this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12553230

Decision by premier Danielle Smith further pits Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energy

Alberta will block renewable energy projects on “prime” agricultural land and limit the placement of wind turbines to preserve “pristine viewscapes”, a decision that increasingly pits the western Canadian province against environmental groups pushing green energy – and the companies investing in it.

The decision, announced by the premier, Danielle Smith, and utilities minister, Nathan Neudorf, on Wednesday, follows a controversial six-month ban on new renewable energy projects that is due to expire on 29 February.

Alberta’s moratorium, announced in August, left energy companies uncertain about billions in future investment, even as the region, with its clear skies and an abundance of wind, led the country in new renewable projects.

Nearly a third of Alberta’s grid is now powered by renewables and the province has shifted away from coal at a far faster rate than expected.

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[–] bl4ckblooc 44 points 9 months ago (2 children)

She is such a fucking plague on this country. If Canada was a dictatorship like all of here followers believe, she would have been rounded up and thrown in a camp last year.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

She is a plague on us all, CO2 doesn't care about provincial boundaries. My children will suffer from her decisions.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's amazing that none of them seem to know dictatorships do more than get vocal critics downvoted or maybe fired, which is what they seem the think the ~~Jews~~ Globalists are doing to them, and which proves they're in a dictatorship.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I assume the same "pristine viewscapes" bullshit will apply to oil & gas and coal mines etc. (of course it won't)

[–] NarrativeBear 15 points 9 months ago

The oil pipelines and open mines add character to the "prestige viewscapes".

The oil sands are known as a vacation spot for a reason.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

There's nothing prettier than a swath of land stripped bare with the barren limestone exposed, the pristine reflections of the sun on the undisturbed tailing ponds, the piles of black mud with lines of tire tracks running through it, with the silence broken only by intermittent booms to keep the birds from landing in the toxic sludge.

Or how about the oil derricks in the north, placed delicately in the middle of the boreal forest, within a clearcut square of stripped down below the soil, creating a beautiful bare patch 100m in every direction from the derricks.

[–] TheFeatureCreature 27 points 9 months ago (3 children)

and the province has shifted away from coal at a far faster rate than expected.

Because solar and wind are dirt cheap compared to traditional energy generation methods. Using renewable energy is, put bluntly, just good business sense. If you have plentiful sun and/or wind and you're not making use of solar or wind generation then you are pissing away good money opportunities.

But if there is one thing the conservatives love more than resisting change, it's sitting around doing nothing while they beg the federal government for more money so they can subsidize their failure of a fossil fuel sector. That entire province just evokes the mental image of repeatedly slamming your foot on a rake and complaining how much it hurts each time.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

That's such a great depiction of Alberta's politics it's both funny and tragic at the same time. Alberta (and SK for that matter) could be leading the nation in non-hydro renewables if they let the market decide, but for some reason the O&G industry needs to continue to be propped up. If only they could see the opportunity staring them in the face.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Don’t forget, all while blaming everyone else for putting the rake there

[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The year is 6000BCE. Time traveling Danielle Smith rallies against planting farms to preserve natural beauty. Insists hunting is a much more practical food source and will continue to serve humanity's needs indefinitely.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That would actually be less dumb. Being a peasant sucks, yo.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Being a hunter-gather sucks more.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Does it? You still might starve, but at least you spend your time wandering beautiful wilds and practicing your hunting skills. Depending on which biome you're in you might even have considerable leisure time.

If you think about it, so many of our videogames are like hunting and gathering. I think we evolved to like that lifestyle. Few people enjoy smacking plants to get seeds off all day, on the other hand. Or getting dicked around by a local noble.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In my opinion, renewables, especially wind mills, look incredibly aesthetically pleasing on a landscape. They are extra pretty because you know they are replacing coal/oil and how can clean energy not be amazingly beautiful in that regard?

[–] Jimmyeatsausage 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I always feel like I'm driving in the future going through wind farms

[–] arin 3 points 9 months ago

I drove thru wind farms 30 years ago in California

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

But it will be perfectly acceptable to put an oil well there which will be abandoned and left to rot after a few years I bet.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

QUIT ELECTING MORONS, you morons.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Literally nobody in the public voted for her in the first term at least.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. Politicians just come in to existence already in power? This explains so much.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nope. Originally her party was elected when somebody else was at the helm, and then when Jason Kenney retired, she was just kind of put there.

Literally no one in the public voted for her originally.

I'm in Alberta but I vote NDP.

Before he left, Kenney was actually warning that the crazies were trying to take over. Hell, we thought Kenney was crazy. Turns out he was right about this one thing.

[–] Cort 14 points 9 months ago

How many farmers will this piss off? Like seriously. I'm south of the border and any farmer that likes making money LOVES renting out a tiny portion of their land to turbine companies for all that sweet passive income.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Because when the oil industry does it to more than 140 thousand square kilometers that's fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The decision, announced by the premier, Danielle Smith, and utilities minister, Nathan Neudorf, on Wednesday, follows a controversial six-month ban on new renewable energy projects that is due to expire on 29 February.

Alberta’s moratorium, announced in August, left energy companies uncertain about billions in future investment, even as the region, with its clear skies and an abundance of wind, led the country in new renewable projects.

Smith said that the new rules reflect what she called “errors” in the way liability for oil and gas companies was structured in the past – and has since led to mounting crisis in the province as officials contend with roughly 170,000 “orphaned” oilwell sites.

In order to preserve its vast open prairie landscapes and sight lines of the Rocky Mountains, the province will put in buffer zones at least 35 kilometres (22 miles) separating what the government believes is a “pristine viewscape” and wind turbines.

Neudorf admitted there was no “universal definition” of the term, but cited other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, with rules surrounding buffer zones.

Neudorf also said the policy would apply to the “vertical footprint” of all wind turbines – but that other industries that physically alter the landscape, such as coal projects or clearcut logging, would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.


The original article contains 617 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Wow, so not only is this a direct attack on renewables, but non renewables that fall under the same situation are too be reviewed case by case?

Wild