Canada Talk » Alberta is Canada's top polluter

hallo

wenn diese infos mal zu viel werden - die aus kanadischen zeeiitungen staammen, dann sagt bescheid - ich finde es aber wichtig und die leetzte diskussion zeigte jaa, dass es viele interessiert

Alberta is Canada's top polluter, survey finds
Province's industry generated 40 per cent of climate-warming gases in 2005
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Alberta industries were Canada's top greenhouse-gas emitters in 2005, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of all the climate-warming gases released that year by major corporations, a survey compiled by two environmental groups says.

The survey, based on an analysis of pollution data filed by companies to Environment Canada, found that Alberta businesses far outpaced those of the next-biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, Ontario, which accounted for 28 per cent of the total, and third-ranked Saskatchewan, with 8 per cent.

The results, to be released today, show that when it comes to corporate greenhouse-gas releases, Alberta is in a league of its own and would be the most affected by any federal regulations that would cut industrial emissions of gases blamed for global warming.

"The greenhouse-gas story in Alberta is a story about two things. No. 1 is the tar sands, the other is coal" used for electricity generation, said Aaron Freeman, policy director at Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based conservation group that, along with the Canadian Environmental Law Association, compiled the survey.

In the ranking of individual industrial plants that emit greenhouse gases, Alberta also dominates, with seven of the 10 biggest polluters in the country. Besides plants operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. in the tar sands, the province has five fossil-fuel-fired generating stations in the top 10.

Ontario has two facilities in that group: the Nanticoke generating station operated by Ontario Power Generation, the country's largest single source of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas; and the fifth-ranked Lambton generating station, also operated by OPG. Both stations burn coal, one of the most dirty sources of energy, to produce electricity.

Mr. Freeman said Alberta's position relative to other provinces could worsen dramatically in the years ahead if the many oil sands developments now on the drawing boards there are built, and if the Ontario government fulfills a long-standing election pledge to shutter its coal-fired power plants.

"You'd see a growing cleavage between Alberta and the rest of Canada," Mr. Freeman said.

The survey also found that Alberta's industries led the country in 2005 in the releases of conventional air pollutants, substances such as smog-causing nitrogen oxides and small particulate matter linked to respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis.

Saskatchewan companies were also relatively big greenhouse-gas emitters in 2005, with larger discharges than all the businesses in Quebec, a province with a population more than seven times larger. Saskatchewan ranks so high because it relies heavily on coal for generating electricity, while Quebec generates most of its power from cleaner hydro electricity.

All major companies in Canada are required to file annual emission data with Environment Canada showing how much pollution they release into the country's air, water and soil.

About half of all greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada are released by industries. Environmentalists are zeroing in on these releases because they believe it would be easier for governments to pass regulations controlling pollution from a handful of major companies than to convince millions of motorists to drive less or purchase more fuel-efficient cars.

"If you deal with the biggest emitters first, I think you would deal with a significant portion of the problem," said Fe de Leon, a researcher at the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

The Harper government says it favours placing industries under intensity targets when it comes to greenhouse gases. Under these targets, companies would have to ensure that emissions for each unit of output decline over time.