Canada's tar sands heartland can't deny climate change, says Alberta minister
|
Version 0 of 1. The environment minister of Alberta – the province where the tar sands industry is Canada’s fastest growing source of carbon emissions – says the days of denying climate change are over. Related: Revealed: Canadian government spent millions on secret tar sands advocacy The minister, Shannon Phillips, told a conference on Wednesday that the New Democratic party provincial government elected in May was taking action after the targeting of Alberta’s climate change record by North American environmental groups in recent years. Alberta, the biggest source of US oil imports, has also faced international criticism for what has been perceived as lax oversight of extraction and production of fossil fuels. “There is a great appetite for action on climate change in our province,” Phillips said at a conference hosted in Edmonton, the provincial capital, by the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental group. “The days of denial are over.” Phillips, whose party ended 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule in the western Canadian province, said at a news conference that Alberta needed to consider new action including the possibility of tougher vehicle emissions standards to avoid having the worst air quality in Canada. While she noted that 30% of Alberta’s economy was based on fossil fuels such as the tar sands, she said it must also remain competitive as the rest of the world was looking to transition to a lower-carbon economy. In June Phillips increased the cost of greenhouse gas emissions for large industrial plants and boosted targets for cutting heat-trapping emissions that warm the atmosphere. She later appointed a panel to advise the government about a long-term climate change plan. Alberta released new data on Wednesday showing air pollution was increasing in several regions of the province and was close to exceeding new national air quality standards adopted in recent years across Canada. |