Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs – Page 40

Saskatchewan, Ottawa strike accord on coal-fire power generation – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – November 29, 2016)

November 29, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — Saskatchewan has reached a deal with Ottawa on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its coal-fired power sector, but the two governments remain at odds over carbon pricing ahead of next week’s first ministers’ meeting on climate change.

Saskatchewan Environment Minister Scott Moe and his federal counterpart, Catherine McKenna, announced Monday that the two governments will conclude an “equivalency agreement” that could keep one or more coal-fired power plants operating past 2030, so long as the province makes major GHG reductions elsewhere in its electricity sector.

Ms. McKenna last week unveiled the federal plan to accelerate the phase-out of coal-fired electricity as part of the Canada’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 under the international Paris Agreement on climate change.

Ontarians will be forced to pay for imaginary ‘credits’ just so the government can feel good – by Christine Van Geyn (Financial Post – November 29, 2016)

November 29, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Canada contributes just 1.65 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with only a tiny portion of that coming from Ontario. [Ontario contributes less than half a per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. – RepublicOfMining.com] The buying and selling of carbon credits will make no real difference. In fact, shutting down the entire Ontario economy would make no measurable difference to global climate change.

For a time, it was fashionable to buy a star in the sky and name it after a love interest, a new baby or a recently deceased loved one. Could anything be more romantic or more sentimental?

It turns out that the companies that take money from consumers for “naming stars” are the only ones who actually recognize the name. The practice is considered by many to be a kind of scam that profits off of the idealism of consumers. Money for a star name is just money for nothing.

Alberta makes $1.36-billion deal with power producers to shutter coal units – by Jeff Lewis (Globe and Mail – November 26, 2016)

November 28, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

CALGARY — Alberta is paying a hefty price to soothe investor fears as it ditches coal-fired power in a massive shakeup to its electrical grid.

The province’s NDP government late on Thursday announced a deal to pay three major power producers $1.36-billion over 14 years as compensation for shutting down coal units years ahead of schedule. Funds will be paid using the province’s levy on large carbon emitters.

It also said it settled a dispute with Capital Power Corp. and reached tentative deals with Altagas Ltd. and TransCanada Corp. over cancelled power-purchase agreements, heading off a potentially costly legal spat. A dispute with Calgary’s city-owned utility, Enmax Corp., remains unresolved.

Alberta strikes $1.36 billion deal with coal companies as part of plan to shut down plants early – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – November 25, 2016)

November 25, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY — The Alberta government will pay three coal-fired electric generating companies $1.36 billion for the province’s decision to close their plants early, while also potentially avoiding a lawsuit with other power companies in the province.

The province’s Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd announced Thursday the province will pay Capital Power Corp., TransAlta Corp. and ATCO Ltd. a total of $97 million per year, beginning next year and payable every year until 2030, to shut down six of their 18 power plants early.

The other 12 coal-fired electric generating stations in the province are all scheduled to close, or convert to natural gas, before 2030. Alberta’s NDP government has mandated that all coal-fired power plants either cease operations or eliminate all their emissions by that date as part of sweeping climate change legislation announced last year.

Coal is still king for Canadian railways despite Liberal government’s energy plant – by Kristine Owram (Financial Post – November 24, 2016)

November 24, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Despite the phasing out of coal-fired power plants, railways expect to ship more coal, not less, for the foreseeable future.

The demand is being driven by a rebound in the price of steel-making coal and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s promise to revive the industry there. Since most of the coal shipped by Canadian railways is either metallurgical and destined for Asian markets, or thermal and shipped within the U.S., the Liberal government’s intention to shut down this country’s coal-burning energy plants by 2030 will have little impact.

So as Canada phases out its coal-fired power plants, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. are seeing their coal volumes bounce off second-quarter lows and should continue to see carloads increase for the foreseeable future.

[Saskatchewan] Residents in the south worried about the ‘war on coal’ – by Will Chabun (Regina Leader-Post – November 23, 2016)

November 23, 2016

http://leaderpost.com/

Like his counterpart in Estevan, the mayor of Coronach worries about what’s ahead for the coal mine and power plant near his town. Reacting to Monday’s news that the federal government wants all or most of the coal-fired power generating plants in Canada closed by 2030, Coronach Mayor Trevor Schnell said the loss of the Westmoreland Coal mine and SaskPower generating plant near his town of 800 would be a heavy blow.

“If they close the plant and the mine in Coronach, that would be basically the end of Coronach — aside from farming,” he said Tuesday.

About 150 people work at the SaskPower plant and about the same number at Westmoreland Coal. Schnell said the town, about 170 kilometres southwest of Regina near the American border, also sees a lot of consultants and technical specialists pass through it on their way to the power plant.

ANALYSIS: Planned coal phase-out holds few political risks for Justin Trudeau – by Éric Grenier (CBC News Politics – November 21, 2016)

November 22, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Donald Trump’s defence of coal helped him win the U.S. election. Trudeau has no such incentive

In promising an end to what he called U.S. President Barack Obama’s “war on coal,” Donald Trump won the strong support of America’s coal miners, who played an important role in his victories in two key swing states.

But the Liberal government’s decision to phase out coal-fired power generation in Canada by 2030 is unlikely to have significant electoral ramifications for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump’s pledge to bring jobs back to America’s beleaguered mining communities was one factor in his defeat of Hillary Clinton two weeks ago. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, two states that swung to the Republicans, Trump did significantly better in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio than Mitt Romney did four years ago.

Coal phase-out another sign of Liberals’ climate-policy muddle – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – November 22, 2016)

November 22, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

In announcing a national coal phase-out Monday, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna claimed to have “a vision of a clean-growth economy.” Unfortunately, it’s a vision unaccompanied by a clear grasp of how to achieve a clean and growing economy. Instead, the move shows a government in the thrall of green activists wielding dubious statistics on the health benefits of eliminating coal, and a government that seems to think it can change the world.

