Toronto – “The Canada – Alberta MOU announcement is so much worse than we expected, and we expected it to be bad. Not only are they trying to ram through a massive new tar sands pipeline and tanker plan over the steadfast opposition of British Columbia (BC) and affected First Nations, the federal government is also eliminating the oil and gas emissions cap and clean electricity rules, delaying the methane reductions by five years, weakening the industrial carbon price and allowing any carbon that is captured to be used to pump more oil out of the ground so there’s no net benefit. This is a betrayal of Canada’s climate commitments and makes a mockery of our commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.” – Keith Stewart, Senior Energy Strategist, Greenpeace Canada

This MOU: 

  • Advances a 1M barrels-per-day (bpd) pipeline on top of 300-400K bpd expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. This is a massive increase whose emissions can’t be offset by the proposed (weaker) industrial carbon and weaker carbon capture and storage (CCS) measures.
    • It allows oil sands companies to use captured carbon to extract more oil (enhanced oil recovery), which previously wasn’t allowed
    • The industrial carbon price (now goes to $130/tonne rather than $170)
  • The goal for CCS is to make the oil being exported “best in class in terms of the average for heavy oil by 2050.”  That’s a bar so low a worm can’t fit under it.
  • Exempts Alberta(AB) from net zero electricity reg (AB produces 44% of all electricity-related greenhouse gases (GHGs)s in Canada).
  • Delays the implementation of the methane regulation by five years (75% reduction by 2035 rather than 2030).
  • Promotes expensive nuclear, which will result in natural gas being used for at least another 10 to 15 years, rather than the cheaper, available-now wind and solar.
  • Lifts the oil tanker ban, which ignores the steadfast opposition from Coastal First Nations.

The new transmission lines between British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan will be used for fossil fuel expansion rather than climate solutions like electrifying homes, businesses, and vehicles.

Ends

For more information, contact: 

Patou Oumarou, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada
[email protected], +1 (418) 431-0263