, and what is less.

Almost as certain as gravity

They said gravity is a good example of something more certain than climate change. Climate change “is not as sure as if you drop a stone it will hit the Earth,” Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said. “It’s not certain, but it’s close.”

Arizona State University physicist Lawrence Krauss said the 95 per cent quoted for climate change is equivalent to the current certainty among physicists that the universe is 13.8 billion years old.

The president of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Ralph Cicerone, and more than a dozen other scientists contacted by the AP said the 95 per cent certainty regarding climate change is most similar to the confidence scientists have in the decades’ worth of evidence that cigarettes are deadly.

“What is understood does not violate any mechanism that we understand about cancer,” while “statistics confirm what we know about cancer,” said Cicerone, an atmospheric scientist. Add to that a “very high consensus” among scientists about the harm of tobacco, and it sounds similar to the case for climate change, he said.

Easy to nitpick reports

But even the best study can be nitpicked because nothing is perfect, and that’s the strategy of both tobacco defenders and climate deniers, said Stanton Glantz, a medicine professor at the University of California, San Francisco and director of its tobacco control research centre.

George Washington’s Gray said the 95 per cent number the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will probably adopt may not be realistic. In general, regardless of the field of research, experts tend to overestimate their confidence in their certainty, he said. Other experts said the 95 per cent figure is too low.

Jeff Severinghaus, a geoscientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said that through the use of radioactive isotopes, scientists are more than 99 per cent sure that much of the carbon in the air has human fingerprints on it. And because of basic physics, scientists are 99 per cent certain that carbon traps heat in what is called the greenhouse effect.

But the role of nature and all sorts of other factors bring the number down to 95 per cent when you want to say that the majority of the warming is human-caused, he said.

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

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Site C Dam hearings delayed as panel seeks answers from BC Hydro

September 24, 2013Hydropower, WATERCanadian Press

Numbers for $8 Billion Site C Dam don't add up — Proposed Site C Dam – artist’s rendering

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – It could be some time before a joint review panel considering the proposed Site C Dam in northeastern B.C., makes a decision about sending the project to a public hearing.

The panel is now seeking even more information from B.C. Hydro about the estimated $7.9-billion dam, which would produce electricity for about 450,000 homes annually, but flood a wide area of farm and First Nations land along the banks of the Peace River.

Panel members began preliminary assessment of the proposal over the summer.

They now want details on 54 additional issues, ranging from the dam’s impact on wildlife, to the loss of Peace River wetlands and the estimated increase in electricity prices that would be needed if development of Site C were shelved for 10 or 20 years.

B.C. Hydro has just submitted responses to the panel’s first round of questions, and the regulatory clock remains stopped while Hydro prepares answers to the latest queries.

Once all the information is received, the panel could schedule public hearings, decide what further information it requires or make a ruling on whether a public comment period should be held. (MooseFM)

BC LNG a gateway to carbon pollution, says new report

September 23, 2013Energy and Resources, Fracking, LNGCanadian Press

BC LNG a gateway to carbon pollution — Australia’s Colongra gas-powered electrical plant – similar technology would be needed to power BC’s LNG

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s pledge to develop the world’s cleanest liquefied natural gas plants looks hazy to an environmental organization that says the province appears to be prepared to allow oil and gas companies to belch carbon emissions three-times higher than those in Australia and Norway.

A report released Monday by Clean Energy Canada, an affiliate of Tides Canada, warns that without B.C. government policy leadership, LNG produced in the province could emit more than three-times the carbon produced at other plants around the world.

“We conclude that this leadership gap can be closed if the government creates the policy environment that both directs and incentivizes the energy industry to employ a mix of strategies and technologies proven to drive carbon pollution down all the way across the life cycle of LNG production,” states the report entitled “The Cleanest LNG in the World?”

But B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak said the report may be making assumptions on government directions before they are officially decided.

Government blowing smoke?

