Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve, A Hidden Gem West Of The Hills

SWAN HILLS, ALBERTA
Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023

Nestled within the loftiest expanse of the Swan Hills uplands, the Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve (GMER) is a hidden gem of the local area. Encompassing a substantial 1,246.48 hectares, this ecological reserve stands as a sanctuary, shielded from the intrusion of motor vehicles, specimen collection, and expeditions that might disrupt the delicate local vegetation.

Rising an impressive 600 meters above the encircling lowlands, the area is characterized by broad plateaus that quickly transition to steeply sloping hills. The prevailing vegetative tapestry is that of a coniferous woodland made up of balsam and subalpine fir hybrids, Engelmann and white spruce hybrids, and lodgepole pine with tall clusters of alder and willow flourishing on dampened slopes.

Designated an ecologi­cal reserve means that the area is protected. No overnight camping or open fires are allowed, and the use of motorized vehicles is not permitted.

Ecological reserves contain rare and fragile landscapes, plants, animals and geological features. Their primary intent is the strict preservation of natural ecosystems, habitats, features and associated biodiver­sity. These reserves serve as outdoor laboratories and classrooms for scien­tific studies related to the natural environment, and as such, ecological re­serves are only open to the public for low-impact activities such as photog­raphy and wildlife view­ing

Roughly 43.5 km northwest of the Town of Swan Hills, the GMER is accessible by Goose Tower Road. According to the Town of Swan Hills website, “The Goose Tower Road is a privately owned oilfield road that is subject to weather. The main soil base is clay shale with moisture that quickly turns into greasy mud.” The write-up then aptly suggests that people planning to visit the GMER use a four-wheel-vehicle, monitor the weather, and notify another party of their plans in case they run into difficulty. The passage ends with the warning, “The weather changes quickly and drastically in this area and the roads quickly become impassable.”

Please take these warnings about the road seriously. My wife, Tara, and I drove to the GMER this past weekend, and Goose Tower Road is not for the faint of heart as it approaches the Reserve. In the final 10 km or so, there was a spot where the southern half of the road had partially washed out; someone had lodged about three large branches upright into a hole in the road to mark it for other motorists. There were roughly four areas between this spot and the Reserve where the road became extremely muddy; our truck nearly didn’t make it through the second muddy area, and then we did become stuck in the third. Luckily, we were able to work our way out. We made a point to get out of the vehicle and survey each muddy area on foot before proceeding on the return trip and were able to avoid further issues.

The trip to the GMER made for an incredible drive and a fun adventure. We saw some beautiful flowers along the way and witnessed stunning views of the surrounding landscape through breaks in the treeline along the road. While we came across indications that bears had recently been in the area, including tracks and some very fresh scat, we did not actually see any bears on this outing.

If you would like to visit the GMER, please heed the warnings about Goose Tower Road. Pick a time when the weather has been dry for at least a few days, ensure that you take a sturdy four-wheel-drive vehicle, notify someone of your plans and when they should expect you to return, and take your time to proceed cautiously. Prepare for a hike through the bush in bear country and take precautions to keep yourself safe (make noise as you go, carry bear spray, avoid heading out between dusk and dawn, etc.). And bring a cell phone; we found that we generally had at least one bar of reception throughout the trip. Sturdy footwear and clothing are also recommended; a tank top and flip-flops won’t quite cut it for this type of outing.

Remember, nature is for all to enjoy, leave the site as you found it; don’t pick or dig up the plants, shrubs or trees, and please don’t litter.

Be sure to have fun and stay safe!

Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e0daf0fb81e43f5bdb63831a53b2a14

Swan Hills and Slave Point Formations StoryMap 

The Swan Hills Formation carbonate platform and reef complex is located in the subsurface in the west-central plains of Alberta, and is named after a series of ...

Nova Scotia angler hooks juvenile great white shark and story of a lifetime

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023 at 1:35 p.m. MDT·4 min read



FREDERICTON — Rick Austin knew he had hooked a big one as his fishing rod bent and he reeled furiously from his kayak off the Nova Scotia coast, but he never dreamt there would be a great white shark on the end of the line.

On a perfect summer morning July 30, when the wind was just right and the water was calm, Austin anchored his kayak off Kingsport in the Minas Basin, which feeds into the Bay of Fundy. He was looking for striped bass, and he set out his fishing rods with baits.

