Category Archives: Environment

Alberta needs more clean-energy projects

Solar system at water plant in Morrin, Alberta — some rights reserved

Originally published in the Lethbridge Herald Opinon on August 26, 2020.
By Robert Tremblay of the Alberta Party

Alberta is in desperate need of economically viable energy construction projects.

Clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, have absolutely cratered in price over the past decade. Prices for on-shore wind have come down 70 per cent and prices for photovoltaic solar have come down 90 per cent, both compared to 2010. Low wind prices now make it the lowest cost source of new electricity in Alberta, as of 2018, shown by the Canadian Energy Research Institute. Canada has not traditionally been a hot spot for solar projects but low prices have allowed new solar projects to smash through predictions for installs. In 2019, the Alberta Electric System Operator predicted that roughly 500 megawatts (MW) of solar would take until 2040 to be installed. Now, in 2020, there is currently already more than 500MW of unsubsidized solar under construction or operating in Alberta, with 84MW already active. Clean energy has become shockingly cost effective and is arriving at scales decades ahead of predictions.

In looking to kickstart our economy in a post-COVID world, we need to follow the market and think about future risks to see where our investment can have the best bang for our buck. The market is showing us that this is in clean-energy projects. Even better, the domestic and global movement for climate action shows us that these projects are not risky and will not face the severe legal and social headwinds that other energy projects have faced over the past two decades.

A 2019 poll by Abacus Data found that 81 per cent of Canadians, and a whopping 75 per cent of Albertans, support transitioning clean energy. Even during the tough economic times Alberta has faced since 2014, international investment has continued to flow into clean-energy projects in Alberta and the public is overwhelmingly interested in accelerating this trend.

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash. NREL researcher discuss panel orientation and spacing. Working with teams from UMass Clean Energy Extension and Hyperion on a photovoltaic dual-use research project at the UMass Crop Animal Research and Education Center in South Deerfield, MA. They are researching simultaneously growing crops under PV Arrays while producing electricity from the panels. The project is part of the DOE InSPIRE project seeking to improve the environmental compatibility and mutual benefits of solar development with agriculture and native landscapes.

But if solar and wind are already so economical, what more can the government do to help the projects? We need to put the pedal to the floor and simplify financing for clean energy. Wind and solar projects are still relatively new in the financing world and the contract world is still catching up to the technological progress. In the 2014 report, Alberta’s future energy mix: exploring the potential for renewables, KMPG found that the price uncertainty found in Alberta’s market made financing solar, wind, and gas projects difficult. The AESO previously had a program called the Renewable Electricity Program (REP) which provided price certainty for renewable projects to simplify project financing. The contract prices were records for North America, as low as 3.1 cents per kilowatt-hour. The REP brought in roughly $2 billion in project investment, such as the Whitla project near Medicine Hat and the Riverview Wind project near Pincher Creek. Jason Kenney and the UCP cut this program in 2019.

There is an additional $2 billion worth of clean-energy projects in the pipeline in Alberta and reviving the REP can resume the speedy activation of these projects, bringing construction jobs with them. The REP’s mandate should also be expanded to include all clean-energy projects, such as carbon capture installation on existing gas plants, emerging small nuclear schemes, or geothermal wells.

Unfortunately, the ideological blinders on both the UCP and NDP leave them to miss these investment opportunities that we need so badly in our province. The UCP is allergic to any action that acknowledges the need for climate action, and the NDP is overly picky in limiting their focus only on renewable energy, instead of all forms of clean energy.

The Alberta Party shuns ideology and tries to be radically reasonable. It is extremely reasonable to see that clean-energy projects are a good deal now, and going forward, and that they have overwhelming public support. An Alberta Party government will seek out all clean-energy projects and accelerate their development in order to bring as many private sector construction projects into Alberta as soon as possible. We cannot afford to do any less.

Robert Tremblay is Associate Shadow Minister – Natural Gas and Renewable Energy and president of the Calgary-Currie Constituency Association for the Alberta Party.

