Pembina Institute News

First ever report card on deep oilsands reveals significant room for improvement (media release)

Simon Dyer, Marc Huot — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Today, the Pembina Institute released Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card. It is the first comparative environmental assessment of in-situ oilsands projects. Scores among the nine Canadian operating projects surveyed showed an average score of 44 per cent, which demonstrates substantial room for improvement across the sector.

Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card Fact Sheet (publication)

Simon Dyer, Jeremy Moorhouse, Marc Huot — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Drilling Deeper provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of the environmental performance of in situ oil sands by comparing nine operational facilities.

Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card (publication)

Simon Dyer, Jeremy Moorhouse, Marc Huot — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Drilling Deeper provides a first-of-its-kind analysis of the environmental performance of in situ oil sands by comparing nine operational facilities.

In Situ Oil Sands Report Best Practices Checklist (publication)

Simon Dyer, Jeremy Moorhouse, Marc Huot — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Based on the in situ oil sands report card, this best practices checklist shows how industry can improve environmental performance.

Report raises troubling questions, suggests reasonable solutions (blog)

Matthew Bramley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:27:44 +0000

A new report from Climate Action Network Canada reaches some troubling conclusions about the federal government's approach to climate science research in Canada. On Monday, Canwest reporter Mike de Souza and La Presse journalist François Cardinal reported that leaked Environment Canada documents obtained in CAN's research show the federal department's new media relations policy, adoped in 2007, reduced the news media's coverage of Environment Canada climate scientists by 80%, leaving some of Canada's top climate experts "extremely frustrated" and feeling "muzzled". But that's just part of the story.

How much clean energy could $379 billion buy? (blog)

Simon Dyer — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:27:36 +0000

Over the next 15 years an anticipated $379 billion US will be invested by energy companies in Alberta's oil sands. An impressive figure, but a report released today reveals this investment could prove more economically, environmentally and socially rewarding if diverted to other opportunities.

How the U.S.-Canada “Clean Energy Dialogue” is turning into a monologue (blog)

Tim Weis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:22:06 +0000

When President Obama came to Ottawa last year, one of the few items that was agreed upon was to engage in a so-called "Clean Energy Dialogue". Looking at the budgets that the governments on both sides of the border have released since then, it appears as though our American friends have a lot more to talk about.

Last week, we raised some concerns about the lack of federal spending on sustainable energy technology in the 2010 federal budget. Our initial analysis done in the first few hours after the budget was released found that the U.S. was set to spend at least 14 times more per capita than Canada on renewable energy in 2010 (coincidentally the same ratio we'd calculated last year when comparing the countries' respective stimulus spending.) Having had a few days to digest all the details, a closer look at the numbers done in partnership with Environment Northeast found that the gap in spending on renewable energy between the U.S. and Canada this year is widening to nearly 18:1. (The ratio of the two countries' overall spending on sustainable energy is also set to rise to more than 8:1, up from 6:1 last year.)

New analysis compares U.S. and Canadian investments in sustainable energy in 2010 (media release)

Tim Weis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Pembina's analysis shows the U.S. is set to outspend Canada nearly 18:1 per capita on renewables, and more than 8:1 per capita overall on sustainable energy programs and projects in 2010.

Pembina Reacts to Alberta competitiveness review (media release)

Chris Severson-Baker — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Albertans, the owners of the province's oil and gas resources, were completely left out of the process of reviewing Alberta's royalty rates, says Chris Severson-Baker, Policy Director for the Pembina Institute.

Comparing U.S. and Canadian investments in sustainable energy in 2010 (publication)

Tim Weis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Pembina's analysis of Canadian and American budget documents shows the U.S. is set to outspend Canada nearly 18:1 per capita on renewables, and more than 8:1 per capita overall on clean energy programs and projects in 2010.

Avatar sands, fairy tales and First Nations (blog)

Dan Woynillowicz — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:53:52 +0000

First, it was the ducks and now it's the Na'vi: it's shaping up to be a tough week for the oil sands industry.

