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Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs

Suzuki’s ‘last great fight’: a Constitution that guarantees environmental rights – by Liam Casey (Victoria Times Colonist – November 14, 2016)

http://www.timescolonist.com/

The Canadian Press – TORONTO – David Suzuki, one of the leading voices on environmental issues over the past half century, says he has embarked on the “last great fight” of his life.

The ultimate goal of the 80-year-old scientist is to have environmental rights for all Canadians enshrined in the Constitution. That’s the only way to ensure environmental policies cannot be overturned with the hottest political flavour, said Suzuki, pointing to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

“I think this is a real warning to us that we need something deeper that can protect us against the fluctuations that come with political change,” Suzuki said Monday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

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Trudeau’s carbon price idiotic, given Trump’s election – by Lorrie Goldstein (Toronto Sun – November 9, 2016)

http://www.torontosun.com/

Unlike Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper understood why it was reckless to impose a national carbon pricing scheme on Canada, unless the U.S. did the same. The surprise victory of President-elect Donald Trump Tuesday has driven home the wisdom of Harper’s policy and the foolishness of Trudeau’s.

That’s because it’s going to cost Canadians billions of dollars more than they were already going to have to pay for a national carbon pricing scheme, that is essentially nothing more than a cash grab by the provinces.

Why? Because Trump, who has called man-made climate change a hoax, not only becomes U.S. president in 71 days, the Republicans also retained control of Congress.

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A Trump presidency: it might not be all bad – by Margaret Wente (Globe and Mail – November 15, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

I was in the Y the other day, in the women’s locker room. Everybody was in mourning. Some people had begun to prepare for the worst. “We could set up abortion clinics right across the border,” I overheard one woman say. The others nodded in agreement.

Their anxiety was understandable, but perhaps premature. I honestly don’t think President Donald Trump will order a wholesale rollback of women’s rights. (If the abortion issue ever is kicked back to the states, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.)

Nor do I think he’s Hitler, an analogy that’s been casually invoked by folks who are obviously clueless about history. (Apart from anything else, daughter Ivanka is an Orthodox Jew.) He’s not even a third-rate fascist. He’s more like Silvio Berlusconi – with infinitely more power to make mischief. Mr. Trump might even do a few good things. Here are some.

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A new climate era blowin’ in with Trump – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – November 10, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Three key economic issues will dominate the new international era set to emerge as Donald Trump assumes the presidency of the United States: trade, climate, and taxation/spending. Trump’s vague platform offers limited guidance on how he would go about imposing his “fair trade” ideas on America’s global trade partners, including Canada, or how he plans to introduce his trillion-dollar tax-reduction plan without blowing up the U.S. Treasury.

But on the third issue — climate change — Trump seems set to blow up the international order. The Internet has already exploded as the media and NGOs declared Trump’s election victory “a disaster for the planet.” In the words of Friends of the Earth Climate director Benjamin Schreiber, a man not given to rhetorical moderation: “Millions of Americans voted for a coal-loving climate-denier willing to condemn people around the globe to poverty, famine and death from climate change.”

More broadly, the election result reportedly “cast a significant shadow” over the UN Congress of the Parties meeting this week in Marrakech, Morocco.

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Even Trudeau knows the road to Marrakech is paved with carbon – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – November 8, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The Institute for Energy Research last year reported that “China is building
one coal-fired power plant every 7 to 10 days, while Japan plans to build 43
coal-fired power projects to replace its shuttered nuclear units.”

Seems a little odd that Prime Minister Trudeau should show up in Vancouver Monday to outline plans to make the harbour safe for oil- and gas-tanker traffic on the same day the world’s climate community gathers in Marrakech to outline their plans to shut down such traffic.

Welcome to the wonky world of carbon contradiction, in which the backers of the 2015 Paris climate agreement go about the earnest business of global carbon reduction while the same nations — including Canada — join hands with big business to keep the carbon economy humming.

