A woman in rural China gets ready to make dinner. She starts with food prep, then reaches for her fuel source to begin cooking.
Her options: likely wood or coal.
As she cooks, she is probably not aware that nearly half a million people in China who cook with wood or coal have an increased risk of major eye diseases that lead to blindness.
This was detailed in a University of Oxford study that also showed nearly half of the world’s population (that’s 3.8 billion people) is exposed to household air pollution from cooking with “dirty” solid fuels like wood or coal.
Even if she knew all this, what other choice would she have? Everyone has to prepare food for their family.
Poor air quality and its effect on human health is a significant cost to consider when using coal, but there are others as well, such as greenhouse gas emissions.
When burned for energy, coal releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If you shift from thinking about the individual cooking at home to large-scale coal burning for electricity generation, the problem becomes a major environmental concern — and a significant contributing factor to climate change.
How big is the problem?
Coal power plants produce 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than any other single source, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
This issue is important to us because that woman cooking at home could be any one of us. The difference is, we have options. With energy demand continuing to grow, the IEA reports that many countries feel they have little choice but to continue generating power with coal.
Furthermore, Canada Powered by Women research (which captures the opinions of 24% of all women in Canada) shows that the vast majority (84%) personally care about tackling climate change through global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction.
So, what exactly is the solution to this problem? It’s choice.
The solution for regions of the world that don’t have access to different types of energy is to provide alternatives to what they have today. One choice can, and should, be Canadian liquified natural gas (LNG).
(Assuming, that is, Canadian suppliers are supported enough by regulatory environments to produce and export this resource. More on this later…)
Many parts of the world — particularly Asia — want to replace coal with cleaner energy like LNG. Foreign markets such as Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and China are interested in turning to Canada as their source, over countries with less-than-stellar environmental and human rights records (not to mention uncertain political structures).
“We have incredible volumes of lower-carbon gas in B.C., and it represents an important new source of energy,” says Teresa Waddington, vice president, corporate relations at LNG Canada. “Canada is politically stable in an increasingly energy security-conscious world. We have good infrastructure and good systems in place to make sure that we are able to produce very, very reliably.”
It’s not just industry players who are on board with exporting our energy resources to foreign markets, either.
Canada is primed to take its cleaner energy options to the world — we just need the ability to get it to market.
Canadian LNG: The Same Energy for Half the Emissions
Markets around the world are interested in LNG over coal for good reason. It has half the emissions of coal for the same output of energy.
But in some Asian countries, coal-burning plants are being built at a lightning-fast pace because populations and manufacturers need rapid access to energy, Reuters reports.
“If we can displace current and future energy electricity generation and power generation with LNG, we’re taking a massive step forward,” Waddington says.
Beyond being a cleaner molecule, Canadian LNG is particularly attractive because it’s produced ethically and safely, thanks in part to strict industry regulations.
“We have the lowest methane emissions leakage anywhere in the globe,” Waddington notes.
And this is in part because Canada has highly stringent requirements for managing methane leakage — which can lead to greenhouse gas emissions and is a common concern about this kind of fuel.
“If you look across the spectrum of environment, social, governance (ESG), Canadian LNG is made with human rights at the forefront,” says Waddington.
With Support, Canada Can Lead the Global LNG Opportunity
Canada has the potential to pull ahead as a global leader in the production and export of clean energy to foreign markets — a move that would play an important role in reducing global emissions, facilitating a prosperous Canada economy and providing for those in need at home and abroad.
But that will only happen if governments offer LNG projects the support they need in the form of utility infrastructure investments and clear and fast permitting, Waddington says.
As an example, partnerships with local hydro providers to power LNG facilities is one way provincial governments can lower the carbon intensity of processing and exporting the fuel, she says.
Then of course, there’s also the potential of government incentives that inspire more investment in LNG facilities, as well as in technologies that support the production of an ever-cleaner natural gas molecule.
With technology and innovation in Canada advancing all the time, Waddington is optimistic about the opportunity ahead.
“We’re going to see Canada continue to emerge as world-leading in some of the ways that we can [reduce emissions] — as long as we keep up this momentum, supported by government.”
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‘Now that the Trans Mountain expansion is finally completed, it will provide trans-generational benefits to First Nations involved’
While many are celebrating the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project for its benefit of delivering better prices for Canadian energy to international markets, it’s important to reflect on how the project demonstrates successful economic reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
It’s easy to forget how we got here.
The history of Trans Mountain has been fraught with obstacles and delays that could have killed the project, but it survived. This stands in contrast to other pipelines such as Energy East and Keystone XL.
Starting in 2012, proponent Kinder Morgan Canada engaged in consultation with multiple parties – including many First Nation and Métis communities – on potential project impacts.
According to Trans Mountain, there have been 73,000 points of contact with Indigenous communities throughout Alberta and British Columbia as the expansion was developed and constructed. The new federal government owners of the pipeline committed to ongoing consultation during early construction and operations phase.
Beyond formal Indigenous engagement, the project proponent conducted numerous environmental and engineering field studies. These included studies drawing on deep Indigenous input, such as traditional ecological knowledge studies, traditional land use studies, and traditional marine land use studies.
At each stage of consultation, the proponent had to take into consideration this input, and if necessary – which occurred regularly – adjust the pipeline route or change an approach.
With such a large undertaking, Kinder Morgan and later Trans Mountain Corporation as a government entity had to maintain relationships with many Indigenous parties and make sure they got it right.
Trans Mountain participates in a cultural ceremony with the Shxw’ōwhámél First Nation near Hope, B.C. Photograph courtesy Trans Mountain
It was the opposite of the superficial “checklist” form of consultation that companies had long been criticized for.
