Environment audit urges crackdown on energy producers: Government leadership, planning and performance inadequate: report
Byline: Mike De Souza OTTAWA -- Federal environment commissioner Johanne Gelinas has used an embarrassing audit of the former Liberal government's failure to adequately address climate change to send a wake-up call urging the Conservative government to act swiftly against a pending crisis. In an audit released Thursday, Gelinas said the Liberals had announced over $6 billion worth of climate-change programs and spending initiatives since 1997, with no effective system to track expenditures, performance and results. "At a government-wide level, our audits revealed inadequate leadership, planning and performance," Gelinas said in her report. "To date, the approach has lacked foresight and direction and has created confusion and uncertainty for those trying to deal with it. Many of the weaknesses identified in our audits are of the government's own making. It has not been effective in leading and deciding on many of the key areas under its control. Change is needed." Gelinas also called for short- and long-term targets for reductions in greenhouse gases, including a crackdown on Canada's booming oil and gas industry, which has seen its emissions rise by nearly 50 per cent above 1990 levels. "Emissions resulting from the increased exploitation of the oilsands (in Alberta) could double by 2015, cancelling out any other efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, Voluntary mechanisms and financial incentives are not working." Her suggestions could cause political headaches for the Conservatives, who hold all 28 federal seats in Alberta. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose was unavailable to comment on the report because she was in Calgary for a series of closed-door meetings with oil and gas industry representatives to discuss her upcoming environmental plan announcement. "The minister's out on consultations," said Treasury Board President John Baird, who reacted to the report on behalf of the government. "She's worked tremendously hard. She inherited a mess in the environment, and she'll be coming forward in October with our plan." An industry spokesperson said Canada's oil producers will accept new regulations, as long as other sectors such as auto manufacturers also are forced to meet targets. "We are prepared to do our part, but we will only do so in the context of a series of principles that we can look to, that no one sector is being asked to take on a bigger burden than others," said Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers following a two-hour meeting with Ambrose and other Conservative ministers. "The energy industry creates GHGs (greenhouse gases) through its energy production activities to meet a market, and that market is one that continues to grow every year." Alvarez described the meeting as positive, but said no commitments were made by the government. Gelinas noted that Canada is in desperate need of a plan to deal with the impact of climate change in many regions and sectors of the economy. The threats include the spread of pests and diseases, drought in the prairies, melting permafrost and destabilized infrastructure in the North, rising sea levels and more intense storms on the coasts, and more extreme heat and smog in large urban centres, she said. "On the basis of this year's work, I am more troubled than ever by the federal government's long-standing failure to confront one of the greatest challenges of our time," said Gelinas. "Our future is at stake." The comments contradicted remarks by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who questioned the dire warnings from the scientific community about global warming earlier in the week. "It's a complicated subject that is evolving," Harper told Le Devoir in an interview published Wednesday. "We have difficulties in predicting the weather in one week or even tomorrow, imagine in a few decades." _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
