Western Standard - November 29, 2023


Making progress on emissions reductions.


Episode Stats


Length

48 minutes

Words per minute

140.29005

Word count

6,839

Sentence count

104


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
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00:09:30.000 Thank you.
00:10:00.000 Thank you.
00:10:30.000 All right, thank you all for joining us today.
00:10:55.900 I'm pleased to be joined by the Minister of Energy and Minerals, Brian Jean, Minister
00:11:00.000 of Environment and Protected Areas, Rebecca Schultz,
00:11:02.860 Mark Plamondon, who is Executive Director
00:11:04.640 of Alberta's Industrial Heartland,
00:11:06.660 and Joy Romero, who is Vice President
00:11:08.300 of Technology and Innovation at CNRL.
00:11:11.840 We've got a lot of exciting ground to cover today,
00:11:13.860 but before we begin on our two announcements,
00:11:16.040 I'd like to just say that I'm looking forward
00:11:17.660 to leading Alberta's delegation at COP28 in Dubai.
00:11:21.300 We have a great opportunity to share Alberta's story
00:11:24.920 with the world, and we will be doing so
00:11:27.000 with pride and with conviction.
00:11:28.440 We will be joined by over 100 Alberta delegates helping to promote that Alberta is ready and willing to be a world leader in innovation and emissions reduction.
00:11:37.960 As you may know, Alberta is a globally recognized leader in carbon capture utilization and storage in both development and regulation.
00:11:44.080 We have and will continue to invest billions into carbon capture projects and programs as well as regulatory enhancements and knowledge sharing.
00:11:50.660 And Alberta is busy proving that CCUS works at scale with the potential to become a powerful tool for building carbon neutral economies.
00:11:58.440 This technology is important because we're working to phase out emissions.
00:12:02.580 We are not phasing out energy production.
00:12:05.380 In fact, all reasonable forecasts show that Alberta is set to remain a leader in energy production
00:12:09.920 and carbon capture utilization and storage for decades.
00:12:13.400 Our oil and gas sector is primed for success in the industries of the future,
00:12:17.660 and our government understands the importance of innovation, of research,
00:12:20.960 and of Alberta's entrepreneurial spirit.
00:12:22.820 We're doing the work to show the world that CCUS is an important part of the solution.
00:12:27.600 That's why I'm proud to announce the Alberta Carbon Capture Incentive Program, or ACET.
00:12:31.980 This new program will further support Alberta's position as a world leader in CCUS technology
00:12:37.700 while also helping major industries in the province cut emissions and grow the economy.
00:12:42.720 It's been modeled after our highly successful Alberta Petrochemical Incentive Program
00:12:46.780 and will provide a grant of 12% for new eligible capital costs
00:12:50.880 in order to help industries reduce their emissions by incorporating CCUS into their operations.
00:12:56.940 We estimate that over the next decade, these incentives will support as much as $35 billion in new investment and create thousands of good-paying jobs and other economic benefits across the province.
00:13:07.600 Alberta's ACIP tax credit will build on the federal government's carbon capture, utilization and storage investment tax credit.
00:13:14.320 I think it's important to note that a portion of the funding for ASEP will be accessed from the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Fund, which is the tier fund, which is fully funded by industry payments for greenhouse gas emissions.
00:13:28.980 The simple fact is this, CCUS works, and advancing this technology is critical to the future of our energy industry and to the new industries that we're attracting to Alberta.
00:13:37.440 By continuing to invest in CCUS technology and adoption now, we are ensuring that Alberta continues to lead the world in the critical work of reducing emissions.
00:13:46.920 We are committed to doing our part to create practical solutions to the global emissions problem,
00:13:51.880 but we also want to ensure the world understands that the words Alberta and energy will continue to be linked for generations.
00:13:59.400 Our success shows that we can have a thriving energy sector cut emissions and hit our targets, which leads me to our second announcement.
00:14:05.340 We have been a leader in methane emissions monitoring and reduction for years now.
00:14:10.460 And I'm proud to say that Alberta has achieved our methane emission reduction target years ahead of schedule.
00:14:16.840 And how have we been able to do this?
00:14:18.640 Because we are working with industry to adopt policies and regulations that work and deliver results.
00:14:23.860 And Minister Schultz will have more to say about that shortly.
00:14:26.640 There is a global energy transition underway.
00:14:29.400 And Alberta is going to lead it.
00:14:31.100 That is the message that I will be taking to Dubai.
00:14:33.320 We have a plan to move our province forward, and it shows how we're putting the pieces in place to make sure that there is a real difference in emissions reduction and energy security.
