Sask fossil fuels power Alberta past cold snap crisis
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
142.01495
Summary
Justin Trudeau's climate policies have shaken the very foundation of the country. From a carbon tax, to no more pipelines, to plastic bans, it seems every new harebrained idea out of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has been specifically targeted at the West s natural resource economy, first jeopardizing our jobs and now our safety. It s now time for the West to freeze in the dark.
Transcript
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It's now time for the West to freeze in the dark.
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Policy after policy from Justin Trudeau's climate czar, Stephen Gilbeau,
00:00:08.060
have shaken the very foundation of the country.
00:00:10.660
From a carbon tax, to no more pipelines, to plastic bans,
00:00:14.940
his assault on the Western Canadian electricity grid,
00:00:17.760
it seems every new harebrained idea out of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
00:00:22.600
has been specifically targeted at the West's natural resource economy,
00:00:27.020
first jeopardizing our jobs and now our safety.
00:00:30.320
Last week, the Alberta Electricity System Operator issued several grid alerts.
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By Saturday, a province-wide emergency alert was issued.
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There was no more power to be generated and the demand was setting new records.
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Alberta responded, as Albertans always do in emergency, and immediately cut their usage,
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saving the AESO from implementing rolling blackouts across the province
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on one of the coldest days in Alberta recorded history.
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While I was sitting around some candlelight with my friends on Saturday evening,
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I couldn't help but wonder, how did the province with the world's third-largest oil and gas reserves
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And if you check my Twitter, that's not exactly what I said.
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Well, the answer is complicated, but the bottom line is this.
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We can debate how much humans are the cause of this, and some will tell you it's only our fault,
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and others will tell you it's the sun, continental drift, and a myriad of other reasons.
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And no, I'm not talking about taxing everyone into ideal climate change behavior,
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shutting down coal, shutting in natural gas, and overbuilding the grid to use useless renewable energy.
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But what I'm talking about is real, achievable goals that reduce our impact on climate.
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For every windmill or solar farm we build, we must also have backup production.
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The wind doesn't always blow, and the sun doesn't always shine.
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We learned very quickly this weekend what happens when we don't have this backup power,
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Luckily, Saskatchewan has some power in reserve.
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We need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but we shouldn't have to freeze in the dark to do it.
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In addition to not having solar and wind backup this weekend,
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there's lots of talk about different gas-powered facilities that weren't on,
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that had been shut down for maintenance, and that weren't generating to their full capacity.
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This is going to happen in any system, whether it is a publicly run system or a privately run system.
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Machines don't run continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
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without needing maintenance, without needing turnaround, and without needing repairs.
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Yes, the province does need to investigate why we had so much power offline,
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but we also need to come up with common-sense solutions
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that make sure every Albertan has power, has heat,
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and has the ability to live in a minus 40-degree situation.