Polak said she is under directions from Premier Christy Clark to develop the cleanest LNG industry and challenging negotiations are underway that take into account the province’s goal to be a world environmental leader without adversely affecting the bottom line of the oil and gas firms who want to invest in the province.

Clark’s Liberals have said LNG development represents a trillion-dollar economic opportunity that could create 100,000 jobs.

“They’ve outlined a whole number of ways in which we can address the challenges posed by LNG development and greenhouse gases,” said Polak about the report.

“For our part, we know that that’s part of the balancing that we need to do in our negotiations with the proponents because, of course, we have to balance our interest in protecting the environment with the viability of their projects, and so we have to take a look at what’s possible for them and what hits their bottom line.”

LNG in conflict with climate targets

B.C.’s environmental goals include the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target Act of 2007 that put into law the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020. The government has been steadfast in its pledge to meet those targets.

Clean Energy Canada spokeswoman Merran Smith said the emissions targets are already in jeopardy, but increased carbon emissions from proposed LNG makes the reduction target virtually impossible to achieve.

She said the Clean Energy Canada report focused on the carbon footprint that could be left from the proposed B.C. LNG plants if the government allows the plants and gas-field operations to be powered by natural gas as opposed to electricity, which is considered clean and renewable.

“There’s really no details on what does that mean, cleanest energy in the world,” she said.

[quote]What the companies are proposing to do in B.C. would be three times dirtier than the existing cleanest LNG in the world.[/quote]

Cooling gas by burning gas

Smith said most of the companies proposing LNG developments in B.C. are putting forward plans to power their operations with natural gas.

Earlier, Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman said at least two plants were proposing to run part of their operations with electricity. There are currently about a half dozen LNG plant proposals in B.C.

Smith said B.C. could reach its goal of the cleanest LNG industry in the world if electricity was used to power the proposed LNG plants on the northwest coast and the gas fields in northeastern B.C. She said gas companies should also move to carbon capture technology that involves storing carbon dioxide emissions underground.

“These technologies are proven and in places like Australia and Norway the government mandated them,” said Smith.

Carbon tax on way for LNG

Clark has said the Liberals will introduce legislation next spring that includes a taxation policy and regulations relating to LNG developments.

Polak said she was not about to speculate about the environmental rules that will be included in that legislation.

But the government did offer a package royalty credits of almost $116 million Monday to help companies build roads and pipelines for the natural gas industry in the province’s northeast.

More taxpayer subsidies for gas industry

The government said the royalty credits will go towards 12 new infrastructure projects in northeast B.C., that will eventually advance the growth of LNG development in B.C.

Last week, Clark offered municipal leaders from northwest B.C. concerned about an LNG-driven population boom $150,000 to conduct studies on their hospital, school, sewer, road, bridge and social needs.

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Alberta scientist Jessica Ernst warns Newfoundland of fracking risk

September 23, 2013Energy and Resources, FrackingCanadian Press

Water Contamination from Fracking- Jessica Ernst Releases Groundbreaking Report — Environmental consultant Jessica Ernst on her land in Alberta (Colin Smith photo)

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Alberta resident Jessica Ernst is warning Newfoundland about the risks of hydraulic fracturing, saying she blames the contentious fracking process for making her well water flammable.

“It does ignite like a blow torch,” she said from her rural home near Rosebud, Alta.

[quote]It’s too dangerous to even use to flush toilets. One spark could cause the gas to ignite and cause a serious explosion.[/quote]

Ernst visited Stephenville, N.L., on Sunday to convey what she says is a cautionary tale about an oil and gas extraction method that industry proponents defend as safe. Debate about fracking is escalating on Newfoundland’s scenic west coast where there are plans to drill exploration wells near Gros Morne National Park pending government approvals.

Newfoundland on the edge of fracking

Ernst was invited by a concerned citizens group to speak to local residents.

“For areas that do not have fracking yet, once you let it in, you’ll never get it out,” she said.

