For those who follow me on LinkedIn or who have read my past Western Standard articles, it is no secret that I believe that both former prime minister Stephen Harper and the incumbent Justin Trudeau got it wrong by insisting Canada walk away from its immense coal resources.I am writing this article to implore my fellow Canadians to stop with the insanity of forcing through the end of coal power policies by 2030. While Alberta has already eliminated the last of its fleet of coal generators, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have not.The choice to move away from coal power generation should be based on economics, fuel supply sovereignty considerations and a transparent cost versus benefit analysis of alternatives. Instead, we see arbitrary timelines, like the magical 2030 date, being politically decided without reference to feasibility, the effects or the need for proper public consultation and consensus.I would argue that now that Alberta is now in a precarious position, having just decommissioned the last of its coal fleet this summer. That means its despatchable power supply is almost entirely dependent on natural gas power generation. That means in turn that any disruption in the reliable distribution of natural gas through regional pipelines during intense Arctic storms will result in rolling blackouts.You didn't know that? Folks, natural gas pipelines commonly fail during extreme-demand events.In the January Arctic blast that almost knocked out the Alberta grid, the US northwest’s natural gas network froze up and millions of retail customers were without access to natural gas.Let us pray this unthinkable scenario does not occur in Alberta under future -40 C wind chills.Furthermore, let us not forget that Alberta’s legacy coal power plants each had a coal mine located in their backyard. This independence of fuel supply gave them enhanced climate resiliency.Another reason for writing this first in a series of articles on the need to embrace pragmatism on coal policy, is to implore Canadians to reject the Liberal and NDP calls to ban thermal coal exports.Earlier this summer, I wrote a LinkedIn article on the Federal NDP’s Bill C-383, which calls for an outright ban on thermal coal exports from Canada. This Bill has now been adopted by the federal Liberal Party.I argued that Bill C-383’s call to ban thermal coal is simply just another attempt to contain Alberta’s rapid rise in economic power, given virtually all thermal coal exports from Canada are from Alberta.Note that thermal coal is the grade of coal used in power generation, which differs from metallurgical grade coal (aka met-coal) by having a lower carbon content.Met-coal is primarily used to make steel and versus thermal coal, has a 15% higher CO2 emission factor per tonne.Arguably, met-coal is the very foundation of modern life, for without met-coal, we have no steel.Bill C-383 falsely claims that the basis to ban thermal coal exports is its emissions.If emissions reductions were the motivation, it would be banning met-coal, for not only does met-coal result in higher emissions per tonne, but there is over 300% more met-coal exported from Canada than thermal coal.Both the NDP and Liberal Party ignores the fact that British Columbia exports virtually all of Canada’s met-coal, just as they ignore the fact that Alberta is the primary exporter of Canada thermal coal. Furthermore, Bill C-383 ignores that there are seven new met-coal mines are being advanced through the permitting process in BC and only 1 in Alberta.Enough is enough on the hypocrisy of Canadian thermal versus met-coal. The only thing being accomplished here is disinformation, discrimination and division..Meanwhile, as the NDP and Liberals are lying and turning Canadian provinces against each other, China is expanding its coal mining capacity from 4 billion tonnes today to 5 billion tonnes by 2030. In fact, by 2030, China will produce 5 out of every 7.5 units of coal mined globally.Meanwhile, Canada exported a mere 35 million tonnes of coal in 2022.Additionally, China is leading the Asian market’s $650 billion investment in coal gasification infrastructure by 2030.Note that historically coal gasification technologies were used by Nazi Germany to fuel their war machine during WWII. It is the capital intensive go-to-technology when a nation, rich in coal and poor in oil reserves, feels its access to international crude oil markets is threatened militarily.As the name implies, coal gasification is a process that converts solid coal into a synthetic gas that can be then used create synthetic oil, refined fuels, plastics and other petrochemicals.China has an insatiable appetite for plastic and that''s why it dominates this global market. One cannot corner the solar panel market, without also producing the large quantities of the petrochemically derived plastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, acrylics, polycarbonates and polypropylene that are used in their construction.I bring up solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies in this topic, for many public relations agencies, like Alberta’s Pembina Institute, will argue that China’s massive growth in solar PV power generation is proof that its economy is transitioning away from coal.The problem with this claim, is highlighted in Our World in Data, which shows that the year-over-year growth in coal energy consumed in China during 2023 was 280% larger than the growth in their consumption rate of solar PV energy.The more solar PV China manufactures, the more coal mines it will have to open.Listen folks, I don’t fault China for using their massive coal reserves.The average per capita consumption of electricity in China is still half of what the average Canadian consumes. Wealth and quality of life scales in proportion to per capita electricity consumption.That is a fact.With the rapidly escalating prospects of a great power conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, coal has become the center-piece of China’s geopolitical energy policy framework.In closing, I argue that those advocating Canadians to turn our back on coal are being disingenuous or are extremely naive or both.If our homegrown climate zealots truly wanted to reduce the CO2 emissions of Canadians, they should start by advocating that we re-shore our heavy industry and eliminate the $60 billion trade deficit we had with China in 2023.Let us all strive to be much more honest on this topic and embrace common sense on coal as a prerequisite for modern existence.
