Total flatline: For 3 hours, 17 minutes on Sunday, not one lightbulb in Saskatchewan was powered by grid-scale wind. Three times wind power went to zero. Not 1 per cent. Not half a per cent. Zero.
Think tank changes copyright policy right after Pipeline Online asks to use their content
The whole idea of a think tank is to broaden public discourse and widely disseminate ideas. So why did the Public Policy Forum refuse to allow Pipeline Online to republish their energy transition report and promptly change their copyright notice?
Seeing the other side’s playbook – Project of the Century
Ever want to see the other team’s playbook? Project of the Century (report link)– the most comprehensive discussion of energy transition we’ve seen to date, was published by the Public Policy Forum. It’s principally about doubling the electrical grid, or more, but doing so without increasing fossil fuel emissions. The dollar figure is up to $1.7 trillion – with a ‘t’ – mostly from federal taxpayer dollars.
Here’s the story on it: https://pipelineonline.ca/project-of-the-century-the-most-comprehensive-discussion-of-energy-transition-weve-seen-to-date/
This is the closest I’ve seen to what the federal Liberal government is trying to accomplish with the “energy transition.” Some of Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s speech and discussion in Regina and Kipling at the end of June was almost word for word from this paper, before the paper was published.
This has huge implications for Saskatchewan and Alberta. Part of the interview focuses on how net zero by 2035 is impossible.
I spoke to the CEO and one of the authors on July 26. Here’s the in-depth interview. I’ll next be posting an analysis by Jim Warren on this, then likely one of my own.
Editor’s note: Pipeline Online has requested permission from the Public Policy Forum to publish the entire Project of the Century report, in serial form. That permission has not yet been granted, despite the Public Policy Forum’s webpage copyright notice stating, “The Public Policy Forum encourages interested parties to use, in whole or in part, its publications, data, images and other content to further dialogue on public policy in Canada. We require that the PPF is properly cited and acknowledged. In all instances, the PPF would like to be notified of the use of its publications and data.”
They won’t give me a straight answer as to why they won’t let me publish it, when that is clearly their policy. Wonder why that is?
Update Aug. 8, 2023, 10:30 a.m. Since Pipeline Online made the above request, Public Policy Forum has updated its copyright notice. It now states, “Copyright – The Public Policy Forum retains copyright of our publications. For permission to publish a report excerpt, please contact us at: ppforum@ppforum.ca“
Who’s the real villain here?
Federal government’s latest villainization of oil and gas: ‘Phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.’ Isn’t it curious how Steven Guilbeault decided not to make the announcement in Calgary, say at the Calgary Petroleum Club? Wonder why?
And, across the pond, Greta just won’t stop. Now fighting fossil fuels is “self defence.”
The world comes to Saskatchewan to discuss carbon capture international standards
The irony is the current federal government wants to shut this all down, because coal is evil.
In the meantime, Saskatchewan – Regina, Estevan and Weyburn – showed off its decades of experience to worldwide experts on carbon capture, utilization and storage as they set international standards for the same.
Quick Dick McDick tells Steven Guilbeault to get bent
Saskatchewan’s own Quick Dick McDick offers his take on federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault. He talks about the implicit threat of criminal sanctions for keeping the power on, and how Guilbeault should know a thing or two about wearing handcuffs. Quick Dick picks up on a lot of the stuff I’ve been writing about recently.
SaskPower’s billion dollar bet on carbon capture pays off, for the US, at least
Nine years after SaskPower pioneered carbon capture on coal, the US intends on adopting it wholesale. Now, if only the Canadian federal government would get behind it, especially when it comes to enhanced oil recovery.
You get carbon capture, and you get carbon capture …
When the SaskPower Boundary Dam 3 carbon capture project opened in 2014, nobody followed. The tech looked doomed as recently as a few months ago. On May 11, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed that all coal and most natural gas power plants have carbon capture applied by 2038, or shut down.
Interestingly enough, last year, when I asked Crown Investments (and SaskPower) Minister Don Morgan if we would be doing any more carbon capture on coal, he said it was “not an option.” So, in Canada, it’s not an option, but in the US, it looks like it may soon be mandatory.
Guilbeault counters Moe, yet never says anything about keeping the lights on
Guilbeault calls Moe’s electricity grid statements “entirely baseless and untrue,” but never says anything about the planned policy of getting rid of all coal and natural gas power (86% of Saskatchewan’s power on some days this last winter.) Hmmmm….
Enough of this Net Zero by 2035 fantasy. Saskatchewan can’t do it
Moe draws the line in the dirt: “We will not attempt the impossible when it comes to power production”
Trudeau says we shouldn’t burn oil, but process it. And build lots of nuclear
Trudeau speaks of supplying natural gas to #Germany, despite his government killing Energie Saguenay. And he wants to build lots of #nuclear, too. And he wants carbon capture, but his government won’t allow enhanced oil recovery incentives. We shouldn’t burn oil, but process it.
And he said all this in front of the German president, months after he told the German chancellor there was “no business case” for LNG.