"I didn't want to get too far out because it was my first time out there, and also I was alone," he said in an interview Tuesday from his home in Eastern Passage, N.S. "When I got there, I anchored, and everything was perfect. It was a perfect scenario."

But after three hours without a single bite, he decided to switch up his bait, putting a live mackerel on a stainless steel hook. "It wasn't very long, just minutes and my reel starts to click," he recalled.

Austin, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force sergeant, said his thoughts went to the 1975 movie "Jaws" because of a scene in which a character's reel is clicking as he prepares for a big catch. "This is exactly what I did. However, I had no idea it was a shark — ever — the entire time it was out there."

He turned on the GoPro camera on his hat and began trying to reel in his catch. "It was quite the adrenalin rush for sure," he said with a laugh. "I sincerely thought it was a dolphin or a huge striped bass."

Then he saw the large, grey fish he had hooked swim near the surface, mere feet from the bow of his kayak. On the video he filmed, he can be heard exclaiming "Holy Lifting!" and a few other choice words, before he decided he would need to cut the line.

He said after being cut loose the shark swam a little distance and breached, then returned to circle Austin's kayak before taking off. "My heart was thumping so fast that I couldn't hear anything — the birds and stuff — if they were even there, I was totally unaware of," he said.

Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark, a veterinarian at Dalhousie University, helped confirm the animal Austin hooked was indeed a great white shark. He said it could be identified by its stocky body profile, distinct dorsal fin and black colouring on its top. The other shark species that are similar in the Bay of Fundy waters are porbeagle and mako sharks, but they are slimmer and bluish, he said.

The shark was a juvenile, between 1.5 and two metres in length, and probably weighed between 45 and 70 kilograms, he said.

"At that age they're kind of like puppies. They have oversized things like their pectoral fins and their tail fins are actually wider."

But Austin did the right thing by cutting the line and letting the animal go, he said.

"One of the things you have to realize is a lot of species of sharks have a bit of a temper," he said. "When you hook them up, they'll come back and wreak vengeance on you. They're quite capable of retaliatory measures … you're messing with animals that are peak apex predators in the ocean. They really rule that world."

An abundance of marine mammal food combined with conservation efforts that have helped population numbers could be attracting more sharks to Canadian waters, Harvey-Clark said.

"I think we're in the sweet spot for the species right now," he said. "It probably means we're going to see an increase in numbers here."

He added that the hook left in the shark would likely not do the animal much harm. "The sharks heal very quickly," he said. "Their metabolic rate is amazing."

Austin, 61, said he hopes the animal has recovered from its ordeal of being hooked.

"It probably was hanging around me for quite a while, which is kind of scary in itself," he said. "Then it finally saw something that it really wanted, which was the live mackerel."

Austin stayed behind that Sunday and fished — still oblivious that the one that got away was a white shark — but he didn't hook anything else. Now that he knows, the story is more than enough.

"I don't want another experience like that," he said, with a laugh. "Thank you very much."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

— Austin's video of his shark experience can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AQSSzmTjec. Note video contains obscene language.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

Butane torch lighters linked to 'unprecedented' rise in Vancouver fire incidents




VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Fire Rescue Service says the first half of 2023 has been a record-breaking period for fire-related incidents in the city, with alarming numbers of calls involving drug users and butane torches with flame-locking mechanisms.

Fire information officer Matthew Trudeau said the service responded to 2,113 calls in the first half of the year, the most in the service's history for the same period and an "unprecedented" 31 per cent increase compared to the first half of 2022.

Trudeau said the pandemic saw many "societal changes" as people were stuck at home and cooking a lot more, and kitchen fires were the primary cause of fire calls for "a number of years."

But now the fire service is seeing more fires caused by tobacco and drug-smoking materials, especially in single-room occupancy buildings.

The fire service said in a statement that the leading cause of fires remains discarded smoking materials including matches, lighters, candles, cigarettes, and drug paraphernalia, causing nearly 60 per cent of all incidents.

The fire service said it was worried about more fires in single-room occupancy buildings as well as a notable spike in outdoor fires.

Trudeau said there have been numerous single-room occupancy fires caused by drug users dropping butane lighters with the flame locked on, setting fire to themselves or their surroundings.

