Fossil records earn Quebec island world heritage status

By Stéphane Blais The Canadian Press
Posted September 19, 2023

Quebec's Anticosti Island has been added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. Anticosti Island, Que., 1905--Quebec --Jupiter River. HO-National Archives of Canada 1999, C-071746,/The Canadian Press

Ten years after Quebec’s government wanted to launch oil and gas exploration on Anticosti Island, the picturesque territory in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.


The agency’s world heritage committee — which says fossil fuel exploration or exploitation is incompatible with heritage status — announced Tuesday that Anticosti Island is being formally recognized on the United Nations’s list of places with outstanding universal value to humanity.

According to UNESCO’s website, Quebec’s largest island is “the most complete and best preserved paleontological record of the first mass extinction of animal life, 447-437 million years ago.”

It says world-class scientists will be able to study what it describes as the “the best-preserved fossil record of marine life covering 10 million years of Earth history.”

The 9,200-square-kilometre island contains more than 550 kilometres of coastline, around 200 permanent residents and an abundance of deer. It is home to spectacular natural landscapes including deep canyons, waterfalls and numerous caves.

At one time, however, the territory was considered a potential site for oil and gas, after the former Parti Quebecois government, in office between 2012 and 2014, gave its blessing for exploratory drilling on the island.

After backlash from residents and environmentalists, the next government, under then-premier Philippe Couillard, ended oil and gas exploration on Anticosti Island in 2017 to protect its natural character — and support the bid to make the territory a World Heritage Site. As a result, the province was forced to pay some $62 million to compensate the oil and gas companies, whose contracts were cancelled.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who participated in the campaign for heritage designation before he entered politics, said the island helps scientists better understand how “climate change and rising sea levels at the time contributed to a decisive moment in history — the world’s first mass extinction of life on Earth.”

Hélène Boulanger, mayor of the municipality of Anticosti Island, describes the heritage designation as “the beginning of a new era” for the island, adding that its infrastructure needs to be improved to accommodate an expected influx of visitors.

Anticosti Island’s former mayor announced the bid for heritage status in early 2017, and the candidacy gained support from the province, the federal government and the Innu communities of Ekuanitshit and Nutashkuan.

“Anticosti Island is of great importance to our spiritual values, our identity and our culture,” said Jean-Charles Pietacho, the Innu Chief of Ekuanitshit, in a news release.

“The joining forces of our communities, municipal, regional, governmental and scientific, has allowed this recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

For its part, the province announced in 2020 that it would create a large nature reserve on the island to protect its biodiversity and further boost the UNESCO candidacy.

Anticosti Island becomes the 22nd Canadian site on the UNESCO list, joining places such as Wood Buffalo National Park, Gros Morne National Park, the Rideau Canal National Historic Site and Yukon’s Tr’ondek-Klondike. It’s the third UNESCO heritage site in Quebec, after Old Quebec City’s historic centre and the Miguasha National Park, on the Gaspé Peninsula.

Quebec's Anticosti Island named UNESCO World Heritage Site

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Island's geology dates back more than 440 million years

CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2023

 

Anticosti Island, a large island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The designation adds an additional layer of protection to the geologically unique, sparsely populated island that is part of a proposed biodiversity reserve.

One of Quebec's natural treasures, which holds ancient evidence of the first global mass extinction of animal life on Earth, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Anticosti Island was officially recognized worldwide for its exceptional fossil assemblage by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Saudi Arabia Tuesday morning. 

The island is a massive stretch of rocky land that is located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and is 17 times the size of the island of Montreal. 

It is home to the most complete fossil record of marine life of Earth's history between 447 and 437 million years ago — a period that was not yet represented on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

There are currently more than 1,440 known fossil species on Anticosti Island from that time period. They demonstrate changes in global climate and sea level that caused the extinction of almost all ocean life on the planet.

• How Anticosti became the centre of a debate over oil and gas exploration

The island's designation includes every fossil layer exposed along the coastline and some riverbeds.

"The site is protected from any development and industrial activity because it is entirely located within a network of strictly protected areas consisting of a proposed biodiversity reserve, a Quebec national park, and two ecological reserves," a Parks Canada statement of the decision reads.

Anticosti Island, despite its size, is home to only 200 residents. It boasts an abundance of deer, deep canyons, large waterfalls and numerous caves. Its new prestigious status was a long time coming.

Fossils like this one found on Anticosti island date back several hundred million years. (Peter Tardif/CBC)

Local officials had been pushing for the island to be recognized as a way to encourage tourists to visit and ensure its environmental protection in the face of a heated debate over oil and gas exploration, which began in 2013. 

The Quebec government officially banned drilling on the island in 2017.