Woman swims across reservoir that supplies her city’s water to protest coal mines that could put it at risk

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So when the Lethbridge resident, Nichole Robinson, heard that the provincial government had rescinded a decades-old policy that banned open-pit coal mining in many parts of the province, she felt that despite not being an activist, she had to find a way to draw attention to the situation.

In B.C., open pit mines have leached selenium into rivers in the Elk Valley area for years. Selenium is a metal that is safe in water in low levels, but in high levels can cause nausea or even neurological problems from long-term exposure.

“The way the province rescinded the coal policy from the ’70s, they did it with no public consultation and it happened really quietly,” she said.

“I get that we need jobs and I get that we’re struggling, but I think that even in a desperate time we need to think long term and not forget that what we do today will impact 50 to 100 years down the road and it’s not just about the next 10 to 20 years.”

Source: Woman swims across reservoir that supplies her city’s water to protest coal mines that could put it at risk | CBC News

Vital Alberta Water Sources

The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into the Hudson Bay.

The Bow River

The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These waters ultimately flow through the Nelson River into Hudson Bay.[1] The Bow River runs through the city of Calgary, taking in the Elbow River at the historic site of Fort Calgary near downtown. The Bow River pathway, developed along the river’s banks, is considered a part of Calgary’s self-image.

Bow Rover Bridge in Calagry

The Toxicity of Coal Mining

In another article, it was mentioned that the run-off tailings from these mines get held in ponds, treated to some and released back into the environment. This contains various heavy metals mixed with selenium. Selenium is toxic to birds, fish and humans in large quantities. Releasing this type of chemical into the environment will eventually leech into the waterways. There have been a lot of attempts by various companies employing different methods to filter and extract the selenium, and regardless of the success they claim to have achieved, they have all failed.

According to Yale University, “in humans, chronic exposure to high selenium concentrations can cause nausea, fatigue, skin lesions, and neurological disorders. In other animals, high levels of the element have been shown to cause liver damage, paralysis, and even death. In the waterways it leeches into, it bioaccumulates in fish and plants, meaning the concentration keeps becoming more toxic to its host. It will kill the fish and deplete the resources altogether. Larger animals like cattle have become infected and gotten sick so it’s very important to monitor any water supply where animals or birds will have access to.

One of the biggest selenium contamination issues in the world is taking place in the Elk River’s tributaries to waters downstream that cross into the United States. Tech Resources has a number of metallurgical coal mines operating just inside the border of British Columbia in roughly the same area as the Grassy Mountain mine will be. The issues they are facing with international lawsuits and million dollar fines will be echoed by Alberta’s Coal mine. See the environmental hazard assessment of Benga Mining’s proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Project.

If this toxic mixture of selenium and heavy metals can travel into the United States, it’s easy to see how quickly it will reach Lethbridge and Calgary. There is a lot of development and work towards finding a solution to deal with this contamination, but putting hope and optimism aside,,, nothing has worked.

The Council of Canadians submission to the Canada Water Agency Consultation

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Maude Barlow
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For years, the Council of Canadians has been calling for a modernization of federal water policies, including the establishment of the Ministry of Water to coordinate water protection, management and stewardship.

In the 2019 federal election, the Liberals committed to establishing the Canada Water Agency with a promise it would “keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.” Since the election, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been tasked with creating the agency and MP Terry Duguid of Winnipeg South is overseeing it.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has released an online consultation platform to invite input into the mandate of the Canada Water Agency. Submission to this consultation process can be made via the online platform PlaceSpeak, or by emailing ec.water-eau.ec@canada.ca. Communities and individuals have until May 31, 2021, to provide input.

The former Harper Conservative government slashed legislative protections of 99 per cent of lakes and rivers. In their last term, the Liberal government partially restored protections for waterways through the new Canada Navigable Waters Act and Impact Assessment Act, but did not remove exemptions for major fossil fuel projects like pipelines and power lines. The new legislation also fails to require free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Meanwhile, Schedule 2 of the Fisheries Act still allows industries to turn freshwater bodies into tailings impoundment areas (tailings ponds).

