EDMONTON — Alberta’s new energy minister has promised to maintain an order protecting the Rocky Mountains in the province from coal development, for now.
However, Peter Guthrie says his department is already working on a controversial program to give oil companies breaks on their royalties to clean up old wells.
Speaking at an Edmonton press conference Tuesday on funding for a hydrogen project, Guthrie said he has no plans to withdraw an order from the previous minister that restored protections for the Rockies from open-pit coal mines.
“It will stand,” he said.
The 2021 order, made by Sonya Savage, restored protections to those beloved landscapes after encouragement from the United Conservative Party government led to a series of mountaintop removal mine proposals from coal companies. Those proposals were widely opposed.
New Premier Danielle Smith has mused about reopening the coal mine debate. Guthrie wouldn’t say how long he’ll keep the current order in place.
“I don’t have an answer on that,” he said. “But for now, there are no changes planned.”
Not good enough, said Opposition New Democrat energy critic Kathleen Ganley.
“It doesn’t give me any comfort at all,” she said.
She said the United Conservatives have shown themselves willing to open those landscapes to development in the past and may do so again. If Guthrie plans to maintain the order long-term, Ganley said he could have said so.
“They should be very clear,” she said. “The public has been extremely clear.”
At the press conference Tuesday, Guthrie confirmed his department is studying an industry proposal intended to encourage the cleanup of old wells and drilling of new ones by granting royalty credits on new production based on remediation spending. Estimates suggest that if the so-called RStar program grants the $20 billion in credits industry is seeking, Alberta taxpayers would forgo $5 billion in revenue.
“We are working internally on this,” Guthrie told reporters, adding any announcement is “weeks if not months away.”
In an email, Alberta Energy spokesman Scott Johnston confirmed Guthrie’s statement.
“We are exploring ways to help clean up some of the most expensive projects and older inactive oil and gas sites by providing more incentives to industry,” he wrote. “No decisions have been made yet.”
The RStar proposal has been widely criticized by energy economists, who say it would transfer money to companies who don’t need it to do work that most are doing anyway. They point out energy companies are already legally obliged to clean up their mess.
Previous government programs to help pay for well cleanup came when prices were low. That is no longer the case.
The plan was also rebuffed during Savage’s tenure as energy minister. She wrote then that RStar wouldn’t fit within Alberta’s current royalty structure and would clearly violate the polluter-pay principle, one of the foundations of environmental regulation.
Smith, however, spoke strongly in support of RStar when she was a lobbyist for the Alberta Enterprise Group, representing some of the province’s largest businesses.
That connection between Smith and an influential business lobby over a policy the government has already rejected once should raise concerns, said Ganley.
“We see a premier who was a lobbyist on this issue and suddenly the issue has been reopened,” she said. “I think that is a concern from both a policy perspective and a governance perspective.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