Anticosti Mayor Hélène Boulanger celebrated the designation in a statement Tuesday, saying it marks a new era for residents. 

"This decision confirms that Anticosti Island is a unique place in the world, but above all, that it is essential to protect and showcase its exceptional jewels," she wrote.

Boulanger said the island's infrastructure now needs to be improved to accommodate an expected influx of visitors.

The island's designation includes all the fossil layers exposed along the coastline and some riverbeds. (Radio-Canada)

Anticosti Island is the third Quebec site to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list, along with the historic district of Old Quebec and Miguasha National Park on the Gaspé Peninsula.

"This prestigious designation is the result of seven years of work and consultation with all our partners," said Environment Minister Benoit Charette in a statement.  

"I would like to thank everyone for their sustained commitment."

• Innu community files injunction to stop Anticosti drilling

Leaders from the Innu communities of Ekuanitshit and Nutashkuan, who in recent years have been greatly involved in the push to get the island recognized, were also happy with the news, noting it will raise the visibility of Innu culture in Quebec and internationally. 

"It's been several years that we've been working with the people in the region... The oil industry was eyeing the island and they wanted to use fracking, which we contested," said Ekuanitshit Chief Jean-Charles Pietacho.

"It's one of the most beautiful islands... I was very touched, I'm very happy... We're protecting nature."

Pietacho said he's excited to see what other discoveries will be made on the island that his people have inhabited for millennia, now that it has this recognition. 

"There is a spiritual link with the territory, it links us to the Earth and the island. That link is part of our culture, and to know it will protected by the world... It's not nothing!" 

Anticosti Island is now one of nearly 1,200 heritage sites around the world and the 22nd Canadian site to be added to the list.

While it's ultimately up to Canada to ensure the conservation and management of Canadian sites inscribed on the list, UNESCO says independent international organizations will monitor the site to report on its management and protection.

with files from Radio-Canada's Lambert Gagné-Coulombe

3:33 Massive ‘T-Rex of the deep’ fossil discovered in southern Manitoba

 

The E.coli outbreak in Alberta shows why stringent public health measures matter

We need to know if public health regulations regarding food preparation are strong enough. Has the Alberta government cut too much red tape?

By Gillian Steward Contributing Columnist
Tuesday, September 19, 2023

The Alberta Children's Hospital is seeing a large influx of patients following an E. coli outbreak linked to multiple Calgary daycares surpassing 200 cases, in Calgary,Sept. 12.

Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS

During the early years of the pandemic we all found out the hard way that the monitoring and managing of threats to public health can save lives and reduce suffering.

In Alberta, we are learning that lesson all over again.

This time it’s not the elderly who are most at risk but babies, toddlers, and preschoolers who have been hit by a dangerous strain of E.coli that appears to have spread from a central kitchen that supplies food to several Calgary daycare facilities. 

It’s the same strain that infected 2,300 people and killed seven in Walkerton in 2000.

Some of the awful pain and suffering of the children was described in a letter to Premier Danielle Smith signed by 700 parents and supporters: “Many of our children began falling ill at the end of August. Over the following days, many passed not just blood but their own flesh as they screamed in pain, unable to sleep for days while others became lethargic and despondent, all of them struggling to make sense of what was going on.”

As of Sunday there have been 337 lab-confirmed cases of the bacterial infection related to the two week outbreak. Twelve children were still in hospital, 10 of whom have hemolytic uremic syndrome — a complication affecting the blood and kidneys. Six of those children were receiving dialysis. Seventeen child-care centres were shut down.

Alberta Health Services, which oversees public health matters across the province, has been frantically trying to pin down the exact origin of the infection. Was it undercooked hamburger? Lettuce? Did a kitchen employee unknowingly introduce it?

But there are also larger questions that must be answered if we are to avoid a contagious and potentially deadly infection happening again. We need to know if public health regulations regarding food preparation and the implementation of those regulations are strong enough. Conservative governments like Smith’s talk endlessly about “cutting red tape” that they believe hampers businesses. Has it gone too far in Alberta? Do we have enough public health inspectors to get the job done?

And what about the fact that the daycares with the most cases are for-profit facilities? During the pandemic residents of private, for-profit long term care facilities were more likely to die of COVID-19 than people in public or non-profit facilities.

Six of the 17 daycares in Calgary that were shut down are operated by Fueling Brains which was co-founded by chartered accountant Faisal Alimohd, who also describes himself as an “entrepreneur.” Fueling Brains also operates daycares in Saskatoon and Texas. The kitchen which supplied meals to 11 daycares — Fueling Minds — is affiliated with the same company.

There’s also the question of Premier Smith and the United Conservative Party’s attitude toward the need for effective public health measures. Smith won the UCP leadership by appealing to people opposed to COVID-19 vaccines, mask mandates and other pandemic precautions.