Upholding and implementing the human rights to water and sanitation means protecting water at its source. The federal government must close the loopholes in the Canada Navigable Waters Act, Impact Assessment Act and Fisheries Act to fully protect every waterway, while committing to respecting Indigenous water rights, titles, governance structure and law.  

Source: The Council of Canadians submission to the Canada Water Agency Consultation | The Council of Canadians

Is This The New Normal?

EcoWatch writer Krystyn Tully wrote in 2012, ‘Canada’s New Normal — Ignore Environmental Protection’. She says:

“The exercise is over. The “new normal” is here.

“For the last thirty years, Canada was a rule-of-law kind of country. Our environmental laws spelled out what you can’t do (for example, pollute or block a river). They spelled out how decisions had to be made (for example, major projects were reviewed by independent panels, with input from qualified experts). Those who wanted to develop or dump on the water had to prove to a decision-maker that their actions would not harm other people’s abilities to safely swim, drink or fish those same waters. With a few notable exceptions, the federal rules were generally the same across Canada.

“This is no longer true. When yet another omnibus budget bill passed through Parliament this week, it ushered in a new era in Canadian history. The Navigable Waters Protection Act no longer protects water. The Fisheries Act no longer protects fish. The Environmental Assessment Act no longer requires environmental assessments be done before important decisions are made. If you are looking to federal environmental law and policy to protect Canada’s environment, you’re a dinosaur. A throwback. A relic of the 20th century.

“No need to worry,” the federal government says, “the provinces will protect you now.”

The omnibus budget bill was rushed through parliament by Stephen Harper, the prime minister. We are still dealing with the aftermath today. In 2015 Justin Trudeau of the Liberal party was elected in 2015 and one of his campaign promises was to “review these changes, restore lost protections, and incorporate more modern safeguards.”

Although there have been some minor changes, the majority still exist, with Prime Minister Trudeau heading into his second term. Granted, it’s hard to remember exactly what those changes were and why we should want them rolled back, considering it happened over five years ago.

Blue Betrayal by Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow documented the changes Mr. Harper’s Conservatives enacted in a sixteen-page report called Blue Betrayal.

In her report she says, “The Harper government has put Canada’s freshwater heritage at great risk and increased the likelihood of water pollution by Canadian mining companies in the Global South. The values of greed driving the Harper government’s policies are not shared by the majority of Canadians who want our waterways protected by strong laws and who view water as an essential public service. It will take political will, given the straight-jacket that NAFTA, CETA and other similar trade deals have imposed on future governments, to undo the damage done in the last decade. But in a world running out of accessible water, we have no choice but to fight for the laws and policies that will protect our water for people and the planet forever.”

As true today as when she wrote it five years ago — maybe worse.

Fishing Bass in the Shubenacadie River

Across Canada, Nova Scotia has a small community called Alton. Residents there have been fighting ATCO, a natural gas distribution and transmission company known as the Alton Natural Gas Storage Project. They want to build caverns to store gas. They will be flushed out with a saline brine and the runoff will be discharged into the Shubenacadie river. It will dump the equivalent of 3,000 tons of hard salt into the river everyday. In addition to supporting First nation communities with food and a livelihood, the brine is six times stronger than most aquatic species can safely consume, and the river is the main breeding ground in the province for Striped Bass. Fishing for these large fish is one of the most popular sports in the province.

The provincial government intended to permit Alton Gas to proceed. Residents started a campaign for a federal assessment. It never came. But there are sine regulations to get approved when the price for Natural Gas improves. Once approved, this change to the regulations gives Alton Gas permission to dump the toxic brine into the river.

The Navigable Waters Protection Act has become a farce. We will have water issues with coal mines if the federal government passes their environmental assessment. Not only will the coal mines use a lot of it, it will be polluted with heavy metals and selenium. This puts all the water Lethbridge uses at risk.

Krystyn Tully’s conclusion reads:

Some day, years from now, when you’re remembering how Canada used to be the “environmental” country and wondering what happened to those days, check your notes. Find today’s date on your calendar, and you’ll know. This is the time when everything changed.

