FELDSTED: The concept of ‘consultation’ with everyone on petroleum projects is inane. Either Justin Trudeau Liberal government has to take leadership on resource development ... or step aside and allow someone competent to do so

Energy assessment law needed to avoid another Trans Mountain impasse, PM says.  'You don't have to buy an energy project in order to de-risk it'

Mia Rabson ~~ The Canadian Press ~~ Dec 18, 2018

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is overhauling how Canada assesses big energy projects in a bid to ensure new projects can get built without the government having to buy them to make that happen.  "We're going to work to make sure that we're creating a system where you don't have to pass a law to get a pipeline built, you don't have to buy an energy project in order to de-risk it," Trudeau said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

"We want an energy sector where the private sector has confidence in getting our resources to markets." ....

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We do not need separate law for the energy sector. What we need is a

comprehensive federal law dealing with environmental protection. All sectors should be treated equally. The ‘energy sector’ includes atomic, ethanol, hydro-electric, coal-electric, gas-electric, geo-thermal, hydrogen, solar and wind technology ... and all pose environmental challenges of one kind or another.

Energy assessment is Trudeau code for continuing to treat the Alberta petrochemical energy sector with blatant bias, and continue eastern Canada’s oil imports at the expense of Canada. Let’s call a spade a spade and bury Trudeau in his divisive rhetoric.

 

More and more industries are using carbon fibre for weight reduction in everything from aircraft to automobiles to trucks; industry can form parts that are stronger and more resilient than steel with a fraction of the weight. The war on carbon ignores the benefits and necessity of petrochemical products.

Without petrochemical lubricants, wiring insulation and circuit boards, a high efficacy home heating furnace is just a useless lump metal. Without petrochemicals used in the circuit boards and components of our computer, tablets and telephones, we lose wireless connections and the internet.

Demonizing carbon, and the energy sector, is bigoted, narrow-minded stupidity. Energy is the driving force for economic development. Without energy, a nation cannot develop its resources, reap its crops, process its products or get products to markets. Developing nations require energy sources to move ahead and will not be denied the opportunity to improve their lot. World demands for energy are increasing and the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is powerless to stop it. IPCC climate change hysteria is not due to increasing global warming; it is caught in a lie and desperate to continue to confuse the millions they have fooled with their globaloney scam.  

          

Just one of many recent convoys on the road to

tell Federal government that Canadian families

depend on the oil and gas industries to survive

 Environment protection is not named in constitutional subjects under provincial control, so it becomes a federal matter by default. Therefore, dozens of provincial and municipal environmental laws, and regulation, are not constitutional and must be so treated.

The petroleum pipeline portion of the energy sector is the only place where regulations is based on zero risk. Prudent environmental policy seeks to minimize, not eliminate risk. We build better facilities (which include pipelines) with better controls to mitigate contamination and spills.

The concept of ‘consultation’ with everyone on petroleum projects is inane. Consultations ensure that any ‘assessment’ will be prolonged and unpredictable. 

• We need stability, not unpredictability. 
• We need to develop a policy and laws for easements, and appropriate compensation for landowners where a works or pipeline runs over, under, or on the land. 
• We need a separate policy and law for dealing with natural resource development on lands owned by others. Easements and royalties should have a framework that is consistent, fair and predictable.  

Claiming that we have to await the courts to decide actions brought by municipalities and provinces is an excuse to avoid federal responsibility. We can’t buy groceries with excuses.

Either Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has to take leadership on resource development,  or step aside and allow someone competent to do so.

 

John Feldsted

Political Consultant & Strategist

Winnipeg, Manitoba