Aug
18
Canada’s new emission assessment procedure
Posted by: Christina Kaiser | August 18, 2016 | Leave a Comment
Meetings of the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Ministerial Panel, took place on Aug 10, 2016 in Burnaby, and on Aug 16 and 17 in Vancouver. On Aug 16, representatives from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Greater Vancouver Board of Trade gave presentations and responded to questions about upstream/downstream emissions associated with the TMX Project, offering comments like:
If we don’t provide the fossil fuels, someone else will…
The developing world is not going to do anything to reduce emissions, so our government’s decision on this pipeline will not affect climate change…
What a cynical rationale for harmful action. Yet, as pointed out by D. Gooderham on Aug 17, such a cynical perspective is in keeping with the federal Liberal’s recently published emissions assessment procedure, Estimating upstream GHG emissions [1], which states
In considering the impacts on global upstream GHGs, the primary factor will be the difference in upstream emissions intensity between Canadian and non-Canadian crude oil sources.
This assessment policy was applied to the Line 3 replacement project. Here’s an excerpt from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producer’s response to that assessment [2]:
With respect to the conclusions made by ECCC in the assessment, we agree … Line 3 is unlikely to impact global GHG emissions due to it having no impact on global oil production, in that what is not produced will be produced elsewhere, and that competing foreign heavy crude oils are similar in GHG intensity to Canadian oil sands…
I can’t believe what I’m reading! Imagine teaching children to reason this way:
There’s no harm in stealing something that someone else will steal, if you don’t steal it first.
[1] Estimating upstream GHG emissions, Canadian Gazette, March 19, 2013 http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2016/2016-03-19/html/notice-avis-eng.php
[2] Letter from Kristen Phillips, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to Mark Cauchi, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), May 25, 2016 http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/050/documents/p80091/114612E.pdf