In November, shortly after she became premier, she said the unvaccinated had suffered the most discrimination she had seen in her lifetime. She then fired Deena Hinshaw, the Chief Medical Officer of Health who had managed the province’s response to the pandemic even though she was following directions from the UCP cabinet.

In February it was revealed that Smith had an 11 minute telephone conversation with a rabid supporter of the anti-vax Freedom Convoy that blocked the Coutts border crossing. He asked her to get prosecutors to drop the charges against him related to that blockade. She promised to look into it.

Does she still believe that public health regulations are an infringement of people’s freedoms?

Or has she learned from the E.coli crisis that the health and safety of Albertans relies on effective regulation and implementation of measures that can reduce spread of infection and thereby save lives and reduce suffering.

We should all hope so; otherwise if COVID-19 starts to spread widely again we will be on our own.

GS
Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. She is a freelance columnist for The Star.

Opinion: The lessons of Walkerton were lost on Danielle Smith’s government - The Globe and Mail

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/crisis-forces-alberta-public-health.html

HANDS OFF MY PENSION

Upcoming Alberta pension report to use exit formula from the ’60s: Opposition

By Adam Toy Global News
Posted September 19, 2023 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith leaves after a news conference following a meeting of western premiers, in Whistler, B.C., on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A report on the viability of a provincial pension plan in Alberta is expected to be released by the end of the month — a report the Opposition is characterizing as a “misleading fantasy case” for leaving the Canada Pension Plan.


On Tuesday, Shannon Phillips, Opposition finance critic for pensions and insurance, said she’s been informed of some of the contents of the report expected out in days.

“The report will rely on a withdrawal formula that dates back to 1966 and completely ignores how the Canada Pension Plan is currently invested,” Phillips said.

“It will claim erroneously, falsely, that Alberta is owed hundreds of billions of dollars from the fund. This is complete make believe, because if every province claims their quote-unquote ‘share’ of the fund as calculated by this coming report, it would total nine times what is currently stored in the CPP.”


Global News has not seen the report.





The Lethbridge West MLA said a move to a so-called Alberta pension plan would be a “gamble with Albertans’ retirement security” made by Premier Danielle Smith.

Phillips said a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to “sell” Albertans on the report will accompany the report’s release.

On Saturday’s episode of Your Province. Your Premier, Smith was asked about when Albertans might be able to see that report.

“I promised that we would release the report. It will be released before the end of the month, and we will have a discussion,” Smith said on Corus Radio.

Global News is owned by Corus.

Smith has previously said a decision on whether to leave the Canada Pension Plan will be taken to a referendum vote.

A statement from the ministry of finance said the report will be released to the public “when it is ready.”

“Once the report is released, we will consult with Albertans. Premier Danielle Smith made it clear that we will not create an Alberta pension plan unless Albertans are interested and vote to do so through a referendum,” Savannah Johannsen, Minister Nate Horner’s press secretary, said in a statement.

An online Leger poll of 1,000 Albertans from May showed only 21 per cent of Albertans were in favour of creating an Albertan alternative to the CPP. A majority of respondents — 54 per cent — opposed the idea.

During the provincial election campaign in May, Smith, then UCP leader, said exiting the CPP wasn’t part of the party’s campaign, despite it being part of the policies passed at the AGM that saw Smith elected leader.

In the final week of the provincial election, Smith reiterated the province that “no one is touching anybody’s pension.”

The CPP was established in 1965 and saw major reforms in 1997 and 2016. Any changes to the Canada Pension Plan Act require seven of 10 provinces representing two-thirds of the country’s population to agree.

Economics professors have told Global News an Alberta exit would require extensive negotiations with the provinces and the federal government, including on matters like portability.

A clause in the Act leaves the door open for provinces to provide a “comparable” comprehensive pension plan, but “comparable” wasn’t defined.

Only Quebec has its own pension plan, dating back to 1965.

“It’s useful to keep in mind that in Quebec, where residents there have their own pension fund administered by the province of Quebec, contributions are much higher than here in Alberta,” Phillips said.
S
Critics of an Alberta pension plan have said that, if the province were to separate from the CPP, additional bureaucracy would be needed for the administration of the pension plan.

The report has faced multiple delays, after officials indicated it would be released to the public by the end of 2022 and then by May 2023.

Advocacy group Public Interest Alberta is calling on Smith’s government to release the pension report immediately.

“Albertans need to know that the financially secure, efficient, and sustainable CPP won’t be put at risk by the UCP government,” said Tom Fuller, pension advocate and founding member of the Canada Pension Plan Working Group.

