Tag: energy policy

BREAKING: Coal injunction tossed, judicial activism rebuked

Boundary Dam Power Station

BREAKING: Coal injunction tossed; court says governments get to make environmental policy. In other words, the coal injunction is dead it its tracks. @SaskPower can rejuvenate its coal fleet. The decision is a rebuke of the trend of judge-made law and activist courts, clearly noting the supremacy of the legislative branch in making policy.

This is a huge decision on many points – not just on coal, but on putting activist judges in their place. It will be cited for a long time to come.

The pendulum just may be swinging back to sanity.

Also: NDP criticizes impending SaskPower rate hikes, minister responds

Trump & Co. mentioned oil 26 times …

… during the press conference after nabbing Venezuela’s Maduro.

This is a HUGE problem for Canada, as every barrel of oil Venezuela adds would most likely displace a barrel Canada produces. How do I know? Because Canadian oil replaced Venezuelan production over the last two decades.

Brian Zinchuk: Trump’s takeover of Venezuela means Canada needs those west coast pipelines ASAP

Don’t believe me? Here’s Adam Pankratz in the National Post.

Adam Pankratz: Venezuelan oil could put Canada out of business

If sabotage of the energy industry doesn’t end now, we face impoverishment

I swear I wrote my own column a day before I saw his. They’re almost word for word in some parts.

Year end interview with Scott Moe on energy

Pipeline Online Podcast Ep. 24: Premier Scott Moe Year End

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe joins the Pipeline Online Podcast in his annual year-end interview. The discussion digs into the coal decision, Saskatchewan’s move into nuclear, carbon capture, interties to Alberta’s grid, and the Alberta-Canada MOU. The multilateral well program, oil production goals, Saskatchewan’s new energy and resources minister, lithium and hydrogen are also discussed.

If you can’t build a big pipeline, do you build small?

So it looks like a minor pipeline expansion of the Enbridge Mainline is in the works:

Enbridge has no plans to apply for national interest project as it tackles expansions.

And one of the companies that feeds those pipelines is Canadian Natural Resources:

Canadian Natural president awaiting more detail on Ottawa’s climate plans

And here’s a nice little video showing life on a drilling rig.

 

Saskatchewan commits to nuclear power generation: The full press conference video

This is one of the most significant announcements in years.

This plan, if followed, will dramatically reshape Saskatchewan. Nuclear may not be cheap or easy, but it is also transformative in many ways. And as many participants and executives during the conference noted these power stations could last up to 100 years, this really is a case of planting trees so one’s grandchildren can play in the shade.

That plan, in its entirety, is reproduced here on Pipeline Online.

That’s just a part of the in-depth coverage of the conference’s events provided by Pipeline Online. Check out, for instance, the opening question Pipeline Online posed during the scrum portion, and then look at the question asked by other media at 44:51, when another reporter asked, “Can you clarify what you mean of nuclear power sources? Does that mean a nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan?”

“Yes, that’s what we’re talking about here,” Harrison responded.

Remember, she was standing there for 45 minutes, listening to over half an hour of press conference and then 10 minutes of questions to then ask if all this meant a nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan?

You might notice me in the middle of the pack, doing a face-palm.

Where would you prefer to get your energy news?

That’s one way to lose an election

Brian Zinchuk: How messing with power pricing will get the  Alberta UCP unelected in a few easy steps. 
Some poor bastards, also known as the Alberta ratepayers and Alberta industry, get to pay those rates. And just as sometimes the wholesale price goes to $999.99 per megawatt-hour now, it will go to $2999.99 per megawatt-hour in 2032. And somebody has to pay that. If you live in Wild Rose country, that somebody will be you.
Oh, and the NDP point out, correctly, that oil prices are a lot lower than the Saskatchewan budget predicted.

Who needed power on Labour Day, anyhow?

Alberta wind power generation took a holiday on Labour Day

Throughout the day, wind output from the 1722 wind turbines (at last count) totalling 5,688 megawatts of total generation capacity hovered around the 1 per cent output mark, ranging from 1.9 to 0.8 per cent.

 

A “Dialectic on Energy Policy” with a former pipeline CEO vs. sustainable development exec

On July 27, the Midwest Legislators Conference in Saskatoon held a “Dialectic on Energy Policy,” essentially a debate on energy choices in a world focused on climate change. Hal Kvisle, former CEO of TransCanada Pipeline/TC Energy was on the right side of the debate and Louise Miltich came from the left.

 

Brian Zinchuk on Evan Bray Show: Multilaterals, coal revival, major projects and more

On Sept. 3, Evan Bray and Brian Zinchuk go over the growing impact of large multilateral wells, LNG, the new major projects office, Alberta electrical grid updates, coal revival and more.

Coal Injunction Part 4: Manitoba activist farmer and Saskatoon environmental podcaster

The Coal Injunction, Part 4: Affidavits of a Manitoba activist farmer and a Saskatoon environmental podcaster

Okay, I can see the very much adult Saskatoon podcaster having some standing. She is at least and adult and in Saskathcewan, so likely uses power SaskPower produces. But if she lives in certain parts of the city, she could actually be a Saskatoon Light and Power customer.

The National Farmers Union activist farmer, on the other hand, is neither a Saskatchewan resident nor a SaskPower customer, unless he has a very long extension cord from east of Winnipeg to Moosomin.

Coal Injunction, Part 2: their arguments against coal

The Coal Injunction, Part 2: Arguments against continued coal use made in injunction filings

A 12-year-old child, a podcaster and a Manitoban as well as Saskatchewan Environmental Society and Citizens for Public Justice have filed for an injunction to stop Saskatchewan’s recently announced plants to rebuild its coal fleet in its tracks. In Part 1, the stage is set. In Part 2, Pipeline Online digs into the legal filing, known as the “orginating application,” itself, laying out their arguments to end coal-fired power generation for good.

What’s a hundred grand when we’re saving an non-existent EV industry?

Quick Dick McDick says the canola tariffs just cost his farm $100,000 overnight. Want to know what he thinks about that? That’s just ONE FARM, by the way. Just one.

Coal injunction:

I am working on a major five-part series to run next week on the efforts by some activists to use a court injunction to block Saskatchewan’s coal revival efforts before it even gets going. Among them is a Greta Mark II, a 12-year-old non-binary child who has been in the headlines at age 10 for the pronoun issue, then at age 11 for skipping school because of climate anxiety. Another doesn’t even live in Saskatchewan. You can’t make this up. As a prelude to that series, read Bronwyn Eyre’s column on judicial activism and lawfare. It ties directly into this coal injunction nonsense and is a good primer for what’s to come.

 

Podcast on Sask NDP’s take on coal, minister response

Pipeline Online Podcast: Aleana Young Ep. 15: Would the Sask NDP reverse the coal decision? And what about nuclear?

It was a pretty lively and interesting podcast.

And here’s the minister’s response to this text story: Coal Revival: Would the NDP reverse the coal decision? And why are they now big on nuclear power?

Minister’s comments:

Coal Revival: Harrison says NDP will shut down coal plants immediately if they were to form government.

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