"We're having at least one SRO fire per day, mostly associated with smoking material," he said. "If the drugs weren't bad enough, now we've got this ignition source that's locked on where someone drops it or overdoses and now it's setting the whole room on fire."

The service says four people have died in fires so far in 2023, three of them involving blazes caused by smokers' materials.

"It's turned a bad situation even worse," Trudeau said. "If not for the sprinkler systems containing these fires, we would see a lot more buildings significantly damaged."

The fire service also said more than a quarter of all fires have been the result of arson, which it says is part of an upward trend in suspicious fire incidents.

The fire service is appealing to residents to make sure they have working smoke alarms, while encouraging smokers to properly put out their butts and for people to use battery-powered lights rather than candles.

Trudeau said the increase in fire calls is on top of other calls dealt with by first responders, including overdoses and mental health-related incidents, straining resources and taking a toll on crews.

"Last year we went to a really horrific scene where one of our crews was chased by (someone with) a machete on Granville," he said. "Our crews are very resilient, hard-working people, but we're human beings at the end of the day too, and it's hard seeing some of these really horrific incidents."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

The Canadian Press

‘We have to say no:’ Community must not tolerate Pride crosswalk vandalism, resident urges

Niagara-on-the-Lake
Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023 

After four separate vandalism incidents, many Niagara-on-the-Lake residents now just seem to expect that the new rainbow crosswalk will continually be damaged.

Many commenters in public, in letters to the editor and on social media have suggested such vandalism is just a fact of life.

Suzin Schiff thinks that attitude is wrong and people should not accept repeated defacing of the crosswalk as a fact of life.

“That makes me more sad, almost more sad than seeing the vandalism itself,” said Schiff, who works in administration at the Shaw Festival.

She got in touch with the town to organize a group photo at the crosswalk in support of 2SLGBTQI+ community after vandals defaced the crosswalk for a third time on July 31.

“I called the town and I said, ‘I need to talk to someone about this. Do you know that it’s here? What can we do? How can we respond?’ ” she said in an interview.

“It’s not enough to see it and then clean it up,” she said.

She wanted to show her support in-person, she said, and not just through social media or the newspaper — but to stand on the crosswalk where it happened.

“We need to be physically present to feel our feet on the place where this transpired and to physically show people that we stand and support them and to show them that they should feel safe where they live,” she said.

When the crosswalk was first put in, she said “it was very meaningful” to her.

This topic has always been one that’s close to her heart since she has friends and family who are queer, she said, and she’s always been a “strong ally” to the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

The group photo was scheduled last Friday at 9 a.m., barely two days after the damage from the third vandalism was cleaned up.

However, people arrived to find the crosswalk defaced for a fourth time — this time with more hateful comments.

She said it’s “disheartening for queer people or allies of queer people” when this type of vandalism is so routine it is just expected.

She wants to make sure her voice is heard — and believes everyone should be doing the same every time something like this happens instead of just accepting it.

There are plenty of people in the world who are against public expressions like rainbow crosswalks, she said, but the latest vandalism is more than just pushback. In her view, it was a hate crime.

“This is a different level. The people who are doing it have to be stopped,” said Schiff.

Given how many time’s the NOTL crosswalk has been intentionally damaged, it’s probably going to happen again, she acknowledged.

But she’s motivated to continue to stand up for what she believes is right and encourages everyone to contact the town every time it is damaged.

“It’s not about reacting afterwards. It’s about preventing it from happening,” she said.

She hopes by people showing up in person every time, it will eventually “tip the tables.”

“If you want to show your love and support, it has to be a physical action and not just typing or talking to a friend or sitting and thinking about it — it has to have some kind of action,” she said.

“We have to stand. We have to speak. We have to stand on it. We have to say no.”

Somer Slobodian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report

Manitoba NDP promises to search landfill for First Nations women if elected

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023 


WINNIPEG — The leader of Manitoba's Opposition NDP is promising to move forward on the search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women if the party forms government after the provincial election on Oct. 3.

Wab Kinew says his party would work with the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran as well as the federal government on the best way to conduct a search of the privately run Prairie Green Landfill, but stopped short of offering funding commitments.

