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Alberta

Alberta announces second waste-to-energy facility near Edmonton to join Central Alberta plant at Innisfail

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This waste-to-energy facility also built by Norway’s Varme Energy will be located in an industrial area outside of Birmingham, UK

With $2.8 million from the industry-funded TIER program, Alberta’s government is advancing Canada’s first industrial-scale waste-to-energy facility using technology.

Less than three per cent of municipal waste in Canada is currently being converted into energy, and none of these existing projects are capturing and storing their carbon dioxide emissions. With landfills accounting for 23 per cent of methane emissions in Canada, municipalities and corporations across the country are looking for innovative ways to reach their landfill diversion and sustainability targets.

Alberta’s government is providing $2.8 million through Emissions Reduction Alberta for a $6.1-million front-end engineering and design study led by Varme Energy. This funding helps get Canada’s first facility that uses carbon capture to turn municipal waste into clean electricity closer to construction.

“Alberta is a global leader in carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, and the best place for innovative projects like this one to thrive. Varme Energy is tapping into our province’s exceptional geology, workforce and expertise to advance a landfill elimination solution that will reduce emissions and continue Alberta’s reputation for delivering clean, secure energy to the world.”

Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas

“Alberta is a leader in responsible energy development. I am proud to see our government continue to invest in new, innovative technologies that will help ensure our power grid is affordable, reliable and sustainable for generations to come.”

Nathan Neudorf, Minister of Affordability and Utilities

The future facility will be built on Gibson Energy land within the Designated Industrial Zone in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, with operations estimated to begin in 2027. Here, solid waste from municipal landfills will be converted into electricity for the grid, with the captured carbon injected into one of Alberta’s carbon sequestration hubs. The facility is expected to capture and store about 185,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

“Emissions Reduction Alberta is proud to provide provincial funding to this first-in-Canada project. The study is an important first step to realizing a large-scale municipal waste-to-energy facility with carbon capture and storage. This project not only reduces emissions, but also sets a new standard for how we provide clean, reliable energy from waste destined for landfills.”

Justin Riemer, CEO, Emissions Reduction Alberta

By incorporating carbon capture into the waste-to-energy process, all of the greenhouse gas emissions that are typically released from a waste-to-energy facility will instead be captured and sequestered underground. This helps reduce methane emissions from waste that would normally decompose at the landfill, and ensures all carbon is captured and stored deep in the earth, creating a carbon-negative system where the process stores more carbon dioxide than it emits.

“We are thrilled at how Varme has been embraced by Alberta. The magnitude of support, encouragement and collaboration we’ve received from the Government of Alberta, and Albertans at large, has been beyond our expectations. This direct provincial financial support is a significant de-risk that will help bring our project to a positive final investment decision. Emissions Reduction Alberta’s support demonstrates how Alberta’s TIER carbon pricing system is a powerful tool for converting our historical emissions levies into future emissions reductions, modern jobs and economic activity.”

Sean Collins, CEO, Varme Energy

Quick facts

  • Varme Energy’s front-end engineering and design study is expected to be completed in December 2024 with construction set to begin in 2025.
  • In addition to provincial funding support through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program, Varme Energy is working with Gibson Energy, the City of Edmonton and the Canada Growth Fund to advance this project, with the ultimate goal of diverting more than 200,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste away from landfills each year.
  • Canada currently processes about 26 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually.
  • Through the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line and Quest carbon capture, utilization and storage projects, Alberta has safely sequestered more than 13.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to date, which is equivalent to the emissions from 2.9 million cars per year.
  • McKinsey projects that annual global investment in carbon capture, utilization and storage could reach $175 billion by 2035, with the majority of these investments in hard-to-abate sectors and the power sector.

Alberta

Danielle Smith confirms Alberta will introduce bill to ban men from competing in womenā€™s sports

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Proposed legislation would apply to ‘all competitive women’s and girls’ sports and all provincial sporting organizations as well as in our schools and postsecondary competitive sporting divisions,’ the Alberta premier said.

Alberta will soon introduce a law that bans gender-confused men from competing in women’s sports, Premier Danielle Smith announced.

“As it pertains to women and girls in competitive sports, proposed legislation will be tabled that prohibits individuals born biologically male from competing against women and girls in competitive sporting competitions,” Smith said earlier in the week in an announcement on her X account.

The new law will mean that women and girls in the province will be protected from having to compete against biological men who claim to be women in all sporting scenarios.

Smith, who leads the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP), said the new law will apply to “all competitive women’s and girls’ sports and all provincial sporting organizations as well as in our schools and postsecondary competitive sporting divisions.”

Smith noted that her government would “support the formation of additional” and possibly transgender-only “coed and recreational divisions so that all athletes have as many opportunities as possible to compete in their sport of choice.”

Smith said that before her new bill is tabled in the legislature she is looking to “depoliticize the discussion and focus on the well-being of the children and youth most affected by these policies.”