00:14:43.400 And now I'm quite pleased to invite Mr. Brian Jean forward to give you more details about ACIP.
00:14:49.600 Mr. Jean.
00:14:55.960 Thank you, Premier, and thank you for your leadership on this file and so many other files.
00:14:59.900 It's my pleasure to be here today to talk about this very exciting announcement for Albertans
00:15:04.940 to help accelerate CCUS development.
00:15:07.600 I also want to acknowledge some guests that have joined with us this afternoon.
00:15:10.640 First of all, Mark Plamondon with Alberta's Industrial Heartland, who you will hear from
00:15:14.780 in a few moments, and Joe Erg Nixdorf, who is the VP for Heidelberg for Cement Operations,
00:15:21.540 and who also joins us today, and thank you for being here.
00:15:24.300 ACIP will have a tremendous impact on Alberta and the oil sands region where I come from.
00:15:29.260 As you may know, Alberta's oil sands are one of the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world with untapped potential.
00:15:36.080 Revenue from the oil sands has helped build our province and has seriously contributed to the many services that Albertans have come to rely on.
00:15:44.180 In fact, Canada's oil sands industry contributes nearly $60 billion to the country's GDP.
00:15:49.080 That equates to 3% of Canada's total GDP.
00:15:51.940 And according to the Pathways Alliance, a healthy, sustainable oil sands industry could contribute an estimated $3 trillion to the Canadian economy over the next 30 years.
00:16:02.660 But this program is more than supporting oil and gas. It's about setting the foundation for Alberta's future.
00:16:08.640 With forecasts predicting that global energy demand will continue to increase by 2050, Alberta is very well positioned to provide the responsibly produced energy the world needs, and CCUS will play a key component of that.
00:16:21.120 The Alberta Carbon Capture Incentive Program is intended to help hard-to-abate industries reduce their emissions by incorporating CCUS into their operations.
00:16:29.300 CCUS is currently the only viable option available for these industries to significantly reduce their emissions.
00:16:35.380 Not only will this technology help preserve our position as a major bitumen producer,
00:16:39.540 but our whole economy will depend on CCUS for large volumes of emissions reduction.
00:16:45.260 CCUS will benefit a variety of sectors, including oil and gas, power generation, hydrogen, petrochemicals, and, of course, cement.
00:16:53.540 With the geology and the know-how and the regulatory advantages that Alberta has, we are recognized as a leader in CCUS throughout the world.
00:17:01.200 The ACIP program will build on Alberta's strong foundation of developing CCUS and complement other initiatives that we are bringing forward.
00:17:09.880 we acquired essential know-how leveraging our expertise in oil and gas while investing billions
00:17:14.280 of dollars including money from the technology innovation and emissions reduction fund into
00:17:18.760 ccus projects and programs and we've already achieved significant results since 2015 quest
00:17:25.000 and alberta carbon trunk lines have been world leading projects successfully capturing and
00:17:29.320 storing more than 11.5 million tons of co2 that is equivalent emissions from 2.5 million cars per
00:17:36.840 year in addition emissions reduction alberta and alberta innovates have invested in numerous ccs
00:17:42.600 projects supporting the commercialization of innovative technologies that are ready for
00:17:46.920 adoptions right now to help meet growing demand we are enabling the development of carbon storage
00:17:53.000 hubs that are already exploring and evaluating projects for safe and permanent sequestration
00:17:58.920 right across the province these hubs mean we are moving as rapidly and safely as anywhere in the
00:18:04.280 world is moving they will see operators collect transport and permanently store captured carbon
00:18:09.320 dioxide from industrial emissions right across the province including those who will receive
00:18:14.600 funding from the asip program we've engaged with industry partners to understand what other carbon
00:18:19.720 sequestration scenarios are possible and we are right now accepting applications from small scale
00:18:25.160 and remote carbon storage proponents we're making sure carbon dioxide storage options are available
00:18:30.600 and accessible to all Alberta industries and that CCUS is deployed responsibly and strategically
00:18:37.400 in the best interest of the Albertans we serve. One of the key tasks as Alberta's Minister
00:18:43.400 of Energy and Minerals is to work with both industry and other ministries to develop a
00:18:47.800 pathway to help Alberta's energy sector achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Alberta's government
00:18:53.080 recognizes that to stay relevant in the energy sector and to attract capital investment in
00:18:58.040 emergency industries we must decarbonize our final products to sustain and grow production
00:19:04.120 and market share taking action right now to support the development of ccus is important to
00:19:09.080 help ensure that alberta and canada reaches their emission reduction targets while encouraging
00:19:14.920 economic growth and prosperity for decades to come as the premier says we are phasing out emissions
00:19:21.080 and not phasing out our energy sector i'd like to welcome mark plumondon executive director for
00:19:26.520 Alberta's industrial heartland to bring further remarks. Thanks Mark.
