Alberta’s Climate Leadership Act will become effective on January 1st, 2017, unleashing varying carbon levies on no fewer than 25 different fuels consumed by industry and consumers inside Alberta. That’s the Grinch. The Act does, however, offer users of fuels in Alberta a myriad of exemptions under which relief from the carbon levies may be available, in part or in whole. That’s Santa. Available Exemptions No fewer than 12 exemptions are available including: Already…
Between 2010 and 2014, provincial governments from Ontario westward, as well as the federal government, implemented renewable fuel standard (RFS) regulations. Targeting both gasoline and diesel, the stated goal for these standards has been the presumed greenhouse gas emission reductions that come with ethanol and renewable distillate content, with rural economic opportunity to supply the mandated renewable content often mentioned as an ancillary benefit. This importance to the local agricultural economies of RFS can be seen in…
The scene was almost reminiscent of the bad old days of Trudeau I and the National Energy Program. The federal government announces a minimum carbon price in the House of Commons while the provincial premiers are meeting elsewhere, prompting a very public walk-out by a dissident group, none of whose provinces have carbon reduction programs in place. In the resulting media scrum, threats of constitutional challenges to the federal climate change strategy ring out. Feds Reclaim…
In reading the recent news reports on the September 27th, 2016 approval by the federal government of the Pacific Northwest Liquid Natural Gas plant and terminal near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, it would appear that no stakeholders were happy with the decision. In fact, many claim surprise if not outright shock over the terms set under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act Permit and much mention is made of the “190 conditions”. But a careful review…
With the dust having now settled on last year’s historic COP21 negotiations in Paris, which resulted in a new global climate change agreement (Paris Agreement), the focus will be on domestic implementation of each Parties’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Pursuant to the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed to keep global temperature increases to “well below 2°C”. This overarching goal will guide countries’ mitigation and adaptation efforts for the period between 2020 – 2030. Australia’s commitment…
In February 2016, EPA announced its National Enforcement Initiatives for Fiscal Years 2017-2019. EPA conducts this process of identifying enforcement priorities every three years with the intent of focusing Agency resources on areas of significant non-compliance where federal enforcement is considered to be effective. EPA solicited public comment on its proposed National Enforcement Initiatives last year. The Agency maintains that the final priorities incorporate this stakeholder feedback. The seven National Enforcement Initiatives for FY 2017-2019 are as follows:…