About 10,000 politicians, bureaucrats, corporate PR weasels, green activists, NGOs, rent-seekers, UN officials and other members of the carbon-control movement have descended on the Moroccan city for the 22nd meeting of the Congress of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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Shift away from coal power won’t be cheap for Alberta – Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – October 26, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

CALGARY — Alberta’s shift away from coal-fired power is about to get real. And expensive.

Premier Rachel Notley signalled last week that the government will cough up compensation for electricity generators as they shut down coal plants that currently provide about 38 per cent of the province’s juice. This is one measure that apparently comes from advice by a former U.S. power-industry executive the Premier brought in to deal with the thorny issue of billions of dollars in generating assets that will be rendered useless by 2030.

That’s the deadline for coal emissions spelled out in Alberta’s plan to fight climate change. The idea is to fill that gap between now and then with power generated by natural gas and renewables such as wind and solar.

The New Democratic Party government is poring over recommendations from Terry Boston, former chief executive officer of PJM Interconnection, based in Valley Forge, Pa.

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Alberta’s Notley promises details of coal phase-out plan coming this fall – by Dean Bennett (Halifax Chronicle-Herald – October 20, 2016)

http://thechronicleherald.ca/

Canadian Press – EDMONTON — Premier Rachel Notley says Alberta will roll out specifics this fall of its plan to phase out coal-fired electricity and promote renewable energy.

Notley, in a state-of-the-province speech Wednesday, said the plan will include financial help to coal emitters closing their plants and transitioning to cleaner forms of power.

There will also be details on how proponents will be able to bid to replace coal generation in the Alberta market. “And we will set out more detail on how we will promote the construction of clean, renewable energy — wind, solar, thermal and hydropower — efficiently, economically and without undue subsidy,” Notley said.

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Eco radicals scoff at the law—and the law surrenders – by Peter Foster (Financial Post – October 17, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Last week’s valve tampering on major Canadian pipelines to the U.S. represents a dangerous escalation of the war against the oilsands, and against fossil-fuelled Western society in general. It also provides a critical test of the rule of law.

Activists belonging to something called Climate Direct Action attempted to shut down five oil pipelines designed to carry 2.7 million barrels a day. They claimed to be acting in support of other protestors who had succeeded in holding up construction of a new pipeline near “sacred” lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.

The five pipelines belong to the companies at the eye of the political storm over new infrastructure in Canada — Enbridge, TransCanada and Kinder Morgan — along with Spectra Energy, which recently merged with Enbridge.

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Boondoggle: How Ontario’s pursuit of renewable energy broke the province’s electricity system – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – October 7, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Back in 2010, deep green environmentalist Rick Smith, then head of Environmental Defence Canada, hailed Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act regime as a cost-free operation that would catapult the province into the big leagues of renewable energy. Through fat subsidies and high prices offered to wind, solar and other renewable industry players, jobs and growth would boom and Ontario would be free of its dirty coal plants. It was the End of Coal, the government said. The birth of a renewable miracle.

Asked whether the plan might lead to higher prices for consumers, “No,” said Dr. Smith — he likes to be called doctor in recognition of his PhD in biology. “No. Not at all.”

Smith was absolutely sure that Ontario’s campaign to become the North American leader in renewable energy would not be a burden on consumers. He had the facts, the study, and the numbers. Renewable is doable. “We’ve done some modelling on this and we’re talking a penny’s increase to your average person’s electricity bill,” he said. “Ontarians won’t even notice any impact on their electricity rates.”

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Trudeau replaces pipeline uncertainty with carbon price uncertainty – by Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post – October 5, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

By announcing a hefty price on carbon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to be moving closer to finally approving an oil export pipeline.

But he is also creating a new problem: His targeted minimum price on carbon emissions is so high, how it will be implemented so unclear, he’s replacing pipeline uncertainty with carbon price uncertainty — hardly the recipe to restore investor confidence in beaten down Canadian oil and gas.

