Has Obama just pushed Harper into a Carbon Tax?
Obama’s pragmatist side wins out in Keystone comments | Full Comment | National Post
Mr. Oliver wouldn’t say whether he felt more or less confident of Keystone’s approval after hearing the speech.
The ambiguity of Mr. Obama’s statement may force the Harper government to do something it clearly does not want to do — impose regulations on the oil and gas sector.
Both Canada and the U.S. have pledged to reduce emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, but Canada will need to bring in new regulations to curb emissions from the oil and gas industries if it is to hit its targets. Stephen Harper is said to have resisted attempts to bring in new rules, particularly since his Conservative party has made such great play of mocking the NDP’s “$21-billion tax on everything.”
The Harper government has been promising to regulate since it was elected in 2006. Peter Kent, the Environment Minister, said he would release a notice of intent to regulate by mid-year but when Parliament broke last week there was still no sign of new rules.
Canada likely does not figure high on Mr. Obama’s priority list right now but, as far as it does, it’s a fair bet that he is keen to push the Harper government to introduce tough climate change regulations, and so provide him some cover to approve Keystone.
The expectation in Ottawa is that the Conservatives will eventually bring in regulations that allow provincial governments to run their own show, as long as they meet or exceed national standards. The best guess is that the feds will endorse the Alberta model, where large emitters are obliged to reduce the intensity of their emissions by 12% or pay $15 a tonne into a technology fund. The government of Alberta has suggested that this 12:15 plan could be increased to a 40:40 ratio (a 40% reduction in emissions and a $40 a tonne levy for excess emissions). The proposal went down badly with industry, which portrayed it as too draconian, and most observers now think the federal proposal will be in the 30:30 range (30% reduction; $30 a tonne levy).
Canada seizes on Obama's Keystone XL pipeline requirements - The Globe and Mail
But the President’s description of the project as one to move “oil from Canadian tar sands down to refineries in the Gulf” used the term “tar,” favoured by anti-pipeline activists. Proponents of Keystone XL prefer the less dirty term “oil sands” to describe the vast deposits in Alberta.
It was the first time Mr. Obama had directly referred to Keystone XL in months.
The President’s comment will re-ignite the already furious debate over whether Keystone XL will add to the overall carbon emission blamed for global warming or simply be neutral because the resources will be extracted whether or not the pipeline is built. Its backers, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper – who has called approval so obvious that it’s a “no brainer” – may find the President’s comments unsettling.
The Canadian government, responding to Mr. Obama, seized on the President’s requirement that the Keystone XL project does not drive up greenhouse gas emissions.
“Today President Obama made clear that Keystone XL would be approved if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of greenhouse gas emissions,” Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said in statement.
Canada was quick to point out that a recent U.S. State Department report forecast no significant increase in emission-causing activity.
“We agree with President Obama’s State Department Report in 2013 which found that, ‘approval or denial of the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands, or on the amount of heavy crude oil refined in the Gulf Coast area’,” Mr. Oliver said.
Although Mr. Obama said his climate change strategy was about far more than the decision over whether “to build one pipeline” the fact that he pointedly referred to Keystone XL amounts to a victory for the burgeoning array activists opposed to the project who have turned it into a litmus test of the President’s approach to climate change.
On the broader issue, Mr. Obama said it was past time to curb carbon emissions, which, he said, threaten the planet.
“As a president, as a father and as an American, I’m here to say we need to act,” Mr. Obama said, after removing his jacket and telling a broiling crowd they could do the same.
The President said he was ordering officials to launch the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emitted by new and existing power plants. Other aspects of the plan will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.
He also said new standards would be required to defend coastal cities against inevitable sea-level rise.
Unless we act, “we will suffer the consequences together,” he said.
The initial response to the President’s speech from leading anti-Keystone XL activists – who have morphed the project from a pipeline into an iconic decision that will test the President’s commitment to make a major effort on climate change – was cautiously optimistic.
“This is an appropriate standard that the President appears to be setting on Keystone XL,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org “It’s encouraging news for certain.”
Mr. Obama was openly scornful of so-called deniers, those who claim man-made carbon emissions have nothing to do with global warming or, in some cases that Earth isn’t actually warming.
“We don’t have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society” he said, and urged his legions of young supporters to rally behind the cause of sweeping carbon reduction to save the planet.
“The politics will be tough,” the President said, acknowledging the – at least in the United States – the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is dead set against carbon limits, which they regard as job-killing meddling by the federal government.
