Energy issues across Canada

Current energy issues across the country show how Canadians could benefit from a national strategy that guarantees energy supplies, protects the environment, provides a fair share of energy revenues, protects our citizens and natural resources, and ensures the needs of Canadians are put ahead of profits.

Here is a brief look at energy issues across Canada:

A privatizer runs through it: hydro projects and coal-bed methane exploration in British Columbia

The BC government is poised to privatize precious river resources, allowing “Run of the River” hydroelectricity projects to be built on waterways to generate energy. Concerns have been raised about the environmental damage this will inflict on some of the most beautiful parts of British Columbia. These private companies are also expected to raise the price of electricity for businesses and consumers.

The BC government has also opened the Sacred Headwaters in northern British Columbia to industrial development. Proposals include a massive project by Royal Dutch Shell to extract coal-bed methane gas from the area’s anthracite deposit, in an area spanning close to one million acres.

Canada’s number one emitter: the tar sands

The tar sands, which are located in both Alberta and Saskatchewan, have been identified as Canada’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and one of the main reasons our country cannot meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Massive amounts of water are used in the oil sands production, which becomes so badly polluted that it cannot be released back into the environment. The tar sands have destroyed boreal forests and released pollutants into nearby lands and water. Concerns have been raised that these pollutants have caused an unusually high cancer rate among the Fort Chipewyan First Nations, who live downstream.

Powering down: Integrating massive transmission line projects in Alberta and Manitoba

TransCanada Corp. wants Alberta’s electricity grid connected to the western United States, allowing producers to export electricity from the power plants they want to build in Alberta. TransCanada has been quietly pursuing developing a transmission project, called NorthernLights, which would join Alberta to the Pacific DC Intertie system, which links the Pacific Northwest to Los Angeles. In Manitoba, a massive hydro-electrical plant is being built at Taskinigahp Falls, 45 kilometres southwest of Thompson and Nelson House. The Wuskwatim station will generate power for export to markets outside Manitoba, including Ontario, and possibly the United States. The provinces are working on a deal where hydroelectricity would be transferred via massive transmission lines to Ontario.

No safe amounts: uranium mining in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia

Canada is the world’s largest producer of uranium. About 80 percent of uranium mined in Canada is exported. Canada provides 35 percent of the uranium used in the production of nuclear power in the United States.

With dramatic price increases in the cost of uranium, new mining projects are being proposed across the country. Saskatchewan is the main location of mining, but projects are also being looked at near Sharbot Lake and Highlands East, in Ontario, as well as in Nova Scotia. Although Nova Scotia has banned uranium mining, Tripple Uranium Resources Inc. would like the ban reversed if large uranium deposits are found. In all areas, local residents and environmental groups are protesting the mining because of serious health and environmental concerns. Evidence suggests there is no safe storage system for radioactive waste from uranium mining. Uranium miners have also experienced unusually high cancer rates.

But as demand for uranium ore increases in the United States and around the world, there will be more pressure on governments to allow companies to mine it.

Gassing up: expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in BC, Quebec and the Maritimes

A National Energy Board report projects Canada will become a net importer of natural gas by around 2028 if current production and price trends continue. There are currently 10 proposed LNG projects in Canada, including a $750-million Canaport LNG plant in Saint John, New Brunswick which is expected to begin operating this year, as well as the $350-million Brunswick Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Canaport to the Maine border. In Quebec, there are two LNG terminals proposed. The Rabaska and Gros Cacuna projects are scheduled to break ground in 2009. While provincial politicians have said the gas would be used in Quebec, evidence has surfaced showing it could be exported to U.S. markets. Calgary-based WestPac LNG Corp. has a proposed $2-billion liquefied natural gas terminal and natural-gas-fired electricity plant slated for Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia. Concerns have been raised about the expected traffic to the terminal, which would be about 36 LNG carriers a year, or one about every 10 days.

Risky Business: A push for more nuclear power plants

Sold as the “cleaner, greener” energy, nuclear power has received a strong surge of interest in recent months. In New Brunswick, the province is looking at building a second reactor while the Point Lepreau nuclear plant is being refurbished. In Ontario, mothballed nuclear plants have reopened in recent years and the Ontario Power Authority says two new reactors are required to meet provincial energy needs in the next two decades. Energy Alberta Corp., which was recently purchased by Bruce Power, has filed preliminary documents to build Alberta’s first reactor, which could be used to power tar sands development.

At the federal level, the Canadian government is reportedly preparing to privatize a portion of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a Crown corporation. The federal government has been in talks to sell a share of AECL to U.S. industrial giant General Electric Co., though informal meetings have also been held with French nuclear company Areva SA.

Serious questions have been raised about the safety and oversight of nuclear power plants and the federal government recently overturned a decision by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to close the Chalk River plant in Ontario due to safety concerns.

The Harper government has also joined the Bush administration- led Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, which seeks to “bring about a significant, wide-scale expansion of nuclear energy.” Part of the deal may require Canada to take nuclear waste from the U.S.

Without a Canadian Energy Strategy – a strategy that will give Canadians secure energy supplies, guaranteed access to energy reserves in times of need, and strong policies that protect our environment and focus on finding alternative, less harmful energy solutions – our country will continue to be a victim of an energy gold rush. Politicians cannot let corporations and the market set the agenda, focusing on big business needs, and privatizing public services, while ignoring the energy security needs of Canadians.

Take action!

Contact Prime Minister Stephen Harper and demand a National Energy Strategy that puts people and the environment ahead of corporate interests.

Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2

E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
Fax: 613-941-6900

For more information about the Council of Canadians’ energy campaign, call us at 1-800-387-7177 or email inquiries@canadians.org.

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