“Not only has the CPP proven itself over the past 50 years, there is a solid plan in place to improve pensions for Albertans and Canadians and to make sure it’s sustainable for the next 75 years and beyond — quite frankly, it’s foolhardy to play these political games.”

UK PM Rishi Sunak announces major shift on climate policies, waters down targets

PUBLISHED WED, SEP 20 2023

Jenni Reid

KEY POINTS

In a speech in which he sought to frame the changes as in the interests of households,

 Sunak said he would announce a series of long-term decisions over the coming months,

 starting with a “new approach to one of the biggest challenges we face, climate change.”

Many of the announcements were leaked by the BBC late Tuesday, attracting widespread criticism from U.K.-based industry bodies and automakers ahead of the prime minister’s speech.


U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media during his visit to Shell St Fergus Gas Plant in Peterhead on July 31, 2023 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday rowed back several key emissions-reduction targets, including a delay for a ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars.

The ban will move from 2030 to 2035, in a shift that was criticized earlier in the day as causing uncertainty for the automotive industry as it readies for the electric vehicle transition.

Sunak also said households needed more time to make the transition away from gas boilers to heat pumps and that some will receive an exemption from targets.

In a speech in which he sought to frame the changes as in the interests of households, Sunak said he would announce a series of long-term decisions over the coming months, starting with a “new approach to one of the biggest challenges we face, climate change.”

“I believe deeply that when you ask most peopel about climate change they want to do the right thing, they’re even prepared to make sacrifices, but it cannot be right for Westminster to impose such costs on working people, especially those who are already struggling to make ends meet,” he said.

Many of the announcements were leaked by the BBC late Tuesday, attracting widespread criticism from U.K.-based industry bodies and automakers ahead of the prime minister’s speech.

Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK — which has committed to making the U.K. its European electric vehicle component manufacturing hub — said the 2030 target was a “vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future.”

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three,” Brankin said.

“We need the policy focus trained on bolstering the EV market in the short term and supporting consumers while headwinds are strong: infrastructure remains immature, tariffs loom and cost-of-living is high.”

The objective covering petrol and diesel car sales was announced in 2020, as part of a broader target to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Stellantis, which opened the U.K.’s first EV-only manufacturing plant earlier this month, also said industry needed clarity.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the auto industry needed the government to provide a “clear, consistent message, attractive incentives and charging infrastructure that gives confidence rather than anxiety.”

Ministers have suggested for some months that the government is considering watering down green policies that it considers may come at an upfront cost to households.

The ruling Conservative Party is lagging behind rival Labour in polls ahead of next year’s expected national election.

Several members of Sunak’s own party oppose any weakening of green targets, with member of parliament Chris Skidmore on Tuesday telling the BBC it was “potentially the greatest mistake of [Sunak’s] premiership so far.”

In the long term, weakening the UK climate policies “could hurt economic growth by undermining domestic and overseas investment in a range of sectors that are developing and deploying clean technologies, such as heat pumps and electric vehicles. And it could make UK households poorer and colder because they will remain highly exposed to volatile fossil fuel prices,” said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

Criticism also came from the energy industry, with Chris Hewett, head of trade association Solar Energy UK, saying the moves would be an “economic misjudgement of historic proportions,” as businesses in the U.S., China, EU and India race to lead in the fields of renewable energy and electric vehicles.

 

How can solar energy installations prioritize ecosystems?

by Allison Sylte, Colorado State University

How ecosystem services and attributes in degraded agroecosystems, rangelands or other

 low-statured ecosystems might be enhanced by an ecovoltaic approach. 

Credit: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02174-x

Solar energy will be an integral part of a more sustainable future, but with current technology, generating the amount of power needed in Colorado alone would require using roughly the land area of Denver.

That's a lot of space—and potential disturbance to ecosystems, especially when you consider that in the past, energy companies have typically first graded the land and then put gravel or short, easy-to-mow turf grass beneath their solar panels.

Agrivoltaics—the dual use of land for both solar installations and agriculture—offers an alternative way to generate renewable solar energy. Now, two Colorado State University researchers are proposing taking this a step further through what's known as "ecovoltaics," which co-prioritizes energy production and ecosystem services during the design and management phases of solar development.

"It's important to talk about the sustainability of the solar industry so it doesn't make the same environmental oversights as oil and gas," said Matt Sturchio, a Ph.D. student in Biology and the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology. "With ecovoltaics, we hope to encourage an ecologically informed approach to solar array design and operation."

Sturchio and CSU Biology Professor Alan Knapp outlined this concept in an article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

"It will take a lot of solar panels and a lot of land to produce the electricity our society needs," Knapp said. "As a land-grant institution, we see ourselves as stewards of the land, and it's our job to offer sustainable solutions about how to use land wisely."

