Oil Is Not A Four Letter Word

Coal is a four letter word, however.

Perhaps Wall is a bit touchy about fossil fuels because Saskatchewan produces more greenhouse gases per person than any other Canadian province [link added], and is one of only three provinces whose emissions have risen since 1990. The province contains only 1 per cent of the country’s population, but produces a disproportionate 10 per cent of national emissions.

Saskatchewan recorded the highest deposit-paid bottle return rate in Canada (82 per cent) and largest wildfire detection camera system in North America, said the ministry.

Yet we had the worst wildfire season, perhaps ever, this Summer.

“Until we get on top of the big industrial emissions we are going to have great trouble achieving the targets that have been set for the province,” said Coxworth.

“We are looking to beef up that part of our portfolio – with a quarter of our power production already renewable,” said Tremblay.

The ministry on Earth Day focused on what individuals can do in their everyday lives.

{Emphasis added, to highlight that what the ministry is doing is pushing responsibility for the problem off of themselves and onto the actions of individuals who cannot individually organize us into a more efficient system.}

https://twitter.com/saskboy/status/623853313058967552

As the province looked to energy awareness on Earth Day, Saskatchewan still remains a leader in Canadian greenhouse gas emissions. Despite an eight-per-cent reduction of GHGs from 2006-2012, the province continues to release more than one-tenth of Canada’s emissions with only about three per cent of the country’s population.

“We want to minimize our environmental footprint wherever we can,” said Jonathan Tremblay, spokesman for SaskPower, but added it’s a delicate balance between environmental impacts, power reliability and affordability. According to the 2015 State of the Environment Report, Saskatchewan’s oil, gas, mining and electricity industries are the largest sources of greenhouse gases (GHG). Together they make up over half of the province’s emissions.

Electricity generation accounts for 21 per cent.

“It has to be a mix (of coal and wind power) so that the lights can stay on when the wind’s not up and the sun’s not out,” said Tremblay, referencing a recent independently built wind-power farm located in the province’s southwest.

Ann Coxworth, board member of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, disagrees.

Keep in mind that former Wall Minister Tim McMillian now works for CAPP. Wall’s present Environment Minister also didn’t understand climate science sufficiently to comment on it on the day he was appointed to the position.

CAPP was in the news today for having been caught meddling in “educational” materials given through Canadian Geographic to schools.

Rodrigues also removed the term “clear-cut” from Thomson’s explanation of how boreal forest is unearthed to make way for oil sands strip mining.

That CAPP was allowed to vet Canadian Geographic’s educational content challenges the claim of independence and objectivity, and raises questions: is the rest of Energy IQ also edited by CAPP? What about Canadian Geographic’s other sponsored educational programs?

Whether CAPP’s hands-on editing means that they “control” the lesson plans or not is perhaps a matter of debate. What can be said for certain is that CAPP’s changes were executed by Canadian Geographic in the resulting versions of the lessons that appear on the Energy IQ website

Read more about this hijack of our schools and media by Big Oil.