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Green Energy Program for Saskatchewan May 27, 2006 Note: This policy proposal was submitted to the General Meeting of the Green Party of Saskatchewan and the Green Party of Canada, Saskatchewan Section, at Craik, SK on September 24, 2005. In revised form, it was adopted as a Green Party of Saskatchewan as a policy document at the May 2006 Annual General Meeting. Background: While the New Green Alliance/Green Party of Saskatchewan has developed an alternative energy proposal for the province, there is a need for a broad overall strategy. With the rise in gasoline prices and natural gas for home heating, the general public is finally becoming aware of some of the issues. Given that the three major political parties are stuck in the business as usual strategy, this is a good time for the Greens to set forth a clear alternative. It will allow the Greens to establish a policy position that is clearly different from the so-called "green" NDP government in the next provincial election. Why should we be concerned about energy in energy-rich Saskatchewan? The extraction of conventional oil in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) peaked in 1971 and is in decline. This is very evident in Saskatchewan. Natural gas reserves peaked in 1984 in the WCSB, and the production "treadmill" has set in. The Shackleton basin in Saskatchewan is only a small blip in this general trend. Under the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (1989), the United States has guaranteed access to a fixed share of Canada's oil and gas resources. Since Brian Mulroney's government deregulated the National Energy Board, private corporations in the oil and gas industry have been shipping these non-renewable resources to the United States as fast as they can. At the Western Premiers conference in 2003, the four western premiers (including Lorne Calvert) endorsed George W. Bush's call for a new continental energy pact to increase Canadian energy exports to the United States. Global warming and climate change are a reality, and scientists predict that the North American plains area will be one of the hardest hit. This is already evident in Saskatchewan. . The Kyoto Accord on Climate Change was strongly opposed by the NDP government in Saskatchewan and supported by the two opposition political parties. Since 1990 the province has produced the highest increase in greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. This is unacceptable. Since 1982 Saskatchewan governments have been steadily reducing the royalties paid by the corporations for the extraction and sale of the province's oil and natural gas. The present Saskatchewan NDP government's policy is to assist the owners of the oil and gas corporations in their quest to maximize profits. This policy is supported by the two main opposition parties. There is no policy in place to protect the energy needs of the present Saskatchewan population, let alone future generations. There is no planning for the end of affordable natural gas for heating homes. An Alternate Green Policy All the following proposals for a new direction in energy policy would be implemented within the context of the broad Green principles of open decision making, government transparency, participatory democracy, democratization of public enterprises, and decentralization where feasible. All citizens have a right to a direct involvement in decision making. Green principles reject the dominant government view that only "stakeholders" have any right to participate in decision making. Greens are also committed to full cost pricing and ending all subsidies to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. (1) Policy on oil and natural gas. The government must strive to gain control over these industries in order to put a priority on the needs of present and future generations of Saskatchewan citizens. As a first step, the government would create a provincial marketing board to cover these industries. All corporate sales would have to be made to the government agency, which would control further sales, prices, profits and resource rents going to the provincial government. Similar marketing boards have existed in Alberta and British Columbia in the past. We have the model of Canpotex in Saskatchewan, which markets all potash sales. The government would re-establish Sask Oil as a Crown corporation. The goal would be to gain ownership and control over the provincial oil and gas resources. The general principles which were in the Saskatchewan Mining and Development Corporation Act would be re-installed: all new oil and gas developments in the province would be open to 50% ownership by Sask Oil. This policy works well in the oil and gas industry in Norway. The province would raise the royalty rates on oil up to the average level that they were during the government of Allan Blakeney (1971-82), or 50% of sales. With the dramatic increase in the world price of oil, unrelated to costs of extraction, this is a reasonable royalty rate. The province would raise the royalty rates on natural gas up to the levels that existed in Saskatchewan in the past. Royalties should rise with the price of natural gas so that windfall economic rents (excess profits) go to the general public. The Saskatchewan government would phase out the export of oil and natural gas to the United States and retain our rapidly dwindling resources for the use of the province and its population. The province would re-establish the Saskatchewan Heritage Fund to capture some of the royalties from the depletion of oil and natural gas for future Saskatchewan generations. This policy works well today in Alaska and Norway. Capital collected in this fund would be invested in renewable energy development, as in Norway. The province would merge Sask Power and Sask Energy and give the Crown corporation control over natural gas development and distribution within the province. Priority would be to conserve natural gas for home heating and local business needs, and this would require the quick phasing out of exports to the United States. (2) Electrical power. The province would progressively move to reduce the use of coal for the generation of electricity. This would involve a broad and diversified approach which would include those alternatives that have been identified by the Saskatchewan Energy Conservation and Development Agency (SECDA), abolished by the NDP government. Whereas the oil and gas industries are highly capital intensive and employ relatively few, the alternate energy industries are highly labour intensive. A shift from the oil and gas industries would result in a major increase in employment. Conservation would be a first priority, including the retrofitting of residences and businesses, financed by borrowing by Sask Power. This would include retrofitting all older housing in the inner cities as well as good appropriate housing in Northern and rural Saskatchewan. New housing standards would require R-2000 levels of insulation. Greens would greatly expand wind power, at least up to the level of 1500 megawatts as proposed by SECDA. Decentralization and private wind generators would be encouraged. A major investment in passive and active solar energy, one of the major Saskatchewan advantages that remains undeveloped by the business-as-usual approach of recent provincial governments. Biomass energy development. SECDA identified a potential of 850 MW from crop residues and 1600 MW from forest product wastes. Fast growing trees and switchgrass can be developed for substitution for coal. This requires a decentralization of the present system operated by Sask Power. Demand management programs, in existence across North America, would be implemented to encourage energy conservation, including progressively pricing consumption. The Green approach would reject nuclear power as too dangerous and too expensive. It cannot exist without major government subsidies. (3) Transportation alternatives. The province would actively promote good, affordable public transportation, in urban and in rural areas. Using full cost pricing, the province would encourage people to reduce their reliance on private automobiles for personal transport and pleasure. The province would actively encourage the re-development of a railway system. The province would provide major incentives to end urban sprawl development and shift to Smart Growth strategies. This would require some re-development in many suburban areas. |