Despite a vow to maintain a sense of decorum Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is calling out his Alberta counterpart, Rebecca Schulz, on Twitter (“X”) over Ottawa’s draft clean electricity regulations — despite vowing not to..It comes after Environment Canada posted a series of tweets on its official account countering the Alberta government’s ‘Blackout’ ad campaign, which has been warning of blackouts under Ottawa’s proposed electricity rules.“Will the new Clean Electricity Regulations (CER) lead to blackouts? Not at all,” it said.It went on to tout “proposed flexibilities” that would allow Alberta to keep its natural gas fired power plants running “in some capacity” post-2035.To which Schulz angrily denounced what she described as “a shameful” post from both Environment Canada and Guilbeault himself, even though his name wasn’t on it..“These regs are designed to shut down natural gas. They clearly do not care about the health and safety off Albertans.”Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz .To which Guilbeault called her out — on his own Twitter ("X") account — for raising the issue on social media. “Rebecca… let’s focus on a clean energy grid in our working group, where facts matter, not on Social Media.”.The Alberta Electric System Operator had to issue two grid alerts in less than a week last August due to “challenging conditions caused by hot weather, heavy demand, a BC outage impacting imports, low wind and declining solar.”.Alberta and Ottawa are presently engaged in ‘negotiations’ over the energy rules the UCP government says could lead to rolling blackouts in the dead of winter under penalty of prosecution for government officials who ignore the rules.At issue, are provisions that would allow to operate for up to 350 hours per year in peak demand periods, which Schulz says amounts to “18 days a year.”Premier Danielle Smith has complained it wouldn’t get Albertans through -30C nights in January, never mind when the mercury hits +30C in summer.The Alberta Electric System Operator had to issue two grid alerts in less than a week last August due to “challenging conditions caused by hot weather, heavy demand, a BC outage impacting imports, low wind and declining solar.”.In September, it warned it would not be able to maintain the reliability of the power grid without more natural gas-fired generation to provide ‘back up’ for Alberta’s growing portfolio of renewable generation. Although Alberta is home to the fastest growing wind and solar generation in the country, so too are its power bills — which have nearly doubled since it retired coal fired power six years early. The last is expected to close this year, as opposed to 2030.Alberta has maintained that it can achieve a reliable and affordable net-zero power grid by 2050 — as per Canada’s commitments under the Paris Accord — but not 2035. .Within minutes of Guilbeault Tweet, Schulz countered with an “X” blast of her own. “Minister, facts do matter. Here is another one:No natural gas plant with carbon capture has achieved the level of carbon abatement demanded by your government. We will not let you plunge Albertans into the cold.”