00:19:36.680 Good afternoon everybody. I am extremely pleased and honoured to be here today.
00:19:42.280 I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to Premier Smith, Minister Jean,
00:19:46.840 Minister Schultz and the Government of Alberta for their leadership on this very important
00:19:51.720 incentive program carbon capture utilization and storage or ccus is an integral integral part of
00:19:59.160 large-scale value-add energy projects as the world is looking for low-cost low-carbon products now our
00:20:07.320 association alberta's industrial heartland association we travel the world marketing
00:20:11.880 alberta and the industrial heartland we work with companies as they look to advance their next
00:20:16.600 capital project and can't have a conversation today on a major value-add energy project without
00:20:23.560 talking about competitiveness and carbon management and this incentive program touches both of those
00:20:30.200 it puts Alberta continues to put Alberta in a position where companies can meet
00:20:34.440 both their economic and their environmental objectives and incentives like this which
00:20:40.040 leads to additional significant capital investment in our region that leads to
00:20:44.280 high-paying long-term stable jobs that lead to resilient communities that benefit our region
00:20:51.240 and benefit the province so we believe that Alberta's industrial heartland and Alberta is a
00:20:57.080 jurisdiction globally that can meet the needs of companies to meet their objectives and this
00:21:03.240 program is a testament to the collaborative efforts between the government of Alberta and its
00:21:07.560 stakeholders to achieve a common vision so we are very excited to see the benefits that result from
00:21:13.320 this program and once again I want to express my appreciation for this incentive program by the
00:21:18.680 Governor of Alberta. Thank you. All right such an exciting day and good afternoon everybody.
00:21:31.320 Funded in part through TIERA, Alberta's new ACIP program demonstrates that we are serious
00:21:36.520 about reducing emissions and also meeting global energy demand for generations to come.
00:21:42.680 industry is working to reduce emissions and one way to do that of course is through ccus and other
00:21:47.400 technologies we are already leaders in this area and that is why carbon capture and storage is a
00:21:53.640 key part of our emissions reduction and energy development plan as minister jean said using
00:21:58.760 ccus we can proudly say we've already safely sequestered and effectively stored over 11 and
00:22:04.280 a half million tons of co2 but ccus isn't the only area where alberta is leading the way
00:22:10.680 i'm so pleased to announce today that alberta has officially hit its methane emissions reduction
00:22:15.560 target years ahead of schedule as some of you may know alberta has long been a global leader when it
00:22:21.640 comes to measuring and reducing methane emissions we were the first oil and gas producing jurisdiction
00:22:27.240 to put requirements on emissions from flaring that started in the early 1990s and we were the first
00:22:33.640 province in canada to set a methane emissions target for the oil and gas sector our approach
00:22:38.840 is now an international best practice over the years we've received national and international
00:22:44.440 awards for this work now new data released today shows that we've successfully reduced methane
00:22:50.520 emissions from the oil and gas sector by 45 since 2014 while the federal government has never
00:22:57.480 actually hit an emissions target they've set alberta has done it and we've done it ahead of
00:23:02.440 schedule over the last few years alberta's baseline reduction opportunities program has reviewed
00:23:07.720 almost 15 000 well sites and facilities across our province innovative programs like this have helped
00:23:14.200 review sites reduce methane emissions where possible this includes improved leak detection
00:23:19.720 and repair programs and of course upgrading equipment when issues were identified our
00:23:25.080 methane technology implementation program has taken action generating over 16.6 million tons of co2
00:23:33.240 emissions reductions i also want to thank joy romero executive advisor at cnrl who is
00:23:39.160 standing here with us today representing one of canada's largest energy companies on the ground
00:23:44.120 doing this necessary work cnrl is an example of industry launching programs that reduced
00:23:50.280 emissions through creativity technology and innovation for instance using enhanced sensors
00:23:56.600 and converting over a thousand pneumatic injection pumps to solar configurations this is a perfect
00:24:01.720 example of the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit Albertans and our industries are known for
00:24:07.880 this milestone was accomplished through collaboration with industry and a province-led
00:24:12.360 approach that is not only more effective it's also cheaper than what Ottawa would have put in place
00:24:17.800 the Alberta approach saved industry upwards of 600 million dollars compared to the proposed
00:24:23.160 federal mandates now we did it our way and it worked we will continue to build on that momentum
00:24:29.640 having reached this target we'll be working with industry and experts on what's to come next from
00:24:34.520 methane to electricity to carbon capture and storage we are leading the way by working with