Obama’s pragmatist side wins out in Keystone comments | Full Comment | National Post
Mr. Oliver wouldn’t say whether he felt more or less confident of Keystone’s approval after hearing the speech.
The ambiguity of Mr. Obama’s statement may force the Harper government to do something it clearly does not want to do — impose regulations on the oil and gas sector.
Both Canada and the U.S. have pledged to reduce emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, but Canada will need to bring in new regulations to curb emissions from the oil and gas industries if it is to hit its targets. Stephen Harper is said to have resisted attempts to bring in new rules, particularly since his Conservative party has made such great play of mocking the NDP’s “$21-billion tax on everything.”
The Harper government has been promising to regulate since it was elected in 2006. Peter Kent, the Environment Minister, said he would release a notice of intent to regulate by mid-year but when Parliament broke last week there was still no sign of new rules.
Canada likely does not figure high on Mr. Obama’s priority list right now but, as far as it does, it’s a fair bet that he is keen to push the Harper government to introduce tough climate change regulations, and so provide him some cover to approve Keystone.
The expectation in Ottawa is that the Conservatives will eventually bring in regulations that allow provincial governments to run their own show, as long as they meet or exceed national standards. The best guess is that the feds will endorse the Alberta model, where large emitters are obliged to reduce the intensity of their emissions by 12% or pay $15 a tonne into a technology fund. The government of Alberta has suggested that this 12:15 plan could be increased to a 40:40 ratio (a 40% reduction in emissions and a $40 a tonne levy for excess emissions). The proposal went down badly with industry, which portrayed it as too draconian, and most observers now think the federal proposal will be in the 30:30 range (30% reduction; $30 a tonne levy).
Canada seizes on Obama's Keystone XL pipeline requirements - The Globe and Mail
But the President’s description of the project as one to move “oil from Canadian tar sands down to refineries in the Gulf” used the term “tar,” favoured by anti-pipeline activists. Proponents of Keystone XL prefer the less dirty term “oil sands” to describe the vast deposits in Alberta.
It was the first time Mr. Obama had directly referred to Keystone XL in months.
The President’s comment will re-ignite the already furious debate over whether Keystone XL will add to the overall carbon emission blamed for global warming or simply be neutral because the resources will be extracted whether or not the pipeline is built. Its backers, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper – who has called approval so obvious that it’s a “no brainer” – may find the President’s comments unsettling.
The Canadian government, responding to Mr. Obama, seized on the President’s requirement that the Keystone XL project does not drive up greenhouse gas emissions.
“Today President Obama made clear that Keystone XL would be approved if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of greenhouse gas emissions,” Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said in statement.
Canada was quick to point out that a recent U.S. State Department report forecast no significant increase in emission-causing activity.
“We agree with President Obama’s State Department Report in 2013 which found that, ‘approval or denial of the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands, or on the amount of heavy crude oil refined in the Gulf Coast area’,” Mr. Oliver said.
Although Mr. Obama said his climate change strategy was about far more than the decision over whether “to build one pipeline” the fact that he pointedly referred to Keystone XL amounts to a victory for the burgeoning array activists opposed to the project who have turned it into a litmus test of the President’s approach to climate change.
On the broader issue, Mr. Obama said it was past time to curb carbon emissions, which, he said, threaten the planet.
“As a president, as a father and as an American, I’m here to say we need to act,” Mr. Obama said, after removing his jacket and telling a broiling crowd they could do the same.
The President said he was ordering officials to launch the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emitted by new and existing power plants. Other aspects of the plan will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.
He also said new standards would be required to defend coastal cities against inevitable sea-level rise.
Unless we act, “we will suffer the consequences together,” he said.
The initial response to the President’s speech from leading anti-Keystone XL activists – who have morphed the project from a pipeline into an iconic decision that will test the President’s commitment to make a major effort on climate change – was cautiously optimistic.
“This is an appropriate standard that the President appears to be setting on Keystone XL,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org “It’s encouraging news for certain.”
Mr. Obama was openly scornful of so-called deniers, those who claim man-made carbon emissions have nothing to do with global warming or, in some cases that Earth isn’t actually warming.
“We don’t have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society” he said, and urged his legions of young supporters to rally behind the cause of sweeping carbon reduction to save the planet.
“The politics will be tough,” the President said, acknowledging the – at least in the United States – the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is dead set against carbon limits, which they regard as job-killing meddling by the federal government.