Solar panels create unique microenvironments

While agrivoltaics is a step in the right direction, Sturchio said in many applications, it still prioritizes producing the most electricity possible in a given land area. This allows for the use of land beneath solar panels but overlooks opportunities to manipulate array designs in ways that might benefit the plants and animals beneath, especially in water limited ecosystems like the grasslands of Colorado.

With ecovoltaic designs, solar energy production and preserving the landscape go hand-in-hand.

The ecovoltaic concept is partly informed by the researchers' current work at Jack's Solar Garden in Longmont, which is the largest commercially active site for agrivoltaics research in the U.S.

Here, the CSU team studies how solar panels affect sunlight patterns and redistribute rainfall to create microenvironments that influence grassland ecosystem processes. These microenvironments promote diversity within solar installations and are a cornerstone of the ecovoltaics concept.

"What we're trying to do is show the potential impacts of solar energy on our land, and how we can mitigate and potentially leverage them to reach desired outcomes," he said.

And perhaps most importantly, these approaches can be used to restore severely degraded or abandoned agricultural lands—which are prime candidates for large solar installations.

"Ecovoltaic approaches could help restore and even enhance biodiversity in these places, while providing much-needed clean energy," Sturchio said.

'It's a climate solution'

Sturchio and Knapp will continue their research at a new facility in the plains east of CSU's campus in Fort Collins.

Here, solar panels will be installed in a native grassland environment—offering new insights about how they impact the ecology of places that are known to be harsh and dry, and where conditions are expected to become more volatile as climate change worsens in the future.

"Building our own research solar arrays will allow us to discover better ways to use this amazing energy source and will help us determine what we can do to make sure large-scale solar installations have less of a negative impact," Knapp said. "We will study the impacts of placing solar panels farther apart, changing their orientations, and orienting panels vertically during rainstorms—there are many potential options."

Sturchio said he's hopeful that energy companies will use some of these principles as they build future installations.

"This research is really important because it's a land use solution for a climate solution," he said.

More information: Matthew A. Sturchio et al, Ecovoltaic principles for a more sustainable, ecologically informed solar energy future, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02174-x

Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution 

Provided by Colorado State University Researchers evaluate potential land use of solar panels on Tennessee farmland

Energy Security Trumps ESG Agenda For Big Oi

lBy Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 19, 2023, 

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine energy companies have put energy security higher on the agenda.

Shell and BP said earlier this year that they would invest more in resilient oil and gas projects than previously planned.

Big Oil hasn’t ditched net-zero ambitions, but at the same time it also isn’t taking steps to actively reduce hydrocarbon production.

The world’s largest international oil and gas majors have changed their tune on medium to long-term strategies since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis last year.

All European majors continue to target net-zero emissions by 2050, but some of the biggest, including BP and Shell, have scaled back promises to cut back oil and gas production and have signaled they would be there to provide the world with fossil fuel energy as long as it needs it.

Considering that the world still depends on fossil fuels for more than 80% of its primary energy consumption, it’s not outrageous – from a business perspective – for companies with core oil and gas business to double down on continued extraction of oil and gas. They are hard pressed to reward shareholders in a cyclical industry with frequent booms and busts. But this decade Big Oil has also been hard pressed by the ESG movement from investors to commit to reducing emissions faster, including Scope 3 emissions from the products they sell.

Security Of Supply Precedes Emissions Reduction Amid Energy Crisis

Following last year’s energy crisis in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and upended global oil and gas flows, international majors have pivoted back to oil and gas production, saying that fossil fuels will continue to be critical for the energy system until it matures enough to run mostly on low-carbon energy.

Fossil fuel consumption as a percentage of primary energy remained steady at 82% in 2022, according to the 2023 Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, a closely-watched annual report previously produced by BP.

At the same time, energy-related emissions continued to rebound strongly, reaching a record high of 39.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, or a 0.8% increase over 2021. Emissions from energy consumption contributed 87% of total global emissions, according to the review. Related: Canada’s Inflation Accelerates As Gasoline Prices Rise

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its own CO2 Emissions in 2022 report in March that global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions increased by 0.9% to reach a new record high in 2022, although the pace of growth was lower than feared. Higher emissions from coal – which replaced some gas consumption due to the record gas prices last year – more than offset lower emissions from gas, while emissions from oil grew even more than emissions from coal, the IEA said.

Despite the record emissions, Big Oil defied environmentalists and ESG-minded investors by saying this year that oil and gas are too important energy sources to be easily dismissed in the energy transition.

Shell and BP said earlier this year that they would invest more in resilient oil and gas projects than previously planned and would pump more hydrocarbons for longer to meet the world’s needs.