00:24:40.120 industry that is what our emissions reduction and energy development plan is all about it is about
00:24:45.560 reducing emissions and growing our economy driving innovation without capping production capturing
00:24:52.200 co2 while keeping furnaces running energy affordable and our economy strong we are world
00:24:58.440 leaders and we will continue to lead the way for decades to come thank you so much and we're happy
00:25:03.720 to take any questions that you might have thank you we'll now take some questions can i see a
00:25:08.520 show of hands for those who have questions in the room premier and sorry again we're going to start
00:25:13.080 off with darcy here in the back um i appreciate that um premier i'm looking at these two announcements
00:25:20.200 sort of linked i guess being ccs announcement and also your trip to cop 28. of course ccs
00:25:26.040 are going to be really important for your blue hydrogen plants um so this cop 20 we focused a
00:25:33.320 lot on fossil fuels and reducing emissions is this a marketing um trip for you though to go there
00:25:40.520 and the world's looking at reducing fossil fuels for you to go there and try and sell
00:25:44.920 investing alberta's fossil fuels when it comes to things like blue hydrogen well i can tell you that
00:25:51.080 we made the decision as a government last year to go and participate in cop 27 and i was really
00:25:57.320 encouraged by the report that i got back from our environment minister about when she told
00:26:02.360 the alberta story how people were listening and they were excited about it and so it occurred to
00:26:06.440 me that on these major opportunities for international um profile we've got we've got
00:26:11.720 to be there to tell our own story so this is why we are going i'm not only am i going this year but
00:26:16.840 so is uh our our new environment and protected areas minister rebecca schultz there's there's
00:26:21.720 lots that we're going to be talking about i'll be on a panel for instance talking not only about
00:26:26.440 carbon capture utilization and storage carbon markets but also about our alberta indigenous
00:26:31.720 opportunities corporation which we are very very proud of and we've also increased the amount that
00:26:36.360 we're supporting there um and uh and creating an opportunity to speak with some of the investment
00:26:42.280 funds the there are many sovereign wealth funds in the region that are looking for ways to invest
00:26:47.240 not only in green tech but in agriculture technology um as well as uh finding other
00:26:52.600 opportunities to invest in in our province and so i'll be i'll be looking to have both tell the
00:26:57.400 alberta story and also see if we can get some investment in alberta um you're going to go there
00:27:02.120 so is that stephen global federal minister you don't always see eye to eye how's that going to
00:27:06.840 work you're going to be working against each other like how is that going to work you're going to go
00:27:10.440 there um when you have a maybe a different approach to dealing with the problem than he does
00:27:16.680 it depends very much on on mr guibo because we have been very firm in saying that we oppose any
00:27:25.480 kind of arbitrary emissions cap whether it's on oil and gas emissions or whether it's on methane
00:27:31.080 that we are aligned and we're trying to get alignment around a 2050 emissions reduction
00:27:35.880 target and i was happy to see that they're finally putting some of the architecture around the carbon
00:27:41.320 capture utilization and storage um proposal their investment tax credit that's why we're
00:27:45.640 dovetailing with that so that's one thing that we can work on together i'm hoping that minister
00:27:49.880 guibo sends out a congratulatory press release today about our energy industry's success in
00:27:56.120 reducing emissions and meeting our target early and i'm hoping that we can find other areas to
00:28:01.960 collaborate on i have to tell you i mean the federal government has been a good collaborator
00:28:06.280 on a lot of these projects whether it's been with air products whether it's with uh
00:28:10.200 dow chemical we'll have of course more to say about that tomorrow um and those are the kind
00:28:14.680 of things that i think we can partner on i think we've got good opportunity to collaborate on
00:28:19.160 hydrogen good opportunity to collaborate on small modular nuclear so i i hope at this conference we
00:28:24.600 can focus on the areas we agree rather than the areas we disagree again it's up to them um because
00:28:32.760 i've been disappointed as you know that even though we've told them that net zero power grid
00:28:37.400 is not possible by 2035 that they've continued to persist in pursuing that they've also indicated
00:28:43.000 that they intend to bring through an emissions cap they've been intend to bring through a methane cap
00:28:47.720 and i i just hope that that they understand that in cooperative federalism we have to do these
00:28:52.280 things together i think the supreme court has admonished them twice i hope that they take the
00:28:55.880 lesson of that and we'll see what their announcements are over there but i i think
00:29:00.040 there's a lot that we can celebrate together thanks graham uh premier smith i wanted to get
00:29:04.920 your response to minister hippo in the house of commons this morning he called the sovereignty
00:29:09.080 legislation symbolic he says you don't take symbolic legislation to court uh just your