The governing Progressive Conservatives have said that they would not support a search of the landfill because it could expose workers to toxic material and interfere with the judicial proceedings against the man accused of killing the women.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran and two other women.

Kinew says if the NDP are elected, he hopes a search will start soon after the party forms government.

The Manitoba Liberal Party has committed to funding 50 per cent of the costs of searching the landfill if they come into power.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Tories' Twila Grosse wins provincial byelection in Nova Scotia riding of Preston

TAKES LONG TIME LIBERAL RIDING

Elections Nova Scotia said the byelection saw the first use of an electronic ballot system in Canada during early voting

The Canadian Press
Tue, August 8, 2023 



HALIFAX — Progressive Conservative Twila Grosse has won a provincial byelection in the Nova Scotia riding of Preston, taking a seat held by the Liberals for most of the last 20 years.

Grosse beat out Colter Simmonds of the NDP and Liberal Carlo Simmons, who were both in a distant race for second place in the five-way contest about an hour after polls closed Tuesday night.

Elections Nova Scotia said Grosse captured 1,950 votes, well ahead of Simmonds of the NDP with 1,145. Liberal Simmons trailed the NDP candidate by more than 100 votes.

The byelection, called on July 7, became necessary after Liberal Angela Simmonds stepped down in April.

Health care, affordable housing, gas prices and economic development were among the main issues during the campaign.

There were 11,125 registered voters in the riding, according to Elections Nova Scotia.

Heading into the byelection, the governing Progressive Conservatives held 31 seats in the provincial legislature, followed by the Liberals with 16 seats, the New Democrats with six and one Independent.

The Liberals captured 43 per cent of the votes in the riding in the 2021 provincial election, with the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats almost equally splitting the remaining ballots cast.

The campaign managed to generate some controversy in its closing days.

Last week, Dorothy Rice, Nova Scotia's chief electoral officer, ordered the Liberals to remove signs and other campaign material that she said contained false statements concerning a potential dump in the riding's Lake Echo area.

Rice called in the RCMP to assist with a formal investigation under the provincial Elections Act after the Liberals refused to comply with her order. She had acted on a complaint by the Progressive Conservatives over what they said was misleading material wrongly asserting that Premier Tim Houston was doing nothing to stop plans for the dump.

In a statement from the Liberal campaign for Simmons in which the candidate congratulated Grosse for her victory, party leader Zach Churchill took a parting shot at the Progressive Conservatives and Elections Nova Scotia.

"It's unfortunate that the Houston Conservatives chose to run a campaign that played on misinformation towards voters rather than speaking on its own record in government for the last two years, which was unfairly supported by Elections Nova Scotia," Churchill said.

Meanwhile, Rice hadalso asked the Progressive Conservatives to clarify signs that implored local residents to vote against the "Liberal carbon tax." She said the word "federal" should be inserted before Liberal.

Elections Nova Scotia said the byelection saw the first use of an electronic ballot system in Canada during early voting. The system allowed voters to choose a candidate on an electronic tablet in the polling station rather than marking a paper ballot.

Officials said 2,166 early votes were cast.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Fury as Alberta cuts renewables during Canada’s worst fire season ever

Leyland Cecco

TORONTO

THE GUARDIAN
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Photograph: Todd Korol/Reuters

A decision by Canada’s largest oil and gas-producing province to halt new wind and solar projects has prompted disbelief among environmental groups and economists. The move comes as the country struggles with its worst wildfire season on record, a situation that experts agree is worsened by the climate crisis and a reliance on fossil fuels.

Alberta last week announced a six-month moratorium on large solar and wind projects so it can review policies surrounding the projects’ construction and impact on the power grid, as well as rules for their eventual decommissioning.

Related: Canada: generations old and new scramble to contain fires burning at record pace

Since then, provincial and federal ministers have sparred over the controversial decision, exposing tensions between Alberta, which favours natural gas for power generation, and the governing Liberals, who have the broader ambition to decarbonize electrical grids across the country by 2035.

On Tuesday, the federal government unveiled its initial plans to transition to clean energy nationwide, ahead of its Clean Energy Strategy in 2024.

Acknowledging provinces’ responsibility for electricity infrastructure and delivery, the government also highlighted its own federal authority over environmental regulations and “strategic investments” to attain broader climate goals.

