A not-for-profit advocacy group with roots in the oil sands is calling on Alberta’s UCP government to reconsider its moratorium on renewable energy approvals or risk billions of dollars in new investment and thousands of jobs..Edmonton-based Iron and Earth issued a statement on Wednesday that suggests the moratorium effectively shelves 91 projects worth $25 billion and threatens employment prospects for more than 10,000 workers..According to the group’s Executive Director, Luisa Da Silva, Iron and Earth is “perplexed” by the decision given that Alberta has been attracting more renewable energy investment than any other province in Canada. .It said the government’s moratorium puts the province’s energy future on “shaky ground” given the hundreds of billions in subsidies provided in the US under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)..Since 2022, the US has dumped $141 billion into more than 200 clean energy projects, he added. Iron and Earth is worried the moratorium could drive investment elsewhere such as to the US or other jurisdictions..“This moratorium asks everyone who is working in the clean energy sector to put their life and bills and family on pause while the government decides what to do about a booming industry that is providing underemployed, unemployed, and skilled workers with jobs,” Da Silva said..“Will workers pause their life? No. They will go where the jobs are. We are operating in a highly competitive space. How long must Alberta workers and their families wait for good, sustainable jobs?".On Aug. 3 the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) issued a pause on renewable project applications while it launches a revamp of the regulatory process. .Nathan Neudorf, Alberta's minister of affordability and utilities, said the decision was made to "provide future renewable investments with the certainty and clarity required for long-term development,” a move that was immediately hailed by the Alberta Rural Municipalities Association as a way to prevent ‘Orphan Wells 2.0’..Speaking in Vancouver on Tuesday, federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he understood the rationale for the decision but warned that Alberta presently has the most “robust” — and profitable — renewable energy market in the country..“I take the Alberta government at its word,” he said. “But it has to be cautious about not dissuading investments.”.Nonetheless, renewable industry groups are calling the decision a step backward with the potential to increase electricity rates, cost jobs, create doubts for investors and reduce revenue for municipalities and landowners..Iron and Earth was formed by laid-off oil sands workers during an oil price crash which resulted in more than 100,000 oil patch employees losing their jobs between 2015 and 2017..On its website, it says that those skills were transferable to the renewable energy industry and recognized the urgency of diversifying into these emerging technologies..It offers career training programs and localized infrastructure programs aimed at fossil fuel workers and indigenous communities, while still advocating for oil sands workers in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and the NWT..“We find the renewable energy project moratorium by the government of Alberta to be a short sighted and unnecessary decision that hurts workers and renewable energy companies and sets back net-zero planning,” the statement reads.