00:29:13.560 response uh well he will learn that if he does uh not back down from his outrageous and
00:29:20.520 unconstitutional targets of 2035 it'll be more than symbolic we'll proceed with developing our
00:29:25.880 baseload power on natural gas with the best available technology and we will make sure that
00:29:32.200 we are able to to shield any corporation from from any kind of of criminal liability whether
00:29:39.640 that means that we have to de-risk it by being the generator of last resort or we have to purchase
00:29:45.080 some of those plants so that we operate them ourselves so that we're able to continue on
00:29:49.720 with having a a reliable power grid so uh there's this is just the indication that we're moving on
00:29:58.520 this we're not going to sit and wait while they break the law drag their feet make us take them
00:30:03.400 to court spend years creating economic uncertainty for our investors we're going to start commissioning
00:30:08.200 those plants now because we need them now my second question was asked okay perfect and
00:30:13.560 Catherine. Yeah I didn't hear anything in the announcement about carbon contracts for
00:30:19.240 difference and I'm wondering why that's not. Thank you very much for the question. We're
00:30:26.920 cautiously optimistic about the federal government coming to the table on the ITC's and the contract
00:30:30.840 for differences or some similar piece of legislation and if the federal government
00:30:35.000 comes to the table this is the largest single investment that the federal government has ever
00:30:38.840 made in Alberta so we're very excited about it and we're cautiously optimistic that they'll come
00:30:42.840 forward and and support us because they know that this is the best thing to do for albertans and
00:30:48.200 and second question on the methane reduction there was just a study published that alberta's energy
00:30:54.760 has underestimated methane emissions by as much as 50 percent why are you uh confident that um
00:31:01.560 your numbers are right as this study is wrong you know i would first of all say that that study a
00:31:06.040 number of the authors are linked with groups that are fundamentally opposed to our oil and gas
00:31:10.520 industry and want to see it shut down so i would say we we should maybe take that with a grain of
00:31:15.160 salt when we look at what it takes to measure we use a top-down and bottom-up approach we've been
00:31:21.320 a leader in monitoring and measuring methane emissions reduction we set a target we've we've
00:31:26.840 been a leader for a very long time and now we have hit that target ahead of schedule so our emissions
00:31:32.680 reduction on methane 45 since 2014 that is a huge win we know there's more to do industry
00:31:39.960 is optimistic that we can do that but again we've taken a very practical approach by working with
00:31:45.720 industry uh and making sure that we're looking at this uh from a couple of perspectives uh
00:31:51.080 regulatory of course but also incentives for industry uh to reduce emissions even further so
00:31:57.000 i'm confident in our numbers uh the authors of that report also didn't reach out to the
00:32:01.960 government of alberta or our department in any way uh so i'm somewhat skeptical uh of what they've
00:32:07.480 forward. I saw a hand up on the back. We'll take one more and then go to the phones if you don't
00:32:11.720 mind stating your name and outlet as well. Lisa McGregor with Global Edmonton. Questions for the
00:32:16.680 Premier. You mentioned yesterday around the Sovereignty Act potentially created a crown
00:32:21.640 corporation. Did you elaborate on that and what that could potentially look like? Again it was a
00:32:26.200 potential because we we want to be as I've been describing it the generator of last resort not
00:32:31.240 first resort. We we think that our private sector has served us very well especially on the billions
00:32:37.160 of dollars of investment that has come into the province unfortunately because of uh i think in
00:32:42.520 large part because of federal uncertainty we're now seeing a lack of interest in investing in
00:32:47.320 that baseload power and so we have made it very clear to the sector that we want to build more
00:32:53.320 baseload power natural gas with the best available technology for carbon capture which right now is
00:32:57.800 about 60 abatement and we'll see if any come forward wanting to build that because that's
00:33:02.600 what we'd like we'd like for it to continue to be private sector led if no one does we are going to
00:33:07.800 need to double our baseload power between now and 2050 and so we're going to have to get that
00:33:11.720 baseload built one way or another and if that means that we have a long-term contract if it
00:33:16.920 means that we have to establish a crown corporation so that we commission the generation ourselves or
00:33:21.480 if we find some other mechanism that private industry supports then that's what we'll do so
00:33:26.040 we wanted to let people know our intention that we we have to build baseload power we
00:33:30.840 we are going to proceed regardless of what the federal government decides to do because this is
00:33:34.760 our area of jurisdiction we need reliability we need affordability and we want to get started
00:33:39.720 on de-risking some of that investment that's one part the other part is that we know that there's
00:33:44.440 increasing enthusiasm to look at small modular nuclear but we don't have a mechanism to do that
