Energy and Natural Resources - Op Eds

It was quite the week for Alberta electricity policy. There’s no shortage of changes, but what are we to make of it all?

Moreover, what do some of these things even mean? What the heck is a capacity market? And the real question on everyone’s mind: are Alberta electricity bills about to skyrocket like those in Ontario?

Many will draw the connection between Ontario and Alberta. They share the objectives of reducing emissions by shutting down coal and increasing renewables, such as solar and wind. But the policies to get there are critically different. So let’s move past the rhetoric and dig a little deeper into the policies.

Let’s start with renewables. Ontario made a costly mistake selecting the prices for their…

With our major trading partners, the United States and China, having recently ratified the Paris climate agreement, there is mounting pressure on Canada to come up with a plan to meet its emissions reduction targets. It’s time for Ottawa to take action and put in place a floor price on carbon nationwide.

If the goal is to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions in a way that causes the least amount of economic damage, a uniform price on carbon that applies across the entire country is the best option. A national carbon price has many advantages: It eliminates unproductive jockeying between provinces to attract business and doesn’t push firms across borders solely because of carbon price differentials.

To date, the provinces have…

The Ontario government has signaled that it is going to find a way to reduce your electricity bill. For this to work, it should stop relying on hiking your taxes to lower your electricity bill and instead focus on real reform of the electricity system.

Most previous plans to reduce electricity bills relied on having taxpayers or other electricity users foot the bill for lower electricity costs only for some. The first plan was the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, which came straight from tax dollars. That was replaced by the Ontario Electricity Support Program for low-income households. The province puts the cost of that program on other electricity users.

The government also recently eliminated the Debt Retirement…

With a glut of North American natural gas, the future of Canada’s gas industry could hinge on the success of exports of liquefied natural gas from the West Coast.

As the federal government assesses the environmental impact of these exports, one of the biggest public controversies has been how LNG exports will impact global greenhouse gas emissions. This question is crucial for businesses, too: If greater use of LNG is inconsistent with global goals for reducing GHG emissions, LNG projects could prove to be risky long-term investments.

The federal government is poised to release the findings of its first environmental assessment of a major LNG facility by October. It is impractical to assess how any individual…

It’s been on the right track so far with a price on emissions, but needs to make sure that most of its support for technology is for research and development and not wasted on subsidies to businesses and consumers for green tech they would have bought anyway.

Over the next five years, the Alberta government plans to collect nearly $10 billion in revenue from its price on greenhouse gas emissions. 

More than one-third of the revenue from the carbon levy is going back to taxpayers and small businesses through tax cuts. But the majority of the money that the government is collecting — more than $6 billion over five years — is going back into the energy sector through government spending.

How should the province…