Already dealing with disturbing videos of ducks struggling in tailings lakes, which have emerged during Syncrude's trial, today the spotlight intensified as environmental and First Nations groups launched an ad in the Oscar edition of Hollywood's Variety magazine. Drawing parallels between the wildly popular movie Avatar (and its native people, the Na'vi) and the oil sands development unfolding in northeastern Alberta, the ad serves to further damage the image of the oil sands. This at a time when the Edmonton Journal was already commenting that the oil sands' image is "back in tar."

2010 Federal Budget: Canada hits rock bottom on investments in environment (blog)

Tim Weis — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:43:15 +0000

We must be close to a turning point in investing in the environment, because the budget tabled today couldn't do much less.

A token $25 million for the next four years allocated to renewable energy in the forestry sector shows that this government sees renewable energy technologies as "boutique" experiments, not the mainstream solutions that they are in other parts of the world — and, more importantly, what they need to be in Canada.

If the government is going to live up to its election promise of generating 90 per cent of its electricity from sources that don't produce greenhouse gas pollution by 2020, we will need a ten-fold increase in renewable power in the next 10 years. Currently, 77 per cent of our electricity comes from "non-emitting sources" (defined by the government as large hydro, nuclear, carbon capture and storage and renewables) — but to close that gap on a national scale will require a serious ramp-up of investment in renewable power. New nuclear or carbon capture and storage cannot be rolled out in a meaningful way in only 10 years, in spite of the $1.5 billion allocated to them in the last two years.

Pembina Reacts to 2010 Federal Budget (media release)

Tim Weis — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

The 2010 federal budget could hardly do less on renewable energy and climate change issues, said Tim Weis, Director of the Pembina Institute's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program.

At a Crossroads (publication)

Amy Taylor, Jennifer Grant — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

The Canadian government, as a resource manager for the Northwest Territories' oil and gas resources, is at a crossroads — it has to decide how to manage oil and gas development in the territory. This fact sheet makes the case for a win-win development scenario, which would provide maximum benefit to the public (the resource owners), while allowing oil and gas companies to earn fair returns on their investments.

Where did our green loonies go? (blog)

Amy Taylor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:30:23 +0000

In response to the global economic downturn, many world leaders have introduced significant economic stimulus packages in an effort to ramp up economic development. Seizing the opportunity to kick-start a green economy, forward-thinking governments are getting double-duty out of these plans by dedicating a significant chunk of stimulus spending towards renewable energy and efficiencies. Canada? Not so much.

Pembina representative available for comment on federal budget (media release)

Tim Weis — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

A policy expert from the Pembina Institute will be available for comment and analysis following the release of the federal budget on March 4.

Pembina Reacts to 2010 Speech from the Throne (media release)

Matthew Bramley — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Matthew Bramley, Director of the Pembina Institute's Climate Change Program, said today's federal Throne Speech fails to clearly signal an improvement in the government's poor track record on climate change and investment in the clean energy economy.

How sorry is Syncrude? Actions speak louder than words (blog)

Terra Simieritsch — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:49:53 +0000

It's been almost two years since 1,606 ducks died in one of Syncrude's northern Alberta tailings lakes. After the incident, we heard an apology from Syncrude - the sincerity of which can now be questioned given their bizarre decision to plead not guilty in court.

Pembina Reacts: British Columbia Budget Encourages More Gas Than Green (media release)

Matt Horne — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Matt Horne, Director of British Columbia Energy Solutions for the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the British Columbia budget tabled today:

"Fresh off the Olympics, British Columbians were looking for big strides toward a clean energy economy. But continued carbon tax loopholes combined with oil and gas subsidies amount to a near $700 million lost opportunity in these investments."

Personal debt shouldn’t make our economy look good (blog)

Amy Taylor — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:54:38 +0000

When federal finance minister Jim Flaherty recently announced changes to the rules governing mortgage approvals in Canada, he took a first step in recognizing we’ve been spending more than we’re making and increasing our debt loads in an unsustainable way. If we were measuring our economic well-being in a more holistic way, we’d have recognized the unsustainable debt levels long ago and been able to take preventative measures.