00:33:48.920 in alberta we've never gone through a successful approval process for that brand new type of
00:33:54.440 technology so that's one other area where if we start seeing other provinces making great strides
00:34:00.040 on that i believe ontario is about to roll out a small modular reactor in 2028 i think
00:34:05.480 new brunswick is close to around the same time period then we can work with both ontario new
00:34:10.440 brunswick and all three and saskatchewan on trying to mirror some of the approach that they take
00:34:15.720 keep in mind all other provinces have a crown corporation that does this work we're the only
00:34:20.840 one that has a private sector market and if the private sector because of uncertainty is not able
00:34:26.600 to deliver on the base load that we need we're going to do what we can to de-risk that so that
00:34:30.360 we can get it built my second question is about aer and the feds expressed concerns around how
00:34:35.240 the regular regulator operates specifically on communication would you say you echo those
00:34:39.560 concerns uh obviously it's highly related to the railings ponds bill i can tell you we've i'll let
00:34:45.880 minister gene talk about this or minister schultz or both because part of the structure that we have
00:34:50.040 when i came in i wanted to ensure that we had both the deputy minister of energy and the deputy
00:34:54.360 minister of environment that were on the board so that we could make sure that we had that proper
00:34:59.960 direct oversight and line of sight uh in addition to that we're in the process of an internal review
00:35:05.240 of processes to see if we can do some improvements so i i've been told that that report will be ready
00:35:10.280 by the end of the year and so i don't want to prejudge the outcome on it but we we do know that
00:35:15.480 the that there are issues with the albert energy regulator we want to be fair in how we assess them
00:35:20.840 and also look at recommendations but it is an independent regulator we have to make sure because
00:35:25.160 they have quasi-judicial powers that we're not interfering in that independence i'm a bit
00:35:31.800 dismayed that the federal government keeps on calling our independent regulator to ottawa because
00:35:36.600 again um they should be very mindful about interfering with that independent process
00:35:41.240 but let me turn it over to minister gene to comment more
00:35:43.720 I think Premier you said everything right on the money the AER is dependent we have to make sure
00:35:52.080 that they remain independent so they protect Albertans I would say that I've had some tough
00:35:56.080 conversations with some of the some of the oil sands operators in relation to a number of things
00:36:01.100 I did have an opportunity to inspect Curl Lake in particular and and had more conversations with
00:36:06.700 them and and I think going forward we need to have better communication and there's no question that
00:36:10.540 I've addressed that with AER and I expect them to as the government does expect them to be honest
00:36:16.060 with Albertans and make sure they do so immediately not sometime months later. Thank you Lisa and we're
00:36:22.060 just going to go to the phones now just because of a limited time operator could you put through
00:36:25.980 our first question please. Terry Tate, Globe and Mail. Hi thanks for taking my question on the carbon
00:36:33.180 capture today can you give us an idea of the scope of this announcement how many projects would be
00:36:39.100 funded how much it will cost the province how much how many emissions will be captured i can tell
00:36:45.020 you that we're anticipating it to be up to about 35 billion dollars with the potential projects
00:36:51.340 and that may be an estimate based on what we saw with our alberta petrochemical incentive program
00:36:56.380 which has 38 billion dollars of the projects that have applied not all of them have made a final
00:37:02.460 investment decision on that but that is probably a good indicator we know for instance that the
00:37:06.620 pathways project i believe is already a 16 billion dollar project and there'd be um others that that
00:37:12.700 would be uh of a similar maybe not quite that large but uh um also um contemplating making a
00:37:19.820 final investment decision with us making this announcement the cost to government if it is
00:37:24.860 that high would be in the order of i think we're estimating 3.5 to 5.3 billion and as i mentioned
00:37:32.860 the tier program that's already a program that prices the cost of emissions that goes into a
00:37:39.260 separate fund we've been using that for emissions reduction alberta to support individual projects
00:37:43.740 but we'll be using that to fund a portion of this cost as well and i think that keeps our commitment
00:37:48.300 to the industry that as they're paying into a fund to reduce emissions those dollars are coming back
00:37:53.420 to be able to support emissions reduction did either of you want to comment on that okay and
00:37:58.380 Thank you. On the sovereignty act and the clean electricity regulations, the federal government
00:38:08.460 today indicated that they would not take Alberta to court over the sovereignty act. One of the
00:38:14.300 ways that you described the sovereignty act was to put the reverse onus on the federal government
00:38:18.700 to take Alberta to court rather than Alberta always having to be the one to take the feds to court.