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water, nitrogen, sand and chemical additives at high pressure to fracture shale rock formations and allow gas or oil to flow through well bores to the surface. It’s increasingly used across Canada and the U.S. as energy demands grow while conventional sources wane.

Ernst, a 56-year-old environmental consultant with a Master of Science degree and 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, is hardly a lone voice raising alarms. The award-winning documentary Gasland tracks complaints of water contamination in rural areas across the U.S. where gas wells were fracked.

Industry’s claims of no water contamination challenged

Emma Lui, national water campaigner for the citizens’ interest group Council of Canadians, said a lack of independent research before and after fracking means safety assurances ring hollow.

[quote]It’s common for industry and some governments to say there are no known cases of water contamination, but that’s because they don’t have that baseline information. They don’t actually have the adequate research to back those claims up.[/quote]

Tom Marshall, Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resources minister, said he has heard those concerns and is gathering input across Canada to ensure provincial regulations reflect best practices.

Newfoundland grants exploration licences, consulting with geologists

The province has not yet received formal applications to frack wells in western Newfoundland although exploration licences have been granted in what’s known as the Green Point shale, he said in an interview.

The Progressive Conservative government will consult geologists and geophysicists now studying Newfoundland’s west coast where, unlike Alberta’s more shallow coalbed gas deposits, it’s believed deep shale formations hold oil, he added.

Any drilling proposal would get full environmental scrutiny, Marshall said.

[quote]Our government has always been one that supports economic development. But only within a framework that ensures protection of the environment and protection of public health and safety.[/quote]

Ernst said Newfoundlanders should be wary.

“We got the same promises here.”

Ernst’s $33 million fracking lawsuit

She has filed a $33-million lawsuit with the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta against North American energy producer Encana, the provincial energy regulator and the provincial government. Her unproven statement of claim alleges gas wells fracked around her property between 2001 and 2006 unleashed hazardous amounts of methane and ethane gas and other chemicals into her private water well.

Ernst claims that Encana fracked “without taking necessary precautions to protect in-use aquifers or water wells” from such contamination. She also claims that regulators at the Energy Resources Conservation Board, now the Alberta Energy Regulator, failed to reasonably act on her reports of contamination or her concerns that Encana breached laws and regulations meant to protect water supplies.

Finally, Ernst claims the Alberta government failed to reasonably protect her well water, investigate contamination or correct reported damage.

Bob Curran, a spokesman for the Alberta Energy Regulator, declined in an email to comment on the lawsuit as it’s before the courts.

Alberta defends fracking safety

Bart Johnson, a spokesman for the Alberta government, also declined to comment on the case but said fracking has been done safely for decades.

“In regard to hydraulic fracturing generally, the technology has been used safely in Alberta for over 60 years and its use is tightly regulated and monitored by the Alberta Energy Regulator,” he said in an email. “Approximately 174,000 wells have been fractured in the province since the technology was introduced in the 1950s.”

The province and energy regulator have not filed statements of defence.

Encana blames Ernst

In its statement of defence, Encana denies all of Ernst’s allegations and blames her for any pollution.

It says Encana complied with or exceeded all laws and regulations “in respect of its coal bed methane exploration, drilling, stimulation and production operations” and took all necessary precautions to safeguard the Ernst water well.

“To the extent that natural gas or related substances have been detected on the Ernst property or in the Ernst well, which is denied, such substances occurred naturally or by other causes.”

Encana suggests Ernst failed to maintain her water well and is at fault for any contamination. It also says two gas wells at the heart of her allegations were not fracked but “stimulated” — a process that pumps inert nitrogen gas at high pressure into coal seams to release natural gas.

Skin burns

Ernst says in a rebuttal filed in court that she sought professional advice to look after her well since she bought the 20-hectare property in 1998. She first noticed problems eight years ago when she developed strange burns on her skin and her two dogs recoiled from a fresh bowl of water, she said.

She now trucks fresh water in from another community.

“If they can frack all around Gros Morne, they’ll be able to frack all of Newfoundland,” Ernst said. “They did that here.”

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