“This came as a complete shock to the industry. And it’s really a broader shock to all industries in Alberta, for a government to take such a drastic action without any consultation,” said Jorden Dye, acting director of Business Renewables Centre Canada.

Provincial officials have expressed concern over the rapid pace of investment and development of renewable-energy projects in the province – one of the sunniest and windiest regions of the country.

But Dye says that the province has successfully balanced tensions between the speed of development and residents’ concerns for decades. “We’ve conducted regulatory reviews for both coal bed methane production and the oil sands industry for years – all without pausing development,” he said, adding that the decision even hurts the oil and gas industry – an increasingly large player in the province’s renewables market.

“I’ve had many conversations over the last week, ranging from CFOs of oil and gas companies to my rural Alberta farming family. And no one can understand why this drastic of an action was taken. Because it’s just not how this province conducts business.”

Nearly C$2bn worth of projects have been proposed in recent months in the province, and Dye warns companies might look to other jurisdictions to develop them.

The decision to freeze projects is a “mistake”, the head of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association said in a statement, warning the move will weaken investor confidence in the province, which represents 75% of the country’s renewable growth since last year.

There are now nearly 3,500MW worth of wind and solar projects under construction in the province, worth more than C$2.7bn, that won’t be affected by the decision, according to reporting by the Globe and Mail. The vast majority of these projects are on private land.

With the scope of the moratorium unclear, the province’s plan could strand as many as 100 projects that were set to generate enough energy to power 3m homes and are worth at least C$25bn in investments, according to the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based energy thinkthank.

In recent years, the province has taken controversial decisions that have united unlikely groups, most notably Alberta’s short-lived plans to open coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Those plans united environmentalists, ranchers and a famous country singer against the United Conservative government, which quickly backtracked.

The decision to halt renewables has baffled economists, environmental groups and business executives, whose companies are now questioning hefty investments in the province.

Nearly one-third of Alberta’s grid is powered by renewables and the province has shifted away from coal at a far faster rate than expected. When the previous New Democratic party announced in 2015 it would phase out coal power, it pledged to accomplish that feat by 2030. But the province will attain the goal this year – seven years early.

“It’s clearly an ideological decision, taken at a time when climate impacts have hit Canada so devastatingly. It is completely irresponsible to halt the deployment of cost-effective and proven climate solutions,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of the Climate Action Network. “The province is sending the message they’re not open for business. These projects are already happening, and they’re not only good for the environment, they’re good for the economy.”

Brouillette also pointed to longstanding issues over orphaned gas wells and leaks at tailings ponds that have left Indigenous communities fearing for the safety of their water supplies. “To the premier, massive tailings spills that endanger Indigenous communities don’t constitute an emergency – but the potential for expanding cost-effective and proven climate solutions at a time when Canada is burning somehow poses a threat,” she said.

“I really hope that logic and facts can prevail for the sake of Alberta, their economy, jobs, and access to a safe and affordable energy supply.”

UCP KILLS RENEWABLES IN ALBERTA

Renewable energy workers say Alberta's pause will wipe out season of work

video has surfaced of Rob Anderson, executive director of Smith's office, describing the renewable industry as a scam.

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023



Alberta's decision to pause approvals of new renewable energy projects is putting the lives of thousands of workers on hold, an industry group says.

"You're asking people to put a pause on their lives," said Luisa Da Silva, director of Iron and Earth, a group that assists fossil fuel employees transition to the renewables industry. "You're asking people not to work."

A week ago, Alberta's United Conservative government announced it had directed the province's utilities regulator not to approve any more renewable energy projects, citing what it says are rural and environmental concerns. The Alberta Utilities Commission is to hold an inquiry, reporting in February.

The move stranded dozens of proposed projects worth billions of dollars in a province that had, until then, been an industry leader in Canada. The pause was widely criticized by economists and companies whose projects are suddenly in limbo.

Industry was not consulted before the move.

Alberta government figures suggest about 10,000 people work in solar and wind installation. Although that figure is dwarfed by fossil fuel employment, jobs in renewables are estimated to be growing at about 10 per cent a year, while oil and gas jobs have been declining for years.

In early 2022, there were 3,425 unfilled positions in the industry.

"I don't know what their thinking is," Da Silva said. "But I don't think it's fair to ask people to not work and to basically shut down the industry for six months."