00:38:24.060 I'm wondering what that the federal government decision to not take Alberta to court how that
00:38:30.700 plays into the strategy. Well I'm hoping that we're able to commission a thousand megawatt
00:38:37.900 natural gas plan with best available technology for emissions abatement and that they're not going
00:38:42.220 to interfere with us because we we know that we'll need at least 12,000 megawatts of new power
00:38:47.260 construction between now and 2050 so it will be when we have the the actual projects that are
00:38:54.460 being uh commissioned and put into place and in construction that we'll see if the federal
00:38:58.540 government is willing to work with us on what we've been asking for all along let's work together
00:39:03.180 on best available practice best available technology and aspire to be carbon neutral by 2050
00:39:09.580 and if we can get there earlier we'll get there earlier i mean some of our electricity generators
00:39:14.060 have said they can get there by 2045 but all of them have said that 2035 is not uh is not possible
00:39:20.460 those who are in the those major producers and so i think that um if if that means that the federal
00:39:26.060 government is willing to do what we've asked them all along which is to work with us on a 2050 target
00:39:30.940 then i'm encouraged by that thank you carrie operator could you put through our next caller
00:39:35.660 please. Sean Polder, Western Standard. Oh, hello. Thanks for taking my question.
00:39:43.900 At the EPAC meeting last week, Premier Smith indicated that she expected the federal government
00:39:50.780 to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of the incentives and sports for carbon capture. So I'm
00:39:56.780 just wondering specifically, what would you be looking for in any legislation that they would
00:40:01.580 proposed and why has it taken them this long i mean i can get minister jean to comment on that
00:40:08.300 but i i think with the economic update they they they put some a little bit more structure around
00:40:14.860 what they've been promising for for some time for a couple of years that when they release the
00:40:20.060 details around their their carbon capture utilization and storage investment tax credit
00:40:25.100 it'll be retroactive to january 1st of 2022 and it will be at a level that i i believe that they've
00:40:31.740 promised which is 50 percent on certain types of projects and i think 36 on another type of project
00:40:36.700 and then they also have the contracts for differences so um those those are the things
00:40:40.780 that we've been looking for um i think that what we've been what we've heard industry has been
00:40:45.340 frustrated by is that they didn't have enough specifics and i i believe that minister freeland
00:40:51.740 said that she would deliver those those specifics before the end of the year so from from our
00:40:56.540 perspective i don't think we're asking for too much more but i better turn it over to brian
00:41:00.060 gene just in case or that he's hearing anything else from industry about something that might be
00:41:03.980 missing thank you premier and i think probably minister guibo is not taking us to court because
00:41:11.580 he's tired of losing but um i would just say to you this that the beautiful part about this is
00:41:16.380 the alberta taxpayers aren't are not on the hook unless the federal government actually comes to
00:41:20.140 the table and industry comes to the table and if truly the federal government keeps the promises
00:41:27.740 that they've made and they've sent those signals to industry over a period of the last three years
00:41:31.660 then we are going to be in a great situation to have a lot of projects come to alberta and give
00:41:35.340 us a competitive advantage on many many industries and i think the premier is exactly right on the
00:41:39.500 numbers but we'll anticipate to see what happens but it's up to the federal government now we've
00:41:43.180 removed the barrier industry knows what the alberta government's doing and coming to the table in a
00:41:48.060 big way and now we just have to make sure that the federal government comes to the table and
00:41:51.740 fulfills the promises they've been making and the signals they've been sending to industry for some
00:41:55.580 three years now thanks minister and sean did you have a follow-up uh yes um last week uh the u.n
00:42:02.940 and the eia put out a report apparently ahead of the cop 28 summit where they talked about carbon
00:42:10.700 capture and suggested that um it would only abate about up to five percent of global emissions and
00:42:18.380 that it shouldn't be used as a substitute for increasing oil production but what i'm wondering
00:42:23.020 is how much of an emissions reduction gain are we going to get uh from these measures and uh
00:42:31.500 whether or not i guess in the long run if it's green washing or virtue signaling or any of those
00:42:37.260 kinds of things we are in such a unique position in alberta because we have immense storage
00:42:44.940 capacity we already have uh development of projects that are operating at scale we've
00:42:50.460 already safely stored um 11 megatons of emissions and we are on the cusp of seeing a great deal more
00:42:58.780 of that it may well be that other jurisdictions don't enjoy the geology that we have and so they're
00:43:03.820 not going to be able to use it to the extent that we are but i can tell you that we have a natural
00:43:09.740 advantage and if if they are right and i have expressed my skepticism about the iea's methodologies