Moe on Guilbeault’s ‘social cost of carbon’
Pipeline Online spoke to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s ‘social cost of carbon’. Moe is concerned it could lead to much higher carbon tax, and pave way for Clean Electricity Standard impossible for Saskatchewan to meet.
Steven Guilbeault starts talking about $247 per tonne “social cost on carbon”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault announces “social cost on carbon.” Could this mean a $247/tonne carbon tax? Could it even hit $294/tonne?
Some more details in this Canadian Press story.
This is a big deal, and a huge threat to Saskatchewan and Alberta. In this Twitter video, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault first provides the justification for why the carbon tax was originally $50, noting the government calculated the cost to be $54/tonne. Now he says they are implementing a “social cost of carbon,” and says it’s $247 per tonne. “ He calls it a “new tool the federal government is going to use on the fight against climate change.”
Is this the next threshold for the carbon tax? Sure sounds like it. Also sounds like justification for the proposed Clean Electricity Standard, to rid Canada of all coal and natural gas power generation. That’s a driving factor behind the Saskatchewan First Act. It also sounds like after the nine federal initiatives listed in the Drawing the Line White Paper, Clean Electricity Standard being No. 10, this is likely No. 11.
And have the provinces been consulted?
We’re going to build nukes, but today, Germany is shutting its last three down
France is building new nuclear reactors. So is the UK, Czechia, Finland, Canada and the U.S., to name a few. I’ve even seen an article that Poland intends on building 79 small modular reactors that are the same design SaskPower has chosen. 79! And they want to do it by 2038. But Germany? They know better. They had shut down all of their numerous reactors except three, and today, those last three are done. But hey, they just bulldozed another village to burn coal.
What do you get when you divide 6 by 3,618? The fraction of power output of Alberta wind on Thursday morning
One Alberta coal plant put out 135x what the whole wind fleet did. Not 1.35x, or 13.5x, but 135x.
Saskatchewan is going down this path. We are going to give up what we know works, for what we know absolutely does not work, on an irregular but frequent basis. SaskPower is intent on adding an additional 3,000 megawatts of wind and solar power production in this province by 2035. This will generally be done through independent power producers, with a power purchase agreement.
This low wind situation lasted from 3 a.m. until at least 2 p.m. on Thursday. And its low again right now, around 165 megawatts of 3618.
What will happen to our grid when 40% or more of it is wind and solar, everyone’s driving electric vehicles, and we have days like this? Do we not charge the ambulances? Or the grain trucks for farmers? Shut down Evraz and maybe a half dozen potash mines? Rolling blackouts?
Sure, let’s give instruction manuals to eco-terrorists. It’ll work out well
They actually made a movie called “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” It opened April 7.
As a side note, when it comes to giving unhinged people bright ideas, the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, appear to have been closely modelled on the plot of the Tom Clancy Novel Debt of Honor, a 1994 book. The conclusion of the book saw a bereaved airline pilot fly an empty but fully-fueled Boeing 747 airliner into the United States Capitol Building during a joint session of Congress, killing the president and nearly every member of Congress as well as the Supreme Court. Seven years later, 19 Al Qaeda terrorists attempted a very similar attack, with the last plane, United Flight 93, widely believed to have been targeted at the U.S. Capitol. It was brought down by its own passengers, who fought the terrorists for control of the plane.
A whole smorgasboard from the CN Tower climber, and the feds in general
Saskatchewan is intervening this week in the “No More Pipelines Act” case. You know, the one that basically will kill any major energy project?
And if the No More Pipelines Act wasn’t enough, our good old CN Tower climber Minister of Environment and Climate Change wants to speed up emissions reductions by another 10 years. And remember, on any given day, Saskatchewan relies on up to 86 per cent of its power coming from coal and natural gas, as it did on March 15 (previously posted).
And when Guilbeault’s not doing that, he’s going to take a hard look at oilsands issues.
And on the lighter side of things, Quick Dick McDick shows us curling in a small-town, two-sheet rink with natural ice, perogies and curling for mickeys. Because nothing says Saskatchewan like curling for mickeys.
Norway or Canada – who is the climate hypocrite?
Ken From, retired former CEO of SaskEnergy, asks if Norway or Canada is the climate hypocrite?
Justin’s Just Transition
Saskatchewan’s Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre had something to say about that.
What the other side is thinking: no more fossil fuels, period
In the interest of publishing what the true believers of climate change think, Pipeline Online published this op-ed from two university professors, one from Concordia, the other from McGill. They want to shut down all fossil fuels – coal, oil, natural gas, now. Period. The article came from The Canadian Press.
If we don’t end the use of fossil fuels, all of the rest adds up to little more than branches piled on the tracks in front of a runaway train. They might slow the train temporarily, but until we get inside the engine and shut off the throttle, the train will keep accelerating.
– Eric Galbraith, H. Damon Matthews
And, in a related note: the assault on art continues, this time in Vienna, in the name of saving the planet from fossil fuels.