“We already have a highly uncertain policy environment in Canada now, here in Alberta especially with the NDP changes that have come so fast and furious it’s almost historically unrecognizable, and this is yet another dose of uncertainty in an uncertain investment climate,” said Kenneth Green, Calgary-based senior director of natural resource studies at the Fraser Institute.

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Trudeau outsmarts opponents on carbon pricing – by John Ivison (National Post – October 4, 2016)

http://news.nationalpost.com/

When it was first elected, this Liberal government was like a bull wearing hobnail boots on the climate change file. Now it seems to be creeping toward its targets on cat’s paws.

All provinces and territories will be obliged to set a minimum price of $10 a tonne of carbon emitted in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons Monday, rising $10 each year to $50 per tonne in 2022.

“Pollution crosses borders, so all provinces must do their part,” he said. There were nonetheless splutters of outrage from some provincial capitals as he confirmed the federal government will impose a minimum price on provinces or territories that don’t initiate one themselves.

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Ontario Liberals’ huge green energy about-face shows renewables aren’t so doable after all – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – September 28, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

One should never underestimate the ability of politicians to convert massive policy failure into a dazzling display of green concern for the welfare of voters. That’s the trick now being attempted by the Liberal government of Ontario as it begins to unravel parts of its financially disastrous green energy program.

Glenn Thibeault, the province’s latest energy minister on Tuesday read through the script provided by the spin-meisters within Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government. The province, he said in a speech to the Ontario Energy Association, had decided to “suspend procurement” of 1,000 additional megawatts of unneeded wind and solar power.

The cancellation is “expected to save $3.8 billion in electricity system costs,” thereby saving a typical residential consumer “an average of approximately $2.45 per month.” Only a government can get away with declaring a saving for consumers by not spending on projects that are not needed.

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The counterfeit ‘conservativism’ of carbon taxers – by Peter Foster (Financial Post -September 22, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Mark Cameron, executive director of Canadians for Clean Prosperity (CFCP), put up a spirited defence of his organization’s ostensibly “market-based” approach to climate policy in Wednesday’s FP Comment. As a former senior policy adviser to Stephen Harper, Cameron is the public face of an organization that claims “conservative” credentials.

On Friday, CFCP will hold an invitation-only conference in Toronto featuring some prominent conservative voices, such as those of Preston Manning and David Frum, but does Clean Prosperity really represent a principled conservative position on climate?

Such a position would not merely emphasize the power of markets, it would look with intense suspicion at any rationale for a vast increase in the size and scope of government, which is what the climate agenda demands.

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US mining industry in flux as policy, economic and enviro challenges force change – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – September 16, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

VANCOUVER – The outcome of the November 2016 US Presidential election will not reverse the decline in the US mining industry’s value, as the beleaguered coal industry continues to face market headwinds. Rather, the results will determine the trajectory of environmental regulations and, therefore, raise or lower operating costs over the coming years, recent analysis from market analysis company BMI Research indicates.

According to the Fitch-owned research firm, regardless of the outcome of the general election, the US mining industry value (MIV) will continue to decline through 2017, as elevated costs and structurally lower mineral prices weigh on growth.

The tightening of environmental regulations throughout the administration of President Barack Obama has accelerated this decline, both raising costs and edging coal – the domestic mining industry’s biggest contributor – out of the power mix.

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The world tour of carbon craziness ends in Canada — with a big crash – by Terence Corcoran (Financial Post – September 13, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

We begin this carbon craziness roundup from around the world, from Ontario to California to North Dakota, with a detour to a recent glimmer of sanity in Germany, where the government’s environment minister last week unveiled a national Climate Action Plan with no firm targets.

Green activists are up in arms because, you see, at the Paris Climate Summit last year, Germany had announced wildly improbable commitments to cut carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 and up to 95 per cent by 2050.

Any government that adopts such targets is short a few megatonnes of common sense, so Germany’s apparent decision to drop a plan to achieve the unachievable suggests the return of a degree of rationality and appreciation of reality, especially since it seems unlikely Germany can meet the 2020 target, let alone 2050.

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