“There is no one solution. It is critical that the world avoids dismantling the current energy system faster than we are able to build the clean energy system of the future,” Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan said on Capital Markets Day in June.

“Oil and gas WILL continue to play a crucial role in the energy system for a long time to come, with demand reducing only gradually over time. Continued investment in oil and gas is critical to ensure a balanced energy transition, because of the growing energy demand I just mentioned, as well as natural decline rates and severe underinvestment in recent years.”

Reducing global oil and gas production would be “dangerous and irresponsible” as the world still desperately needs those hydrocarbons, Sawan told the BBC a few weeks later.

Affordability Of Supply

Security, affordability, and sustainability of supply are key themes in debates as oil executives from companies, including Canada’s oil sands, Saudi Aramco, and the supermajors, are taking part in the 24th World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Canada, this week. The main theme of the event is “Energy Transition: The Path to Net Zero.”

Big Oil hasn’t ditched net zero. But it hasn’t ditched oil and gas, either. On the contrary, recent statements from executives signal that companies would now be looking to develop more oil and gas resources with a focus on lower emissions and carefully plan their investments in low-carbon energies to create value for shareholders and not leave the world starving of conventional energy sources while it still needs them.

Affordability is also a part of the energy trilemma, and Richard Masson, chair of the World Petroleum Council in Canada and among the organizers of the event in Calgary, posed a very important question in an interview with Bloomberg,

“The question becomes, ‘How do we manage the transition without leaving people in energy poverty?”

The answer to this, according to the top oil executives this year, could be a carefully managed energy transition without “leave it in the ground” extremes or an “either-or” approach to energy investments until the world needs more oil and gas.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Alberta investing $7M into Cenovus Energy study on small modular reactors

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Study focused on how SMRs could be 'safely, technically

 and economically deployed' for oilsands

Joel Dryden · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2023 

The investment in the Cenovus study was announced by Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz on Tuesday at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

The provincial government will invest $7 million into a study conducted by oil and gas producer Cenovus Energy focused on how small modular reactors (SMRs) could be used on oilsands operations in the future.

Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz made the announcement on Tuesday in Calgary during a news conference at the World Petroleum Congress, a five-day oil and gas conference.

"This is just another example of how industry dollars are being reinvested back into industry to support innovation in emissions reduction," said Schulz, who added the funding came from the province's Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund.

Schulz noted that any future SMR adoption in Alberta would require extensive regulatory engagement, something she said the province was currently working on. She added that the Alberta-Ottawa working group focused on emissions reduction, which met for the first time last week, discussed regulatory challenges.

An artist's rendering of SMR technology proposed for Ontario's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Alberta is investing $7 million from its TIER fund into a study focused on how small modular reactors could be used in northern Alberta. (Ontario Power Generation)

Premier Danielle Smith previously tasked Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean with exploring how to incentivize oilsands operators to explore SMR technology, asking Jean to work with Schulz to develop a regulatory framework around the technology.

• CBC EXPLAINS
  What would nuclear power look like for the Prairies?

SMRs, which are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have about a third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

At present, there are still many unknowns surrounding the costs and overall efficiencies of small modular reactors, noted Warren Mabee, director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

"One thing that we know about these small modular reactors is that even on the most aggressive timeline, we won't see any until close to 2030," Mabee said in an interview. "That's here in Ontario, where they're planning a build at Darlington as a relatively large reactor.

"But if we want to see small modular reactors as part of the energy solution going forward, we need more research and more investment in the technology."

Study geared toward oilsands

When asked at the news conference by a reporter how they might be used as a potential decarbonization tool, Rhona DelFrari, chief sustainability officer and executive vice-president of stakeholder engagement at Cenovus Energy, cited the types of oilsands facilities used by Cenovus.

Steam generators are the source of emissions at oilsands sites right now, DelFrari said. In the future, SMRs could potentially be used to create non-emitting heat and power.

"Also we have some cogeneration facilities that create both electricity and steam at the same time. You would replace that, or you could replace that in the future, by using small modular reactors to create both electricity and heat to create the steam."

Warren Mabee, director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., says there are still many unknowns surrounding the costs and overall efficiencies of small modular reactors. (Marc Godbout/Radio-Canada)

Mabee, at Queen's University, said SMR technology could potentially be a "game-changer," even if some may have questions around linking it directly to continuing production in the oilsands. 

"I suspect that lots of people would say, 'Well, wait a minute, if we're building small modular reactors and creating some of that energy that we need for other applications, maybe it could go straight into those applications, rather than serving as a way to amplify oil production,'" Mabee said.

"Having said that, this is a way to start addressing the very high emissions that can be associated with some oilsands operations. That's a good starting point, I think."