Da Silva said the effect of the pause is likely to last much longer, as both the pause itself and the uncertainty of its result will affect planning for next year's construction season and beyond. It comes as other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States are ramping up their renewable energy.

"What's going to stop workers from going where the jobs are?" Da Silva asked. "Not much."

Sam Blackett, spokesman for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, defended the pause.

"We can't have an affordable and reliable power grid in this province without a reliable base energy source," he said. "Today that reliable source is natural gas.

"Wind and solar power have an important supporting role to play … but only if developed in a manner that is affordable, reliable, environmentally sustainable and preserves Albertans' most precious natural landscapes and prime agricultural land."

Meanwhile, video has surfaced of Rob Anderson, executive director of Smith's office, describing the renewable industry as a scam.

The video was made for The Western Standard, a conservative news outlet, on Nov. 4, 2021, before Smith re-entered politics and was still a lobbyist for an influential business group. The video was hosted by Bruce McAllister, who now heads Smith's Calgary office.

"All this is, is a scam," Anderson said. "This isn't about the environment."

Anderson accuses foreign companies of profiteering off government programs and despoiling Alberta's landscape.

"We have one of the most beautiful, pristine landscapes in the world, especially the eastern slopes (of the Rockies)," he said. "These things (windmills) are butt-ugly."

Asked if Anderson still held those views, Blackett neither disavowed nor denied them.

Nagwan Al-Guneid, the Opposition NDP's utilities critic, said major corporations that use and supply renewable power would be surprised to hear it called a scam.

"This is a multibillion-dollar industry that has created thousands of jobs," she said. "It is insulting to Albertans and to businesses and leaders who have been working in this industry for the last few years."

Al-Guneid said legitimate concerns over land use and reclamation could easily be handled without the pause and called on the government to rescind it.

"What are we doing?" she asked. "Since when does a government shut down a booming industry?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Canadian oil sands carbon emissions stalled in 2022 even as output grew


Updated Wed, August 9, 2023
By Nia Williams

(Reuters) -Greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian oil sands production were flat in 2022 even as output grew, an analysis by S&P Global showed on Wednesday, suggesting absolute emissions from the carbon-intensive sector could peak sooner than previously expected.

It was the first time since S&P Global began tracking emissions in 2009 that absolute oil sands emissions did not rise, apart from periods in which major market disruption caused a decline in production, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even so, the oil sands sector in northern Alberta will still need to make significant emissions cuts to meet Canada's climate targets, said Kevin Birn, chief analyst of Canadian oil markets at S&P Global Commodity Insights.

"We expected absolute emissions to rise as they always do when there's no market disruption. The fact it stalled suggests industry may be able to achieve more than they anticipated," Birn said.

"But for industry to make large-scale absolute emissions reductions we see the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS)," he added.

A number of Canada's largest oil sands producers, including Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy, have asked the Canadian and Alberta governments for public funding to develop costly CCS technology.

Canada is the world's fourth-largest crude producer, of which around two-thirds comes from the oil sands in the western province of Alberta.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is targeting a 40%-45% cut in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, but is unlikely to get there without significant reductions from the oil and gas industry, the country's highest-emitting sector.

Oil sands emissions held steady at 81 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022, while total production topped 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd), a gain of more than 50,000 bpd, the S&P Global report showed.

It attributed the flattening of absolute emissions to industry-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity improvements such as using less steam in thermal oil sands projects and better operating efficiency.

A modest decline in carbon-intensive synthetic crude production, due to major maintenance turnarounds in 2022, and increased output from more efficient thermal oil sands projects also helped.

"The potential stalling of emissions growth in 2022 is a clear signal that oil sands absolute emissions will indeed peak and begin to decline, perhaps sooner than previously expected," Birn said, adding that S&P Global forecast it would happen around 2025.

(Additonal reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Paul Simao)

Canada to Sell Pipeline Stake to Indigenous Groups Through Special Vehicle

Robert Tuttle and Esteban Duarte
Wed, August 9, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Canada plans to sell a stake in the Trans Mountain oil pipeline to individual indigenous communities through a special-purpose vehicle, allowing the government to balance competing groups’ requests to own a piece of the controversial project.