And if, on that day in the future, you can still safely swim, drink and fish in your community, know that it will be because of the actions of dedicated individuals, not government regulators.

Three ways coal is depleting the world’s water resources

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By Shawn from Airdrie, Canada – Ominica Arm, Williston Lake, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31605690

Coal mining, washing and burning all release toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the environment, by the truckload. For every tonne of coal mined, between 1 and 2.5 cubic meters of groundwater is made unusable .

Even after coal mines are closed, they continue to be a source of acidic runoff, often tainted with toxic heavy metals like cadmium and cobalt. The acidity kills fish and other wildlife, and heavy metals from runoff accumulate in the bodies of animals that drink the water.

In addition, hazardous coal ash can coat crops in toxic chemicals, leach into groundwater and streams, and be transported hundreds of kilometers by strong winds. At some sites, wastewater from coal-fired power plants remains poorly treated, pouring a dangerous mix of carcinogens into the environment.

Source: Three ways coal is depleting the world’s water resources – Greenpeace International

Environmental Damage From Coal

Cardero Resources Corp was establishing a coal mine in northeastern BC. The had a deal with Ridley Terminals for the shipment of metallurgical coal from the Carbon Creek project in the Peace River Coal Field.

Since coal mining uses a lot of water they were tapping into the Williston Lake Reservoir. It’s 251-km long and 155-km wide, making it the largest reservoir in British Columbia.

They ran into financial trouble in 2015. According to the Financial Post the prices were in the dumps “and investors have no interest in financing projects that are poised to lose money (or are already losing it).

“So it’s not a huge surprise that Desjardins Securities is kicking these stocks to the curb. Analyst Jackie Przybylowski has dropped coverage of Adriana Resources Inc., Cardero Resources Corp., Colonial Coal International Corp., Corsa Coal Corp. and New Millennium Iron Corp.”

From the project description on their executive summary that was submitted to the government, they make no secret the environmental damage their mine would cause. On page 27, section 4.1, they have itemized the damage they would do. In section 5.3, on page 30, they list how the Indigenous will be affected as well.

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It could be pointed out that Cardero Resources operated in British Coulumbia. In fact, it appears that in Alberta, a federal assessment will need to be completed. What’s the chance it will be streamlined like it was in British Columbia?

What’s the chance we will have similar environmental problems?

Alberta eyes cleaner future as hydrogen superpower

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This 25 passenger crew bus is one of the vehicles powered by a hydrogen fuel cell used at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in a demonstration of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. (U.S. Air Force photo by J. Brian Garmon)

Canada has the potential to become a top hydrogen exporter and shake off a reputation of global warming offender. That this vision is beginning to gain traction in the heart of the country’s oil patch goes to show how the world’s energy transition is taking centre stage with growing pressure from consumers and investors — even if it’s still unclear how long it will take until cleaner sources will have enough scale to displace crude and other fossil fuels.

“If we turn our natural gas into hydrogen, then it is now part of the long-term future for energy,” said Jackie Forrest, executive director of Calgary-based ARC Energy Research Institute. “There is no need to decline our production because we found a new product that has growing demand.”

For oilsands producers, it’s more about long-term survival than saving the planet. If they use hydrogen to cut emissions, it could ensure they continue to have a market for their crude and funding from environmentally minded investors. Canadian Natural Resources Inc., Cenovus Energy Inc. and MEG Energy Inc. all have vowed to achieve net zero emissions from their operations. For Alberta, a hydrogen industry would buttress the province against wild crude price swings like the current pandemic-driven market crash, as well as the prospect of declining petroleum consumption.

“Hydrogen could represent a lifeline to Alberta’s oil and gas industry,” said Simon Dyer, deputy executive director of the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank. “Alberta has a lot of the building blocks in place to be able to compete in this space and develop a thriving hydrogen economy.”

Hydrogen Generated From What?

