Sept. 15, 2011

I first emailed you during the last federal election campaign with a look inside the top issues for voters concerned about Canadian energy and environmental policy. We're now expanding the focus of the Pembina Insider to bring you updates about critically important issues and strategic opportunities to support sustainable energy solutions.

Today, I'm writing to let you know that we have a strategic opportunity to stop a new dirty coal plant from being built in Canada — just ahead of new federal regulations that would limit to limit greenhouse gas pollution from such facilities. If the coal plant goes ahead, it risks undermining those new rules.

We can stop this plant, but we need your help.

Here's the situation.

Maxim Power, the company behind the new coal plant, is racing against the clock to get its plant built just in time to avoid having to comply with the new federal regulations. If Maxim succeeds, Albertans will be stuck with a new coal plant that has a 45-year free pass to pollute, and Canadians will have 135 million more tonnes of heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere to worry about. 

Earlier this year, the company's lawyers wrote a letter to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), asking it to forego a public hearing and rush ahead with its approval, stating:

"Maxim requires an approval from the AUC as soon as possible and no later than June 30th, 2011 in order to qualify as an Existing Plant under this new federal legislation. Maxim has no chance to complete the power plant expansion by July 1, 2015, unless it receives an approval from the AUC by June 30, 2011."

Sure enough, on June 30, Maxim got the AUC's approval. But we're determined to make sure that was the easy part.

Pembina has been leading the charge.

We started fighting this battle back in March, by writing letters to key decision-makers calling for a public hearing into the environmental impacts of the project, getting the story into the news, and working behind the scenes to get other environmental advocates involved — we've even taken legal action against the provincial regulator that decided to approve the plant in the first place, a step that Pembina doesn't take lightly.

We think all of the time and attention we've been devoting to this fight is warranted because of the risk.

At a time when Ontario is phasing out coal, Alberta is approving new and completely unmitigated coal plants. If it goes ahead, the new Maxim Power plant will produce 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year for the next 45 years (that's roughly equivalent to putting 590,000 vehicles on Alberta's roads), and release at least 6,000 tonnes of toxic pollutants, like mercury, into the air each year.

Alberta doesn't need this coal plant. And together we can make sure it never gets built.

The fight to stop this coal plant is gaining momentum. The message is getting out, and growing public pressure has drawn a promising response from the federal government.

Last week, Environment Minister Peter Kent told the Canadian Press that he was paying attention to the outcry from Canadians who are concerned about Maxim Power's efforts to avoid the new federal emissions rules.

"It was never the intention to create a loophole for short-cutters to get in and get a half-century licence to emit greenhouse gases or to put other toxins into the air which have serious impacts on Canadians living downwind," Kent said. "I'm sending a strong message that Canadians don't want that to happen, and these regs weren't designed to allow it to happen."

The minister's tough talk was a pleasant surprise (and we told him so), since he said nothing about this rogue coal plant when he announced the new federal coal regulations last month. But the recent signs of Kent's willingness to address Maxim's plans head-on has opened up a window of opportunity to stop this plant. Now the key is to keep the pressure on the minister to make the right decision.

It's clear that stopping this plant is going to take a coordinated effort. And that's why we're asking you to get involved.

Have 10 minutes? Here are two simple things you can do, right now, to help stop this plant before it starts polluting:

First — write a letter to the editor (like this one) explaining why you don't support Maxim Power's plans to pollute. Email it to your local newspaper (most papers have contact info online), and copy these people:

• Maxim Power President and C.E.O., John R. Bobenic: jbobenic@maximpowercorp.com
• Environment Minister Peter Kent: peter.kent@parl.gc.ca
• The Pembina Institute: news@pembina.org

Then — email Minister Kent directly to ask him to use his authority to stop Maxim Power from sneaking in under the wire of the new federal regulations. The Minister's comments about Maxim Power last week show he's listening to Canadians and prepared to close the loopholes if there's enough public pressure. Let's ensure that we give him the political space to do the right thing.

We'll keep you posted over the next few weeks as this fight continues. And as always, if you have feedback, ideas or suggestions, we want to hear from you.

Thank you for your support — together we can win this one.

Cheers,

Dan Woynillowicz
Director of Strategy and Communications
The Pembina Institute

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