Abandoned gas well
The Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney’s government, the United Conservative Party, released the updated “Getting Alberta back to work : natural gas vision and strategy” on October 6. Copies can be downloaded in pdf format from here.
The main focus of the strategy is more development of Natural Gas, Petrochemicals and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). There is some random mumbling about Hydrogen too. Mostly, it says, “additional analysis is required to determine specific economic opportunity in Alberta.”
One of the short-term goals listed for Natural Gas is to, “Pursue federal agreements to remove impact assessment requirements for new natural gas generation that will displace coal-fired generation as existing processes have proven they can delay the environmental benefits of new gas generation coming online in Alberta.
Listed as medium to long term goals (2021 and beyond), they list, “Where feasible, execute the Government of Alberta’s regulatory oversight for approval of pipeline connections to units converting to natural gas. Nice! They’ll eventually get around to some of the connections to see if they aren’t leaking, if they feel like it.
Chris Severson-Baker, Alberta regional director at the Pembina Institute, reaction to the report was: “Without confirming that it wants to be part of the net-zero emissions solution, Alberta risks undermining its own competitiveness.”