The groups will be provided with access to capital so they don’t have to risk their own money to participate, according to a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office seen by Bloomberg. The communities’ equity interest in Trans Mountain will provide them with cash flows and allow them to jointly exercise governing rights, according to the letter, which was dated Aug. 2.

The plan partly clears up how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will handle the sale of the pipeline that his administration saved from cancellation by buying it for C$4.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in 2018. While some indigenous groups have opposed the Trans Mountain expansion, which crosses through many of their territories, others have banded together into bidding groups to pursue stakes in the pipeline to generate revenue for their communities.

Indigenous groups that take part in the special-purpose vehicle won’t be excluded from participating in later rounds offering additional equity in Trans Mountain, the letter said. The government will soon begin discussions with indigenous groups along the pipeline’s route and shipping corridor, according to the letter.

“The Government of Canada first announced its intention to explore the possibility of Indigenous economic participation in the Trans Mountain Expansion Project in March 2019,” Katherine Cuplinskas, a spokesperson for Freeland, said in an emailed statement. “The letter sent last week represents the next step in the federal government’s commitment that Indigenous communities share in the economic benefits derived from Trans Mountain.”

The Trans Mountain expansion project was first proposed about a decade ago, back when the pipeline was owned by Kinder Morgan Inc. The project twins an existing pipeline running from Edmonton to a shipping hub near Vancouver, nearly tripling the conduit’s capacity from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000 barrels a day.

Canada’s oil-sands industry lauded the project as a key new outlet for its crude and a way to ship more production to Asia, reducing its dependence on US markets. But a series of regulatory and legal setbacks, driven by environmental and indigenous groups, prompted the government to step in and buy the line after Kinder Morgan threatened to cancel the project.

Even after the government purchase, the cost of the Trans Mountain expansion project has more than quadrupled to C$30.9 billion amid repeated delays and construction setbacks. While some of the swelling costs may be passed onto the oil producers who will use the line, analysts say taxpayers also may be left to bear a hefty writedown on the project.

The government has long floated the possibility of selling some of the project to indigenous groups, a politically expedient move in keeping with Canada’s push to reconcile with its colonial past. Several groups representing indigenous communities emerged to seek ownership of the system.

Among those groups are Project Reconciliation, which is seeking a 100% stake in the line. Another, the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, is a 50-50 partnership between Pembina Pipeline Corp. and many of the British Columbia communities along the line.

Due to the cost increases, Pembina is no longer seeking a 50% stake in the pipeline, but rather a 20% to 30% stake, Chief Executive Officer Scott Burrows said on an earnings call on Friday.

“When we do think about that asset in light of a larger potential gross investment size, we do think about keeping things largely similar from Pembina’s net investment,” he said. “So when you talk about sort of a smaller than 50% investment, I would say that’s where our heads are at.”

--With assistance from Brian Platt.

Bloomberg Businessweek

First Nations oil and gas sector blasts Guilbeault for lack of consultation on new subsidies framework


Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Stephen Buffalo, president and CEO of the Indian Resource Council of Canada (IRC), is not applauding the federal government’s recent announcement that subsidies will continue to flow to First Nations to support their economic participation in fossil fuel activities.

The continuation of those particular subsidies was one of six exemptions outlined in Canada’s framework for eliminating inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. The framework was released July 24 by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault. Also identified as an exemption are subsidies that provide an essential energy service to remote communities.

The framework is in response to Canada’s 2009 commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies as part of a commitment with other G20 countries. Such subsidies, says the 2009 G20 communique, “encourage wasteful consumption, reduce our energy security, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change.”

Starting in 2028, the federal government will eliminate tax breaks, financing and loan guarantees for fossil fuel projects that don’t reduce emissions.

Indigenous economic participation will continue to receive federal program and expenditure support (or measures), says the framework, as long as “the main beneficiary of the funding or measures are Indigenous peoples.”

The announcement allowing those continued subsidies “scared me more than anything,” said Buffalo. “You never know what the federal government's going to do and, for the most part, they're doing this without consultation with First Nations.”

IRC was founded in 1987 by chiefs representing oil and gas producing First Nations. Its mandate is to advocate for federal policies that improve and increase economic development opportunities for its 130-plus members. While the organization has representation from across the country, the majority of its members are located in western Canada. The organization is headquartered at Tsuut’ina Nation in southern Alberta.