While most of the First Nation and Métis communities engaged in good faith with Kinder Morgan, and later the federal government, and wanted to maximize environmental protections and ensure they got the best deal for their communities, environmentalist opponents wanted to kill the project outright from the start.
After the government took over the incomplete expansion in 2018, green activists were transparent about using cost overruns as a tactic to scuttle and defeat the project. They tried to make Trans Mountain ground zero for their anti-energy divestment crusade, targeting investors.
It is an amazing testament to importance of Trans Mountain that it survived this bad faith onslaught.
In true eco-colonialist fashion, the non-Indigenous activist community did not care that the consultation process for Trans Mountain project was achieving economic reconciliation in front of their eyes. They were “fair weather friends” who supported Indigenous communities only when they opposed energy projects.
They missed the broad support for the Trans Mountain expansion. As of March 2023, the project had signed agreements with 81 Indigenous communities along the proposed route worth $657 million, and the project has created over $4.8 billion in contracts with Indigenous businesses.
Most importantly, Trans Mountain saw the maturing of Indigenous capital as Indigenous coalitions came together to seek equity stakes in the pipeline. Project Reconciliation, the Alberta-based Iron Coalition and B.C.’s Western Indigenous Pipeline Group all presented detailed proposals to assume ownership.
Although these equity proposals have not yet resulted in a sale agreement, they involved taking that important first step. Trans Mountain showed what was possible for Indigenous ownership, and now with more growth and perhaps legislative help from provincial and federal governments, an Indigenous consortium will be eventually successful when the government looks to sell the project.
If an Indigenous partner ultimately acquires an equity stake in Trans Mountain, observers close to the negotiations are convinced it will be a sizeable stake, well beyond 10 per cent. It will be a transformative venture for many First Nations involved.
Now that the Trans Mountain expansion is finally completed, it will provide trans-generational benefits to First Nations involved, including lasting work for Indigenous companies. It will also demonstrate the victory of good faith Indigenous consultation over bad faith opposition.
Since 2000, the United States has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions more than any other country in the world. U.S. emissions are down 21 percent, while the rest of the world has increased its emissions by 47 percent. Clearly, America “showing leadership” reducing carbon dioxide emissions is leading to nothing other than the rest of the world free license to jack up their own emissions.
The Biden administration has just signed an economic suicide pact that would require the United States and six other Western democracies to shut down its coal power plants by 2035, while China, India and the rest of the world currently have more than 1,000 new coal power plants in the planning or construction phase. The no-coal pact allows all nations but the Suicidal Seven to continue using as much affordable coal power as they like.
Climate activists often point to China as a climate role model, noting that China manufactures more wind and solar power equipment than any other nation. China, however, isn’t stupid enough to use much of that equipment. Realizing that conventional energy – and especially coal power – is more affordable and reliable than wind and solar power, China manufactures wind and solar equipment, sells the equipment to America and Western Europe, and then powers its own economy primarily with coal power.
In America, government intervention has already caused the shutdown of many coal power plants and the construction of expensive wind and solar projects. In more than half the states, renewable power mandates require a certain percentage of electricity in the state to come from wind or solar. Federal laws and regulations punish coal power at nearly every step of coal mining and utilization. Massive subsidies for wind and solar allow wind and solar providers to charge substantially reduced prices for their product at taxpayers’ expense.
Even with government tipping the scale so heavily in favor of wind and solar power, the so-called green transition is coming with an enormous price tag. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there was a 21 percent increase in wind and solar power since Joe Biden took office in January 2021 through the end of 2023. At the same time, electricity prices also rose by 21 percent. Prior to Biden taking office, the long-term electricity price trend was an increase of approximately 1 percent per year. The green transition has increased the pace of electricity price inflation by 700 percent. And that doesn’t account for all the wind and solar subsidies that are hidden in our tax bills.
There is little reason to believe we are on the verge of a climate crisis. A good resource documenting this good news is ClimateRealism.com. Yet, even if a climate crisis were imminent, unilateral coal disarmament is a foolish way for America to approach carbon dioxide emissions.
Since 2000, the United States has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions more than any other country in the world. U.S. emissions are down 21 percent, while the rest of the world has increased its emissions by 47 percent. Clearly, America “showing leadership” reducing carbon dioxide emissions is leading to nothing other than the rest of the world free license to jack up their own emissions. Even if the United States and the rest of the Suicidal Seven could somehow eliminate all of their emissions, it would have little impact on the global trend.
Ultimately, Biden’s pact to eliminate American coal use will further ramp up inflation. After all, energy is an important cost component in almost every product bought and sold in the economy. In addition to the inflation impact, Biden’s pact will force American businesses into a major competitive disadvantage versus businesses in China, India, and the rest of the world, which will be paying substantially lower energy costs than American businesses.
Under Biden’s plan, we will end up sinking vast economic resources into eliminating coal power and as much carbon dioxide as possible from the American economy. Even then, we will still be looking at global emissions continuing to rise. At that point, Biden’s plan is for America to assume the lion’s share of global “climate reparations” and financial bribes to induce China, India, and the rest of the world to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. After sabotaging our own economy with higher energy prices, we will literally borrow money from China in order to then bribe China to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions.
It would be hard to think of a crazier domestic energy policy.
James Taylor ([email protected]) is president of The Heartland Institute.
Originally published by The Center Square. Republished with permission.
For more on the U.S. electric power system, click here.
Trans Mountain participates in a cultural ceremony with the Shxw’ōwhámél First Nation near Hope, B.C. Photograph courtesy Trans Mountain