Earlier in the year, she said her government was looking to bring forth legislation banning gender-confused men from competing in women’s sports.

Alberta’s new law prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports comes after studies have repeatedly revealed that gender-confused males have a considerable advantage over women in athletics.

Indeed, a recent study published in Sports Medicine found that a year of transgender hormone drugs results in “very modest changes” in the inherent strength advantages of men.

The news of the new bill also comes as the UCP looks to November to bring forth a resolution that calls on the government to introduce a law protecting “female spaces” for biological females and their children.

The UCP under Smith wants to bring forth laws focusing on parental rights as well as protecting Albertans’ general rights.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, part of Smith’s new bill would allow parents to opt their children into sexual education lessons rather than opt them out.

LifeSiteNews recently reported on forthcoming legislation to be introduced by the UCP that includes a provision that would cement parental rights as a “God-given right,” with the goal to prevent government overreach into parents raising kids.

It is expected that the UCP government will introduce its new “Bill of Rights” this fall. The bill contains a slew of pro-freedom proposals, including enshrining the “right to life” into law from “conception, gestation in the womb.”

The bill also includes a section that guarantees each citizen has the “right” to medical “informed consent” as well as the “right” to “refuse vaccinations.”

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Alberta

Danielle Smith hits back at Liberal ā€˜genderā€™ minister who attacked Albertaā€™s pro-family legislation

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The Alberta premier fact-checked pro-LGBT Minister of Women and Gender Equality Marci Ien’s condemnation of pro-family legislation, pointing out that children who undergo irreversible gender surgeries and drugs suffer from the repercussions for life.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blasted a Liberal minister for spreading the false claim that legislation will hurt gender-confused kids.

In an Oct. 1 exchange on X, formerly known as Twitter, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fact-checked  pro-LGBT Minister of Women and Gender Equality Marci Ien’s condemnation of pro-family legislation, pointing out that children who undergo irreversible gender surgeries and drugs suffer from the repercussions for life.

“Premier Smith is doubling down on her plans to target trans youth,” Ien had written. “She says this conversation is only for ‘adults.’ That’s because she knows that if she listened to the people affected by these policies, she would have to face how many kids she is hurting.”

“Do you mean like listening to children going through this, @MarciIen?” Smith questioned, linking to a National Post article highlighting the pain and regret by detransitioners who made irreversible decision to take drugs and surgeries to change their bodies as young teens.

Later, Smith doubled down on her stance, saying, “In Alberta, we believe children should wait until adulthood before making physical changes to their body.”

“Furthermore, we believe in the rights of loving parents to be meaningfully engaged with their children’s education when sensitive issues are taught,” she continued. “And women and girls deserve the opportunity to compete fairly and safely in female-only divisions.”

Smith’s new legislation, which will take effect later this month, far surpasses other provinces in its protection of children and would make Alberta’s parental rights laws the strongest in the country.

Licensed doctors are prohibited from performing sex-change surgeries on youth under age 18 in Alberta. Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will be prohibited for minors under the age of 16 unless the minors have already begun taking those drugs.

Those “born biologically male” will be prohibited from competing against women and girls in competitive sports. Parental opt-in will be required for “each instance” a teacher wishes to discuss gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality.

Parental notification is required for “socially transitioning” a student — that is, changing a student’s given name or pronouns. Unfortunately, 16- and 17-year-olds are still allowed to decide to change their name or pronouns in school, but parents must be notified.

While Smith has received severe backlash from LGBT activists, she revealed in February that the new legislation was a result of hearing of the horrors that took place at the U.K.’s Tavistock Centre, the National Health Service’s “gender clinic” for children who believe they are “transgender.”

In 2019, the clinic was exposed for approving “life-changing medical intervention” for children and teens “without sufficient evidence of its long-term effects.” Shortly after, the clinic was forced to shut down.

Smith was especially touched by the story of Keira Bell, who was given puberty blockers and testosterone injections by the Tavistock clinic and underwent a double mastectomy at age 20. She now “very seriously regrets the process” and has joined a lawsuit against the clinic.

Unfortunately, Bell’s story is not unique, as overwhelming evidence reveals that those who undergo so-called “gender transitioning” are more likely to commit suicide than those who are not given irreversible surgery. A Swedish study found that those who underwent so-called “gender reassignment” surgery ended up with a 19.2 times greater risk of suicide.

In fact, in addition to asserting a false reality that one’s sex can be changed, transgender surgeries and drugs have been linked to permanent physical and psychological damage, including cardiovascular diseasesloss of bone densitycancerstrokes and blood clotsinfertility, and suicidality.

Indeed, there is proof that the most loving and helpful approach to people who think they are a different sex is not to validate them in their confusion but to show them the truth.

A new study on the side effects of transgender “sex change” surgeries discovered that 81 percent of those who had undergone “sex change” surgeries in the past five years reported experiencing pain simply from normal movement in the weeks and months that followed — and that many other side effects manifest as well.

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