The government’s actions contradict the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s own United Nations Declaration Act (UNDA), which mandates Canada to consult and cooperate with Indigenous peoples, said Buffalo.

UNDA also commits the federal government to review all new legislation through an Indigenous lens.

“(This framework) is just being put before us and then that's the fear, because the government is really trying to implement policies without talking to the actual grassroots people,” said Buffalo. “It just seems we keep having these arguments over and over again.”

Larry Kaida, an IRC advisor and assistant to Buffalo, says the framework is an example of Canada’s continued patriarchal approach to interacting with First Nations.

“If asked, we could have told them that when they punish the fossil fuel industry, there will be ripple effects on Indigenous folks who have many joint ventures with industry,” said Kaida.

Buffalo points out that First Nations now have “better relationships with industry more than ever” and are benefitting beyond the usual opportunities of employment, spinoff companies, and contracts.

Deeper relationships have been realized in equity ownership in numerous oil and gas projects, as well as ownership in infrastructure, such as pipelines, he says.

At the end of July, the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC) announced a loan guarantee of $103 million to Northern Lakeland Indigenous Alliance (consisting of Buffalo Lake and Kikino Métis settlements and Saddle Lake Cree, Heart Lake and Whitefish Lake First Nations) to acquire approximately 43 per cent interest in Access NGL Pipeline System operated by Wolf Midstream Canada.

“(These are) revenue streams that nations never had before…This is self-sustaining,” said Buffalo. “Those are going to get some sort of an impact,” from the framework.

Both Buffalo and Kaida also express concern with the lack of details that accompanied Guilbeault’s announcement.

“The hard part is what's the real action behind a lot of these things? They're trying to make it sound like everything's going to be good when it's going to be very difficult to access certain things,” said Buffalo.

For instance, he says, it is unclear if allowing subsidies that benefit Indigenous economic participation will give Indigenous-led groups an upper hand in ownership of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. The federal government bought Trans Mountain in 2018 for $4.5 billion with the intention of selling it.

A number of First Nations and Métis-led groups have expressed interest in purchasing Trans Mountain pipeline, which is presently undergoing a 1,150-km expansion. The Trans Mountain pipeline is Canada's only pipeline system that carries oil from Alberta to the West Coast.

“We have to pursue these opportunities to meet the needs of our people and to meet the needs that the federal government doesn't want to touch,” said Buffalo.

If Canada is serious about economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples, he adds, then the federal government would consider establishing something similar to AIOC, which recently doubled its commitment to $2 billion to backstop loan guarantees for Indigenous-led projects in natural resources and other areas like agriculture in Alberta.

“I know there's a few of us that are planting the seeds of that type of…initiative or policy that the federal government can do,” said Buffalo.

Much of Canada’s support to the fossil fuel sector comes from Crown corporations and commercially viable loans. These are not included in the new framework.

Kaida is concerned about the future of the Site Rehabilitation Program, which saw federal funding of $1.72 billion funneled through the provinces through to the oil field service contractors to undertake well, pipeline, and oil and gas site closure and reclamation work at abandoned and orphaned well sites.

“Some in Ottawa still believe this was a subsidy. We saw this as land stewardship and job creation. If industry benefited, so be it,” he said.

Buffalo said the program had First Nations “in the driver’s seat,” able to set priorities and direct companies to where they wanted land reclaimed. Approximately $131 million was spent by First Nations for work on abandoned well sites and to clean up reserve lands.

“Yes, you saw industry see some benefit as it took liability off of their balance sheet, but I think the most important thing is that the First Nations were cleaning the land themselves,” he said.

As First Nations populations are growing, more land is needed, Buffalo says, and the rehabilitation program provides for some of that additional land.

Kaida is concerned that subsidies earmarked for Indigenous projects and for remote communities that still rely on diesel and gas to power their generators will end up going to bureaucracy “as they normally do. Very little trickle down to those that need it the most.”

Buffalo views the new framework as Canada’s move to get rid of the oil and gas sector.

“No one can tell First Nations about environmentalism and protection of Mother Earth. We know. But in the same sense, we have to find ways to balance protecting Mother Earth and yet having an opportunity to make our lives better as First Nations,” said Buffalo.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com