Our newsletter: 15 February 2024
Alliance letter to Premier David Eby
Our Feb. 14 letter to B.C.’s premier says B.C.’s Clean Energy plan means negative impacts that will be ‘larger for Indigenous people given pre-existing and long-standing income gap issues.’
We point out that we are strongly supportive of having leading environmental policies and contributing to global emissions reductions.
But we add: “The government has set an aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction target 40% below 2007 levels with a maximum equivalent to 38.3 MT (megatonnes) — a level not seen since the 1960s.
“Compared to recent inventory data this means, collectively, we must reduce emissions by an additional 22 MT or nearly 4 MT per year over the next six years. This is not achievable without restraining economic growth, which would impact Indigenous people across northern BC and throughout the province.”
- The full letter: https://ow.ly/vR0f50QBmPm
Would Karen Ogen go to jail for the above?
NDP MP Charlie Angus has introduced a private member’s bill to ban ads that promote ‘cleaner versions of fossil fuels,’ or tout the industry as a tool for Indigenous reconciliation.
We asked on social media if our Alliance CEO, Karen Ogen, thus would get two years jail or a $1-million fine for the graphic above. Turned out we erred: those penalties are for big producers; Karen would get only a fine of up to $500,000 fines and imprisonment for only two years less a day.
In a special feature posted by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Karen hammered the bill: “With his private member’s bill banning promotion of the oil and gas industry, Charlie Angus wants to bring back the oppressive hand of the state in a manner consistent with dictatorships and authoritarian states.
“The NDP MP for Timmins-James Bay and his party want to shut down fossil fuel production, a move that would devastate the Canadian economy and undermine the greatest — and often the only — opportunity that many First Nations have for economic renewal.
“Even that is not enough. He wants to shut us up, telling us what to think and threatening us with jail and fines for not adhering to his strange, unrealistic and dangerous views of energy and environmental protection.”
Angus’s bill was also roundly roasted by other critics. Among them was Stephen Buffalo of the Indian Resource Council and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Writing in National Post, he slammed the bill as “one of the most contemptible pieces of legislation since the introduction of the Indian Act in 1876.”
The Indigenous Resource Network also hit the bill, saying on X-Twitter: “We are disappointed in MP Charlie Angus’s private member’s bill to ban fossil-fuel ads. Indigenous ownership in energy is NOT false advertising, and should be celebrated by all Canadians.
Karen Ogen also spoke with The Hill Times in Ottawa, but that story is behind its paywall: https://ow.ly/756Y50QBn9M
U.S. LNG freeze an opportunity for Canada
As U.S. critics ripped President Joe Biden’s freeze on approvals for new LNG plants, our Karen Ogen saw a chance for Canadian LNG development.
“This is a window of opportunity for not only B.C., Canada and Indigenous people, (but) for the countries that need our LNG,” she told columnist Chris Varcoe of The Calgary Herald. “I can’t emphasize that enough.”
She said Canadian projects can displace the use of coal to generate power in other countries, and reduce global emissions, as well as supporting economic reconciliation.
In an interview with Alberta’s Canadian Energy Centre, Karen Ogen also said: “It’ll help boost our Canadian economy, it’ll help B.C.’s economy, and most specifically it will help the Indigenous people and our economy. If we’re the most disadvantaged population living in poverty, then this should help our people get out of poverty. . . . “Everyone wins if Canada can get into the game.”
Then our latest Alliance blog, courtesy of Resource Works, underlined how Biden’s freeze has generated new hope for expansion of Canada’s LNG capacity and exports to follow.
“The Canadian LNG sector can now rightly show it is going to be exporting the cleanest LNG in the world when it finally does get the first shipment to market very soon.”
However, Canada’s energy minister said Biden’s freeze is “doing the right thing.”
Emissions cap? Join our webinar
The Business Council of Canada sees Ottawa’s cap on oil/gas emissions causing ‘broad-based economic shock.’ Now catch our free webinar on Feb. 21. Our experts look at what impact Ottawa’s cap on oil and gas emissions would have on the Canadian economy — and on First Nations. Register via the QR code in the graphic above, or https://ow.ly/yK1150QqJWx
New workshops for women’s gathering
Just added: more workshops to the 2024 Nation2Nation Women’s Gathering, April 25-26 at Prince Rupert. See workshop details — and registration — at https://ow.ly/SJKG50QB7zk. Early-bird prices are available until Feb. 25. The Alliance is a partner in this event.
Indigenous clean-energy news
- Empowering Indigenous leadership: a look at BC’s evolving clean-energy landscape: https://ow.ly/kROB50Qzoef
- Regulated electricity in Canada: What do First Nations need to know? From the First Nations Major Projects Coalition: https://ow.ly/OhWC50QyWpZ
- Métis Nation of Alberta’s solar project rises, north of Edmonton: https://ow.ly/BU5F50Qzo4V (Picture above)
ALSO IN THE NEWS
- Shell LNG Outlook 2024: Global demand for LNG is estimated to rise by more than 50% by 2040, but peak in the 2040s: https://ow.ly/ciF650QBaYw
- Woodfibre LNG’s Roadmap to Net Zero: Setting a new global standard to be the world’s first net-zero LNG facility. https://ow.ly/zf5K50QyyCk
- Business Council of Canada says Ottawa’s cap on oil/gas emissions would cause ‘broad-based economic shock.’ https://ow.ly/ngaU50QAcIG
- Shell CEO says LNG Canada will start commissioning later this year. ‘It’s comforting to see the progress that is being made.’ https://ow.ly/MIjK50QyLqX
- Merger with Ferus Natural Gas Fuels makes Cryopeak Canada’s largest small-scale LNG supplier, trucking containers of LNG to remote communities and industrial sites: https://ow.ly/Qnq750QylTN
- Chris Sankey: The proposed LNG terminal at Anyox B.C. sets a precedent for Indigenous relations: https://ow.ly/veiX50QzZvb
DATES
- The First Nations Major Projects Coalition’s 7th annual conference, Toronto, April 22-23: https://ow.ly/4nw750PHYCf
- The 8th Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, Nanaimo: April 24 – 26: https://ow.ly/zrnb50QsQrL
- Nation2Nation Women’s Gathering, Prince Rupert, April 25-26: https://ow.ly/P47f50Qu4MZ
- Transformation in Energy summit, Calgary, May 13-15: https://ow.ly/LPar50QtFi2
- The International Gas Research Conference, Banff, May 13-16: https://ow.ly/YCMV50Q9E6j. (Our Alliance CEO, Karen Ogen, is on the national governing body: https://igrc2024.org/)
- Forward Summit: Empowering Indigenous Economies, May 14-15, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/Ebx750QnWXf
- Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase, June 5-6, Vancouver Convention Centre: https://ow.ly/uiop50QjxVH
- National Coalition of Chiefs Energy and Natural Resource Summit, June 9-10, Tsuut’ina Nation, near Calgary: https://ow.ly/ch9u50PTw7X?
- Forward Summit East, Sept. 25-26, Orillia ON; https://ow.ly/i65h50QnWYR
- Forward Summit West Coast, Oct. 22-23, Vancouver: https://ow.ly/qvu650QnX0B
Know someone who might be interested in our newsletter? Please let them know that they can subscribe here, for free. You’ll also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).
