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

“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.

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.

Alberta minister says federal strings on electricity climate funding a ‘threat’: The gloves are coming off…

EDMONTON — Ottawa is threatening the provinces by suggesting it will withhold federal funding from electricity projects that don’t reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas.

“We see (Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan) Wilkinson saying it isn’t his style to have fights and wanting to work with the provinces and have a national conversation,” Rebecca Schulz said Tuesday.

“Announcing in a press conference a threat to withhold funding isn’t really the right way to start a conversation.

”Earlier Tuesday in Vancouver, Wilkinson said billions of dollars in tax credits and grants will be tied to progress toward Ottawa’s target for a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

“To access the tax credit will require that we are moving in the direction of a non-emitting grid,” he said.

That’s an ultimatum, said Schulz.

Economists expect rise in inflation as price-growth fight enters new phase: “I think (the report) is going to be a bit of a dash of reality for everyone, including the Bank of Canada, that basically the easy phase is over and now the hard work begins,” said Douglas Porter, BMO’s chief economist.

Both BMO and CIBC expect inflation to come in at 3.1 per cent in July, largely due to higher gasoline prices.

The U.S. experienced a similar uptick in inflation last month, as its annual rate rose to 3.2 per cent, up from 3.0 per cent in June.

Porter said although lower gasoline prices have driven the decline in inflation over the last year, rising prices may start to add to inflationary pressures.

Canada in the Year 2060 – Macleans.ca: “We knew records were going to be broken,” says Castellan. “But that doesn’t give you the reality of what was about to happen.” Temperature records typically break by tenths of degrees, like speed records for the 100-metre dash. At its apex, the heat dome that engulfed B.C. that month eclipsed some records by more than five degrees, driving temperatures up to 25 degrees beyond seasonal averages.

Across the region, roads buckled, car windows cracked and power cables melted. The emerald fringes of conifers browned overnight, as if singed by flame. Entire cherry orchards were destroyed, the fruit stewed on the trees. More than 650,000 farm animals died of heat stress. Hundreds of thousands of honeybees perished, their organs exploding outside their bodies. Billions of shoreline creatures, especially shellfish, simply baked to death, strewing beaches with empty shells and a fetid stench that lingered for weeks. Birds and insects went unnervingly silent. All the while the skies were hazy but clear, the air preternaturally still, not a cloud in sight. The air pressure was so high they’d all dissipated.

Then came the fires.

At night, he set up a tent in his backyard so his three young children’s bodies could cool down. When Victoria set a record high of 39.8 degrees, he tried not to think too hard about what that meant for the future his kids would inherit.

“There’s an apocalyptic feel to something that different,” says Castellan. “It’s like when you witness an eclipse. There’s that very strange sensation: all of a sudden it gets dark in the middle of the day, and the birds go quiet, and everything is strange. It was like that, on a multi-day level. It’s like the sun just grew in size.”