The Liberal climate policy muddle runs deep. Start with the blatant contradictions over the use of carbon pricing, a hard economic concept its eco-fiscal proponents said would let the market solve the carbon emission problem. Tax it and they will stop.

That’s now a national farce, since McKenna announced that the government will instead regulate coal out of existence in most of Canada by 2030 rather than let carbon pricing do the job.

Ottawa requires provinces to phase out coal by 2030, expected to affect taxpayers – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – November 22, 2016)

November 22, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – The federal government’s plan to phase out coal-fired power ahead of schedule will affect taxpayers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, but have little effect in Alberta, the province with most coal-generated electricity plants in the country.

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna announced Monday that coal-fired power plants in the country now must shut-down or install technology to eliminate their emissions by 2030. The government’s goal is to move Canada’s electric grids toward 90 per cent renewable or non-emitting sources by 2030, up from 80 per cent now.

The Liberals must adapt to Trump — but they’ll need to abandon their low-carbon, high-tax ideology first – by Joe Oliver (Financial Post – November 22, 2016)

November 22, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Some Canadians, their hair on fire, are terrified about the terrible things an appalling Donald Trump might do to his country and the world. They need grief counselling.

A more balanced perspective, and one of direct relevance to Canada, is that the president-elect is likely to implement several platform promises that advance America’s national interest, but which could seriously impact our country. Their implications relate to the viability of a national carbon tax, fiscal policy and funding for our military.

Canada can, and should, respond in a way that protects our own national interests. The big question is whether the necessary response will prove too difficult for the Trudeau government to swallow.

Ontario advises other provinces to keep an eye on hydro bills as coal phased out – by Keith Leslie (Guelph Today – November 21, 2016)

November 22, 2016

https://www.guelphtoday.com/

Canadian Press – TORONTO — Ontario has some advice for its fellow provinces as they move to meet the federal government’s newly unveiled goal of eliminating coal-fired power generation in Canada by 2030: keep an eye on those electricity bills.

The province’s Liberal government likes to boast that shutting down coal plants has all but eliminated Ontario’s once-ubiquitous smog days, making life easier for people with asthma and other breathing problems.

But it cost billions of dollars to build new transmission lines and replace coal with power from natural gas, wind, solar and biomass projects — not to mention maintaining a fleet of expensive nuclear reactors that still supply about half of Ontario’s electricity.

Ottawa to phase out coal, aims for virtual elimination by 2030 – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – November 21, 2016)

November 21, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

OTTAWA — The Liberal government has announced its plan to virtually eliminate the use of traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030, but will offer some flexibility to the provinces.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna unveiled the coal-phase-out plan Monday as one of a series of measures that Ottawa is introducing ahead of the first ministers’ meeting in December, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopes to conclude a pan-Canadian climate accord.

“Taking traditional coal power out of our energy mix and replacing it with cleaner technologies will significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, improve the health of Canadians, and benefit generations for years to come,” Ms. McKenna told reporters. She could not provide an estimate on the cost to consumers but said Ottawa will work with provinces to invest in the most affordable options.

Americans are finally overthrowing political correctness run amok – by Lawrence Solomon (Financial Post – November 18, 2016)

November 21, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

This is the best of times and the worst of times for political correctness. The best because political correctness has reached never-before-seen heights under Obama; the worst because it’s all downhill from here.

With PC-abhorring Republicans in control of the presidency, both houses of Congress, over 60 per cent of governorships, over 60 per cent of state legislatures and — most meaningfully — Supreme Court nominations, political correctness and the draconian architecture around it could now be doomed for decades.

The spectacles following Donald Trump’s election last week capture the absurd, even comical, extremes to which political correctness has come: colleges comforting students distraught at the election result by cancelling their exams and providing them with therapy dogs; protesters who didn’t bother to vote for Hillary Clinton taking to the streets to express their outrage over those who voted for Trump; mayors of America’s crime-ridden sanctuary cities refusing to co-operate with the federal government in deporting the violent criminals that threaten their citizens.

Editorial: What a Trump presidency means for US miners – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – November 15, 2016)

November 17, 2016

http://www.northernminer.com/

Mining’s contribution to the recent U.S. presidential election was nicely captured in the interactions of the two leading candidates with coal miners in the Appalachians.

In March 2016, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, in touting her support of Democrat-friendly alternative energy industries, memorably told a town hall meeting in the hard-hit coal-mining state of West Virginia that “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

She later apologized for the comment. (Clinton ended up losing the state to Donald Trump, despite its substantial union presence, garnering only 26% of the vote compared to Trump’s 69%, and well off Barack Obama’s 36% tally in the 2012 presidential election.)

Climate Change and Trump’s America – by Gwynne Dyer (Gwynne Dyer.com – November 14, 2016)

November 17, 2016

http://gwynnedyer.com/

Even before Donald Trump hijacked the Republican Party, he was loudly declaring that the science of climate change, like Barack Obama, had not been born in the United States. It was, he insisted in 2012, a Chinese hoax “created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

The implication is clear. Back in the late 1980s, when climate change was first publicly identified as a threat, those sneaky Chinese must have bought or blackmailed prominent Western leaders and scientists to perpetrate this hoax. People like NASA scientist James Hanse, who made a landmark speech to Congress on global warming in 1988, and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who spoke at the United Nations about it in 1989.

Some other people, especially in the coal, oil and automobile industries, have been denying the reality of climate change for decades, but only The Donald realised it was a Chinese plot. (He does have a big brain, as he frequently points out.) At the time, most grown-ups wrote him off as a harmless crank – but they certainly have to take him seriously now.