Critics say Alberta renewables report contradicts government proposals for industry
CBC
Critics are asking why the Alberta government's proposed regulations on renewable power seem to have ignored the conclusions of its own utilities regulator.
"How did they end up creating the renewable regulations they introduced?" asked New Democrat environment critic Sarah Elmeligi. "The regulations do not match the content of the report."
Paul McLauchlin of Rural Municipalities Alberta agreed.
"They swung too far away from the recommendations of the [report]. I'm worried about market distortion," McLauchlin said.
On Wednesday, the Alberta Utilities Commission publicly released a report the provincial government had asked it to prepare as part of an inquiry into the impacts of Alberta's booming renewable power industry.
The government has had the report since Jan. 31.
On Feb. 28, the day before it ended a six-month moratorium on new approvals for renewables, the government introduced a set of proposed new rules for the industry.
The proposals rule out wind and solar on Alberta's best farmland, impose a 35-kilometre buffer zone around protected areas and so-called "pristine viewscapes," and would require developers to post some kind of financial security for reclamation.
In contrast, the commission's report concludes wind and solar power poses little threat to Alberta's agriculture or environment and that concerns over reclamation and "pristine viewscapes" can be largely addressed with modifications to existing rules.
Renewables are rarely sited on top-quality farmland, it says. Even if they were, says the report, they would use up less than one per cent of that land by 2041.
Reclamation of renewable sites is easier and cheaper than for other industries, the report says. And it concluded there's no consistent way to write regulations protecting a vista that may stir one person but leave another cold.
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