One environmental group, meanwhile, is of the view that the push for SMRs is a "delay tactic" from the oil and gas industry. 

"Cenovus is one of the wealthiest companies in the country, and they can certainly pay for their own research," said Keith Stewart, a spokesperson with Greenpeace Canada.

"The notion that taxpayers are footing the bill for them to promise to do something a decade away from now is a real waste of resources that could be going into putting in solutions like renewable energy."

Though it's being referred to as a study, it's actually a four-year series of studies being lumped into one, noted DelFrari with Cenovus. The total price tag for the study is $26.7 million.

Canada signs $3-billion deal to finance nuclear power in Romania

The Canadian Press

Canada is helping to finance two new nuclear reactors in Romania, which that country's energy minister says will help diminish Russia's ability to use its energy exports as a weapon.

Canadian Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson signed the $3-billion deal with his Romanian counterpart, Sebastian Burduja, in Ottawa today.

The Canadian financing is limited to what Romania's nuclear operator spends to buy equipment and expertise from Canadian companies.

Burduja says the deal is partly about climate change, because it will help ease Romania's need to burn coal to make electricity.

But he says it is first and foremost about adding new non-Russian energy sources, and Romania is in talks to share with other countries in the region to ease their reliance on Russia, too.

Two Canadian-made Candu reactors already account for one-quarter of Romania's electricity supply and the two additional reactors will increase that to almost one-third.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2023.

OUTSOURCING

City of Ottawa committee approves new garbage plan for 4-day collection week, use of private landfills


Ted Raymond
CTV News Ottawa Digital Multi-Skilled Journalist
Updated Sept. 19, 2023 

If your garbage day is normally Friday, it could change to another day of the week in a couple of years.

The city of Ottawa's environment and climate change committee has approved a plan to drop Fridays as a waste collection day.

Instead, workers will pull longer hours Monday to Thursday. Staff say this would eliminate the need for residents to set out waste for collection on weekends following a statutory holiday.

"It's more efficient to collect four days across the city of Ottawa. We'll use Fridays for those opportunities when there's a stat holiday where collection is postponed one day," said Coun. Riley Brockington.

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While the shifts for the garbage collection workers would be longer, Brockington says the city believes the change would not impact the actual collection hours each day, so there wouldn't be garbage trucks running late into the evening.

The city will also cease taking leaf and yard waste in the green bin.

If approved by council, the changes would not come into effect until March 2026. Residents will be informed of their new pickup dates before the changes come into effect.

Garbage collection will continue to be picked up every other week, while the green bin will be picked up weekly.

"I don't see a big change here. It doesn't seem like a reduction in service. It's just a change of hours," Barrhaven resident Rob Lanthier told CTV News Ottawa.

Full city council will vote on the changes Sept. 27.

Some waste to go to private landfills

Committee also approved a plan to redirect 60,000 tonnes of residential garbage per year to two private landfills.

The plan would help extend the lifespan of the Trail Road landfill by at least two years, staff say.

It would cost the city $8 million a year to divert 60,000 tonnes of trash to the two private landfills, but staff say it would be offset by "operational efficiencies, fuel savings and extending the life of the Trail Waste Facility Landfill by preserving valuable air space," according to a report prepared for committee.

The two private landfills available for the city of Ottawa to send residential waste to are Waste Management's West Carleton Environmental Centre on Carp Road and the GFL's Transfer Station on Corduroy Road in conjunction with the Moose Creek Landfill.

"So up to one-third of Ottawa's new garbage waste is targeted to go to these private landfills. They’re closer to a lot of where the trucks are collecting now, but also this will lengthen the lifespan of our current Trail Road site," Brockington says.

The landfill on Trail Road is expected to be full in the next 13 to 15 years. City staff are working on a solid waste master plan that would help extend the life of the landfill and propose medium- and long-term solutions for handling household waste in the capital.

In the spring, council voted in favour of implementing a three-garbage bin limit for households every two weeks to help reduce waste going to the city landfill.

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle and Dave Charbonneau.



A worker rides on the back of a waste collection vehicle in Ottawa. (CTV News Ottawa)

Don’t Kid Yourself About ‘Parents’ Rights’

It’s called the ‘1 Million March 4 Children.’ But who are they really fighting for?

Jackie Wong 

Today

The Tyee
Jackie Wong is a senior editor with The Tyee.
Conservative activists’ focus on children has been generations in the making, painting a falsely appealing portrait of indignant morality and relatable neighbourliness. Photo via Shutterstock.


As public schools across Canada sound their bells this morning, parental rights activists will stage what they call a “coast-to-coast walkout” under the moniker Hands Off Our Kids and hashtag #1MillionMarch4Children. B.C.’s rallies are set to take place across the province in Coquitlam, Nanaimo, Vancouver and Victoria, and in other towns and cities across the province including Chilliwack, Powell River, Kamloops and Fort St. John.

