Rural Alberta politicians push back on abandoned well proposal, inaction on unpaid property taxes | CBC News

Premier Danielle Smith promoted the program called R-Star when she was president of the Alberta Enterprise Group.

Energy Minster Pete Guthrie said implementing an R-Star pilot project is one of his first priorities.

But rural politicians are frustrated that Smith and her government want to use public dollars to make companies do what they are already obligated to do, especially when some of them owe counties and municipal districts $253 million in unpaid property taxes.

Paul McLauchlin, Rural Municipalities of Alberta president and reeve of Ponoka County, had questions about the proposal and wondered who it is supposed to help.

“It’s exactly how a fox would design a hen house,” McLauchlin told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
#R-Star #politics #smith #abpoli
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonto…

Rural Alberta politicians push back on abandoned well proposal, inaction on unpaid property taxes | CBC News

Premier Danielle Smith promoted the program called R-Star when she was president of the Alberta Enterprise Group.

Energy Minster Pete Guthrie said implementing an R-Star pilot project is one of his first priorities.

But rural politicians are frustrated that Smith and her government want to use public dollars to make companies do what they are already obligated to do, especially when some of them owe counties and municipal districts $253 million in unpaid property taxes.

Paul McLauchlin, Rural Municipalities of Alberta president and reeve of Ponoka County, had questions about the proposal and wondered who it is supposed to help.

“It’s exactly how a fox would design a hen house,” McLauchlin told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
#R-Star #politics #smith #abpoli
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonto…

‘Dash for Gas’ Takes Off at COP 27

“As the cleanest hydrocarbon [fossil] fuel, natural gas is seen as the perfect solution that strikes the right balance and will continue to play a key role in the future energy mix,” said Egypt’s petroleum minister, Tarek el-Molla, speaking in Cairo at a Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) meeting, weeks before climate talks began in Sharm el-Sheikh.

GECF members agreed that COP 27 and next year’s COP 28 in United Arab Emirates present “a great opportunity to make a case for gas in the energy transition,” reports Climate Home News, citing an official summary of the meeting.

Natural gas is widely claimed to have lower emissions than other fossil fuel sources like coal, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world cannot afford to increase the use of any fossils—including gas—if there is to be any hope of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Recent analysis by Climate Action Tracker also shows that increased gas investment would push global warming beyond safe limits. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity now under construction, coupled with expansion plans, “could increase emissions by over 1.9 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in 2030, above emission levels consistent with the IEA’s Net-Zero by 2050 scenario.”
#environment #natural gas #global warming #world
www.theenergymix.com/2022/11/1…