For those who follow me on LinkedIn or who have read my past Western Standard articles, it is no secret that I believe that both former prime minister Stephen Harper and the incumbent Justin Trudeau got it wrong by insisting Canada walk away from its immense coal resources.I am writing this article to implore my fellow Canadians to stop with the insanity of forcing through the end of coal power policies by 2030. While Alberta has already eliminated the last of its fleet of coal generators, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have not.The choice to move away from coal power generation should be based on economics, fuel supply sovereignty considerations and a transparent cost versus benefit analysis of alternatives. Instead, we see arbitrary timelines, like the magical 2030 date, being politically decided without reference to feasibility, the effects or the need for proper public consultation and consensus.I would argue that now that Alberta is now in a precarious position, having just decommissioned the last of its coal fleet this summer. That means its despatchable power supply is almost entirely dependent on natural gas power generation. That means in turn that any disruption in the reliable distribution of natural gas through regional pipelines during intense Arctic storms will result in rolling blackouts.You didn't know that? Folks, natural gas pipelines commonly fail during extreme-demand events.In the January Arctic blast that almost knocked out the Alberta grid, the US northwest’s natural gas network froze up and millions of retail customers were without access to natural gas.Let us pray this unthinkable scenario does not occur in Alberta under future -40 C wind chills.Furthermore, let us not forget that Alberta’s legacy coal power plants each had a coal mine located in their backyard. This independence of fuel supply gave them enhanced climate resiliency.Another reason for writing this first in a series of articles on the need to embrace pragmatism on coal policy, is to implore Canadians to reject the Liberal and NDP calls to ban thermal coal exports.Earlier this summer, I wrote a LinkedIn article on the Federal NDP’s Bill C-383, which calls for an outright ban on thermal coal exports from Canada. This Bill has now been adopted by the federal Liberal Party.I argued that Bill C-383’s call to ban thermal coal is simply just another attempt to contain Alberta’s rapid rise in economic power, given virtually all thermal coal exports from Canada are from Alberta.Note that thermal coal is the grade of coal used in power generation, which differs from metallurgical grade coal (aka met-coal) by having a lower carbon content.Met-coal is primarily used to make steel and versus thermal coal, has a 15% higher CO2 emission factor per tonne.Arguably, met-coal is the very foundation of modern life, for without met-coal, we have no steel.Bill C-383 falsely claims that the basis to ban thermal coal exports is its emissions.If emissions reductions were the motivation, it would be banning met-coal, for not only does met-coal result in higher emissions per tonne, but there is over 300% more met-coal exported from Canada than thermal coal.Both the NDP and Liberal Party ignores the fact that British Columbia exports virtually all of Canada’s met-coal, just as they ignore the fact that Alberta is the primary exporter of Canada thermal coal. Furthermore, Bill C-383 ignores that there are seven new met-coal mines are being advanced through the permitting process in BC and only 1 in Alberta.Enough is enough on the hypocrisy of Canadian thermal versus met-coal. The only thing being accomplished here is disinformation, discrimination and division..Meanwhile, as the NDP and Liberals are lying and turning Canadian provinces against each other, China is expanding its coal mining capacity from 4 billion tonnes today to 5 billion tonnes by 2030. In fact, by 2030, China will produce 5 out of every 7.5 units of coal mined globally.Meanwhile, Canada exported a mere 35 million tonnes of coal in 2022.Additionally, China is leading the Asian market’s $650 billion investment in coal gasification infrastructure by 2030.Note that historically coal gasification technologies were used by Nazi Germany to fuel their war machine during WWII. It is the capital intensive go-to-technology when a nation, rich in coal and poor in oil reserves, feels its access to international crude oil markets is threatened militarily.As the name implies, coal gasification is a process that converts solid coal into a synthetic gas that can be then used create synthetic oil, refined fuels, plastics and other petrochemicals.China has an insatiable appetite for plastic and that''s why it dominates this global market. One cannot corner the solar panel market, without also producing the large quantities of the petrochemically derived plastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, acrylics, polycarbonates and polypropylene that are used in their construction.I bring up solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies in this topic, for many public relations agencies, like Alberta’s Pembina Institute, will argue that China’s massive growth in solar PV power generation is proof that its economy is transitioning away from coal.The problem with this claim, is highlighted in Our World in Data, which shows that the year-over-year growth in coal energy consumed in China during 2023 was 280% larger than the growth in their consumption rate of solar PV energy.The more solar PV China manufactures, the more coal mines it will have to open.Listen folks, I don’t fault China for using their massive coal reserves.The average per capita consumption of electricity in China is still half of what the average Canadian consumes. Wealth and quality of life scales in proportion to per capita electricity consumption.That is a fact.With the rapidly escalating prospects of a great power conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, coal has become the center-piece of China’s geopolitical energy policy framework.In closing, I argue that those advocating Canadians to turn our back on coal are being disingenuous or are extremely naive or both.If our homegrown climate zealots truly wanted to reduce the CO2 emissions of Canadians, they should start by advocating that we re-shore our heavy industry and eliminate the $60 billion trade deficit we had with China in 2023.Let us all strive to be much more honest on this topic and embrace common sense on coal as a prerequisite for modern existence.