One Tyee reader will get the chance to catch the fearless Rocío Molina live in Vancouver.

Using language popularized by social justice movements, the Hands Off Our Kids community describes itself online as a “collective effort” united “in solidarity,” embracing “the principles of human dignity” and “bringing together diverse voices.”

The softness of this language cushions the more nefarious central mission of the group: to explicitly threaten and implicitly make a strawman of LGBTQ2S+ families, children and allies by advocating for “the elimination of the sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum, pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms in Canadian schools.”

Hands Off Our Kids mobilizes today as though the issues they’re fighting aren’t already part of the fabric of everyday life for most people living in the year 2023. They are behaving as though SOGI isn’t already a core component of the B.C. education curriculum that aims to make schools safer, inclusive spaces free of queerphobic violence and abuse. They’re taking to the streets to question “gender ideology” at a time when employees at workplaces of all stripes include their pronouns in their staff email signatures as a matter of course, because understanding a person’s gender identity is just as important as knowing their name. Their fight against “mixed bathrooms” in schools arrives after the Burnaby School District already installed all-gender washrooms at Parkcrest Elementary and Burnaby South Secondary School, with the intention to install additional all-gender washrooms across the district in the future. Any wheelchair user or parent of young children knows that such washrooms already exist in restaurants and community centres across the province, and we need more. Hardly a new menace to be feared, these are cornerstones of accessibility that make public spaces work for the people they are designed to serve.


On Kelowna and Transphobia, from a Queer Grandpa’s Heart

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It’s a shaky foundation to begin with. But look just under the surface, and it’s also clear that the networks underpinning support for #1MillionMarch4Children bring together conspiracy theorists in Canada who have been organizing against COVID-19 vaccines, against public education and in service of Christian nationalism for years.

The result is a grotesque feat of disinformation and fearmongering: children in public schools are under the leadership of educators who don’t respect parental consent when it comes to how schools discuss gender identity and sexuality, they argue, and it’s up to parents to call the public education system on its bluff.

In some circles, it may be easy to tune this stuff out. The harms of degrading and rendering invisible the lives and rights of transgender people is being usefully addressed by people holding public office across Canada, and while it may seem tempting to count ourselves free of Trumpism and extremism on the West Coast where I’m writing, the wide geographic reach of Hands Off Our Kids demonstrates the degree to which conservative movements that place children at the centre of its offerings have endured and continue to proliferate across North America.



BC’s Increasingly Bizarre Anti-SOGI Bandwagon

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The galvanizing, big-tent call to “safeguard children” bears a resemblance to how conspiracy theorists and QAnon have gained traction among suburban women in America, for example. “Three years ago, the only person I’d met in real life who believed in Q was screaming incomprehensible things at a Trump rally,” wrote Anne Helen Petersen in Elle in October 2020. “Now someone who’s dabbled in Q is poised to become a member of Congress. It’s a classic case of the fringe becoming mainstream. Not through any massive shift or societal change, but a gradual incorporation into the everyday lives and beliefs of the middle and upper class.”

Petersen’s description of U.S. politics — in particular, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rise to power — mirrors what seems to be happening with Hands Off Our Kids. Unlike many protests, which convene supporters in cities, these marches are specifically targeting suburban settings and smaller municipalities like Durham, Ontario, site of the most well-organized and fastidiously scheduled march of the bunch.

They also explicitly encourage participants to bring their kids (a tactic common to anti-abortion protests).

After all, conservative activists’ focus on children has been generations in the making, painting a falsely appealing portrait of indignant morality and relatable neighbourliness.


‘Parent’s Rights’ Platforms Didn’t Sway Voters

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“They are key to a future the conservative wants to win,” Sarah Jones wrote for Intelligencer this April. “Parental rights are merely one path to the total capture of state power and the imposition of an authoritarian hierarchy on us all.”

There are so many holes in this vision for parental rights. Principally, that our parents don’t own us, and though we are legally responsible for their care, children are not our property. We live in a society, and we belong to each other. That’s why we should all be supporting queer-inclusive, gender-affirming education for kids at every age. Why all of the energy drained in the digital organizing spaces of parental rights groups should be better spent in support of more accessible national resources for transgender youth and families. Like all young people, they deserve love, safety and beauty. And like any human, they have their own desires and dreams for themselves that are different than what those with power over them might imagine.

But #1MillionMarch4Children was never really about the kids. It’s an embarrassing, poorly constructed platform for parents who are afraid of losing control in a world that continues to evolve beyond their grasp.