Alberta carbon capture just PR, critics say

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| Sourced From Canada News |

EDMONTON - Planning to capture carbon and bury it underground is Alberta’s key weapon in the fight against its own international image as a greenhouse gas-emitting oilsands monster.

The project was Premier Ed Stelmach’s centrepiece in speeches to chambers of commerce members in London, England and the Netherlands last week, and was championed by Alberta ministers in at least four countries in the past two months.

In Europe, Stelmach touted carbon-capture technology pioneered in Alberta as offering potential global benefits.

“We have the capacity to be a world leader in this area,” he said in both his speeches. “And we will be.”

So this week, when critics called on the government to cancel the plan in light of an expected $6.5-billion drop in the projected surplus to $2 billion, there was little surprise Finance Minister Iris Evans said no.

“We have been fighting for our survival,” she said.

Evans said tucking extra cash away into long-term savings can’t happen right now. “The ambition to save has had to take a bit of a respite when we look at how to defend our very economy,” she said.

“We’ve had people flying over the oilsands and saying, ‘Shut them down.’ Frankly, it’s been a war out there.”

In August, Stelmach promised nearly one quarter what was expected to be an estimated $8.5-billion surplus would fund carbon-capture research. Now, the project will eat up the entire $2-billion projected deficit. Plans to expand environmentally friendly public transportation in the province will take up an additional $1.8-billion.

Evans described the expenditures as necessary to offset international criticism, and show the country and the world Alberta is serious about the environment.

Meanwhile, Stelmach has pledged $25 million over the next three years to improve Alberta’s image, and about half the international trips made by cabinet members since late September - adding up to a bill of $325,700 - are described as trade missions to promote investment and show off Alberta’s environmental plan.

Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason questioned the effectiveness of the government’s battle strategy.

“I don’t know how you fight for economic survival by politicians taking junkets all around the world,” he said.

But it’s a matter of myth-busting, Tory MLA Len Webber said, and it has to be done in person.

This week, the parliamentary assistant to the minister of energy was in New Mexico for a meeting of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. He aimed to assure members of the multi-state government agency Alberta offers a secure, reliable energy supply and Alberta has plans to capture and store carbon emissions.

“I talked a lot about our oilsands and how responsible we are environmentally,” Webber said. “We tend to get a lot of negative press out there.”

The Calgary-Foothills MLA said he talks about his own family when he’s talking to potential investors about climate change. “I live in this province. I certainly wouldn’t put my kids in an environment that I thought was unsafe.”

Last month, Council of Canadians chairwoman Maude Barlow described the oilsands near Fort McMurray as “a vast, slow-motion oil spill” and “Mordor,” referencing the grim land of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels. In September, federal NDP Leader Jack Layton flew over the sands and said he wanted to see a stop to new development until further environmental research could be done.

In April, the news that roughly 500 ducks died after landing in a toxic tailings pond near Fort McMurray made international headlines.

But Liberal Leader Kevin Taft suggested the government put more effort into actually fixing its environmental problems, instead of public relations.

“When Ed Stelmach spends $25-million on this greenwashing campaign, and he goes off to Europe, he’s trying to promote a product that isn’t really working yet,” Taft said. “He needs to focus less on the image and more on the substance of climate change.”

By Trish Audette, Canwest News Service

© Edmonton Journal 2008