00:43:17.420 on doing their calculations i tend to like to to look at the estimations from places like s p global
00:43:23.660 which i think have increasingly more credibility but if they are right then alberta is going to be
00:43:27.980 able to to to represent the lion's share i think of uh of the the carbon capture opportunity i'll
00:43:35.020 turn it over to brian because he's got some some good observations about what other jurisdictions
00:43:39.500 have to go through in trying to do what we are going to be able to do so much more easily
00:43:46.300 thank you premier i would just say that we have a specific geology and the legal uh the illegal uh
00:43:52.940 torrent system of land in place that allows us to be truly the global leader on this five percent
00:43:57.900 well come to alberta we're open for business we can store your ghgs we can store your co2
00:44:03.260 korea is looking at doing it offshore ontario is looking at doing one of the great lakes
00:44:06.860 other jurisdictions are looking at opportunities well the opportunities right here we have the
00:44:10.220 capacity to store 100 of the global emissions from the world right now human kind that's what
00:44:15.420 the experts have told me we have a geology that is second to none in the world and one of the top
00:44:20.300 three in the world and given our legal process here it gives us a competitive advantage even
00:44:25.180 over the united states so i would just say we are open for business we can store their co2
00:44:30.300 right here in alberta for many many years to come if not forever thank you thank you minister we have
00:44:35.100 time for just one last question operator could you put through our last caller please
00:44:40.780 alex mccraig western producer
00:44:42.460 Thanks for taking my call. I'm hoping you can talk a little bit about the drought conditions
00:44:50.700 currently being faced by Albertans. We're in the fourth month of the four-stage drought.
00:44:57.820 Conditions aren't improving. I understand that both the Ministry of Environment and the Alberta
00:45:07.100 energy regulator are involved in the drought management plan can you talk a little bit about
00:45:13.980 what that plan is going to entail if conditions continue to get worse yeah i think you saw that
00:45:20.940 we worked with the the federal government to come through with a special program to be able to do
00:45:25.820 drought relief and it's obviously not the the uh um the optimal solution we we want to make sure
00:45:32.380 that our farmers and ranchers have the water that they need i'll turn it over to minister
00:45:37.180 schultz so she can talk a bit about where we find ourselves with the reservoirs
00:45:44.300 so that's a great question and you're exactly right we have been in the stage four
00:45:48.540 a situation obviously we know it's been a very dry year but we're also anticipating el nino around
00:45:56.140 the world for next year so if we do not get significant amounts of snow and precipitation
00:46:03.100 we are certainly predicting that it's going to be another dry year next year so we are
00:46:07.980 working with municipalities with our major water license users with irrigators
00:46:13.500 and setting up a bit of a working group to address the very urgent needs as we head into next spring
00:46:18.540 and the growing season of course we need to make sure that we have a plan in place to address these
00:46:24.220 water shortages and that all of the water users so not just the irrigators but irrigators egg
00:46:29.980 producers and municipalities have the water that they need but then separate from that we're also
00:46:35.420 looking at a longer term water use plan so same folks in those discussions but looking at the
00:46:42.060 the water infrastructure we have like storage uh what are our major priorities what other
00:46:46.540 opportunities might we have and how we can uh better uh manage water resources in the longer
00:46:52.620 term so that work is underway we've been very transparent about this as well you might have
00:46:57.580 noticed last week we we were releasing photos of some of the reservoirs in southern alberta what
00:47:03.820 we didn't want is people to come back after the holidays and say wait you know we we didn't
00:47:07.900 realize we were in such a serious situation so we are trying to be proactive about this
00:47:14.300 more to come and all of those major water users they are aware of this work and we're working on
00:47:20.860 that through the month of December as well to expedite what those plans are going to look like.
00:47:28.940 Did you have a follow-up there, Alex? Yeah. When will that short-term plan be released?
00:47:35.660 As you noted, the mountain snowpack is going to be playing an important role, but that continues.
00:47:41.340 There's nothing positive really with that mountain snowpack currently. So when will that short-term
00:47:48.380 management plan to be released publicly yeah i would i would expect early in the new year uh
00:47:53.580 we're just going to get this working group uh set up right now in the next couple of weeks
00:47:57.900 we're looking at doing some teletown halls that all of those major water users are aware of the
00:48:02.460 situation that we find ourselves in have the ability to provide us with their concerns or
00:48:06.780 feedback uh and i would imagine we'd need uh just some time to to pull that together and come up with
00:48:12.940 a plan so i would say early in the new year um early in the spring and that's all the time we
00:48:19.500 have for questions today thank you very much everybody
00:48:42.940 You