In an ideal world the answer would be from surplus electricity generated from renewable sources and used to electrolyse water to create hydrogen and oxygen with zero emissions. This “green” hydrogen could provide energy for industrial processes, for power generation (largely as a back-up to renewables when the wind is not blowing or the sun not shining) and even for residential and commercial use. Unfortunately, although this outcome would be perfect in theory, the practical reality is that it is highly unlikely to provide sufficient energy by 2050 to be a viable solution on its own.

This is the key argument discussed by Ralf Dickel in this paper on Germany’s hydrogen strategy, which he uses as an excellent case study of the potential future role of hydrogen more broadly. He argues that although the production and consumption of green hydrogen should certainly be a long-term goal, there must be a role for “blue” hydrogen (produced by the reforming of methane into hydrogen plus CO2) as an enabler of a future hydrogen economy. The technology is already available, CO2 storage is becoming more viable and the gradual expansion of hydrogen use can allow new infrastructure to be built that can ultimately be used to enable the development of a green hydrogen business. However, without this interim step the aspirations for hydrogen could falter due to unrealistic expectations based on political, rather than commercial and technical, reality.

Ralf Dickel explores the logic behind this debate in a clear and logical fashion in this paper, and we would recommend it to policy-makers, energy companies and interested observers of the European energy market as a thorough and well-argued analysis of the key issues which need to be addressed if hydrogen is to play a major role in the decarbonisation of the European energy economy.

Home of the oil sands eyes cleaner future as hydrogen superpower

Kevin Orland, Bloomberg News, reports the idea of producing cleaner-burning hydrogen to rid the world of fossil fuels is gaining traction in the unlikeliest of places: Alberta, home of the infamously dirty oil sands.

One Calgary-based startup says it has found a way to avoid emissions altogether and produce the gas at a fraction of current costs. Proton Technologies has patented a method of igniting an oil well and using a palladium alloy filter in the well bore that traps the carbon emissions in place while allowing pure hydrogen to flow to the surface.

That would solve one of the problems with hydrogen: While the fuel burns cleanly, current production generates sizable pollution. To supply about 70 million metric tons in a year, the world’s hydrogen producers send 830 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, roughly the annual emissions of the U.K. and Indonesia combined, according to a 2019 report from the International Energy Agency.

Canada already can produce the cheapest hydrogen in the world after Russia, according to a 2018 study from the Asia-Pacific Energy Research Centre that points to the two countries as potential major exporters.

Alstom’s hydrogen train Coradia iLint completes successful tests in the Netherlands

The world’s first hydrogen fuel cell passenger train takes its first steps abroad after commercial success in Germany

6 March 2020 – Alstom has performed ten days of tests of the Coradia iLint hydrogen fuel cell train on the 65 kilometres of line between Groningen and Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands. The tests follow 18 successful months of passenger service on the Buxtehude–Bremervörde–Bremerhaven–Cuxhaven line in Germany, where total of 41 Coradia iLint have already been ordered. The latest tests make the Netherlands the second country in Europe where the train has proven itself a unique emissions-free solution for non-electrified lines.

Last October, Alstom and the Province of Groningen, local operator Arriva, the Dutch railway infrastructure manager ProRail and the energy company Engie signed a pilot project agreement to test the Coradia iLint, the world’s first passenger train powered by hydrogen fuel cells, in the Netherlands. DEKRA, an independent testing inspection and certification company, has been appointed test leader. This series of tests is being performed at night at up to 140 km/h without passengers. For the purpose of the tests, a mobile filling station has been erected by Engie for refuelling the Coradia iLint with completely green – sustainably produced – hydrogen.

Source: Alberta eyes cleaner future as hydrogen superpower | Carbon & Sustainability | JWN Energy

Steve MacLellan

Ramble On

Category Archives: Environment

Alberta needs more clean-energy projects

Woman swims across reservoir that supplies her city’s water to protest coal mines that could put it at risk

The Council of Canadians submission to the Canada Water Agency Consultation

Three ways coal is depleting the world’s water resources

Alberta eyes cleaner future as hydrogen superpower