Top 10
Top 10: Rethink Alberta
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1. RETHINK ALBERTA
Anti-oilsands advertising campaign may harm tourism
Viewing an anti-oilsands advertising campaign may have a “devastating” impact on the willingness of American and British tourists to visit Alberta, a new poll suggests. The Rethink Alberta campaign, launched in July and supported by U.S. environmental group Corporate Ethics, targets the oilsands and urges people to avoid visiting the province.
WHY IT MATTERS: An Angus Reid poll suggests the campaign’s billboards and YouTube video makes an impression on those who see it. Before watching the ad materials, 54 per cent of Britons and 49 per cent of Americans said they would consider visiting the province. After viewing the ad, those numbers plunged to 24 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. The poll also surveyed Canadians, and found that while 36 per cent of Ontario residents consider the ad “fair,” only 5 per cent of Albertans do. Sixty per cent of Albertans found it offensive, twice the national rate.
2. WIND WARMING
Renovalia to invest $200 million in a new wind farm
Renovalia Energy, an international renewable power developer based in Spain, says it plans to spend $200 million to build a new wind farm in Alberta. Located 40 kilometres south of Medicine Hat, the Peace Butte wind farm’s 60 turbines will generate 120 megawatts of total capacity. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2011, with the facility operating at the end of next year, although the project first needs to be approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.
WHY IT MATTERS: International companies believe Alberta has great potential for more wind development. Power output from the Peace Butte wind farm represents the annual electricity consumption of 88,000 homes.
3. A STAINED REPUTATION
Michigan spill sullies pipeliners’ reputation
An Enbridge pipeline in Michigan suffered a break in late July, with more than 800,000 gallons spewing into a river — one of the biggest pipeline spills in U.S. history. The spill cast doubts on the safety of aging pipeline networks across North America.
WHY IT MATTERS: There is growing opposition to new oilsands pipelines that would take Alberta’s crude to Canada’s West Coast or the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Michigan spill provided fresh ammunition to opponents of these new pipelines, who used the spill as evidence that pipelines pose serious threats, particularly when they cross fragile ecosystems or water bodies.
4. ELECTRIC RESPONSE
Government asks for input on transmission line routing
The Electric Statutes Amendment Act, 2009 (formerly Bill 50), gives the Alberta government the responsibility for approving the need for critical transmission infrastructure. No decisions have been made as to where new transmission infrastructure will be located, the government says, although landowners along proposed routes will have the right to be heard by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) during public sitting hearings.
WHY IT MATTERS: At the hearings, the AUC will determine the specific route for transmission lines or locations for substations. The government says landowners’ issues will be heard and taken into account, and affected landowners will receive fair compensation.
5. DIRECT…AND TO THE POINT
Centrica subsidiary acquires Suncor assets
Direct Energy, the Canadian subsidiary of British gas utility Centrica, will acquire the Wildcat Hills natural gas assets of Suncor Energy in a $375-million cash deal, the company announced in August. Located about 35 kilometres northwest of Calgary, the Wildcat Hills assets include 97 producing wells, infrastructure and 42,000 net acres of undeveloped land. Direct Energy has been active in Western Canada since 2000. Before the deal, the company had about 4,500 producing gas wells in Alberta.
WHY IT MATTERS: Although a gas producer, Direct Energy is also a retailer of electricity in Canada and the United States, generating power mainly from gas-fired plants. Company executives said the Wildcat Hills acquisition may not be its last in Western Canada, given the company’s ongoing needs for natural gas
6. TAILINGS HEADWAY
Suncor, Shell making strides with tailings management
Shell Canada announced in August the start-up of a field demonstration project to manage its tailings. The technology involves using a large barge to collect mature fine tailings (MFT) — the denser tailings that have settled to the bottom of tailings ponds — and transferring them to a drying area. The MFT are then mixed with chemical agents known as flocculants to bring the fine clay particles in the MFT together — and placed on a sloped surface to help speed up the release of water from the clay. Meanwhile, Suncor plans to spend approximately $450 million in 2010 to implement its new technology, called TRO (tailings reduction operations), which uses a proprietary dewatering process that will more rapidly turn fluid tailings ponds into solid landscapes suitable for reclamation.
WHY IT MATTERS: Both Shell and Suncor say their new technologies will significantly reduce the time it takes to reclaim oilsands mines.
7. REBOUND YEAR
Land sales and drilling stats continue to rise
By the end of August, Alberta had generated $1.52 billion in land-sale revenue. At the same point last year, $181.49 million had rolled into government coffers. Drilling statistics are also on the rise. Through to the end of July (latest figures available), oil and gas companies have drilled 3,919 wells in Alberta, up 29 per cent from 3,028 to the end of July 2009.
WHY IT MATTERS: Money from land sales helps pay for government programs, while higher drilling activity in Alberta boosts employment levels across the province.
8. BRIGHT IDEA
Commercial lighting program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
A new commercial lighting incentive program will give business owners some bright ideas to boost energy efficiency. Under a $4-million pilot program, Albertans who operate restaurants, offices, warehouses and other businesses are eligible for a provincial rebate of between $37,500 and $375,000. The program (www.lightitright.ca) will continue until Dec. 31, 2011, or until funding is exhausted.
WHY IT MATTERS: Lighting accounts for approximately 50 per cent of Alberta businesses’ annual electricity use. The program aims to reduce 191,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking approximately 40,000 cars off the road by 2020.
9. SPENDING INCREASE
2010 budgets now total $44 billion
With continued high oil prices and drilling success in several new plays, oil and gas producers have hiked capital spending plans for this year to $44 billion, according to records on 95 producers that have announced spending plans. The $44 billion represents a 36 per cent leap from $32.3 billion in actual capital spending (excluding acquisitions) by these 95 same companies in 2009, when almost all producers severely chopped spending in the wake of the worldwide recession, credit crisis and much lower commodity prices.
WHY IT MATTERS: Increased capital spending by oil and gas producers directly translates into more business — and jobs — for Albertans.
10. REGIONAL PLAN
Alberta seeks feedback on vision for Lower Athabasca
A regional plan for the Lower Athabasca region in northeastern Alberta, including the oilsands, could go to the provincial cabinet in the first quarter of 2011. The government is currently seeking public input the report, which recommends that 60 per cent (55,900 square kilometres) of the Lower Athabasca be designated mixed-use resource (with industrial). Of that, no more than 15 per cent, or 8,385 square kilometres, should be disturbed for oilsands extraction at any one time, it says. At present, oilsands mining occupies about 600 square kilometres in the entire Lower Athabasca. Albertans can participate in an online survey regarding the plan until Oct. 8 (www.landuse.alberta.ca).
WHY IT MATTERS: The Lower Athabasca plan is the first of seven regional plans to be developed under Alberta’s land-use framework. The region is expected to grow in the future to meet rising worldwide demand for resources. If bitumen production reaches six million barrels per day, the population could grow to up to 303,000 by 2045, driven by substantial migration to the area and supplemented by a large-scale shadow workforce. In 2007, the population was 125,747.
