Energy expert warns of 'slow atrophying of Alberta', referendum, if Carney advances net zero polices

Dennis McConaghy, a Canadian energy author with nearly 40 years of experience in infrastructure development, warns of a 'slow atrophying of Alberta' if Prime Minister Mark Carney imposes an emissions cap on the province’s oil and gas sector.

McConaghy suggested Carney faces a dilemma between his net-zero ideology and the need for resource revenue to sustain the country.

“The most provocative thing he can do is the emission reduction cap,” McConaghy told the Western Standard. “(Companies) will just contract the amount of oil they’re producing if they had to comply with these emission reductions, and that would contract economic activity in the province.”

Global demand for oil and gas persists despite net-zero policies, McConaghy said, calling a proposed emissions cap “a grim thing to contemplate.”

“It’s so insane to even think about it — I am sure that Mark Carney has got a terrible set of trade-offs in front of him, because he can’t actually afford to lose the economic contributions of that export, and yet, at the same time, he is personally, and not just himself personally, but his entire constituency of people who voted for him, for the most part, empathize with a green agenda,” said McConaghy.

McConaghy noted that 14 oil and gas CEOs sent an open letter to federal party leaders before the April election, urging regulatory reforms to boost investment and infrastructure in the sector. The letter cited global energy security and public support for expanding Canada’s energy exports.

The CEOs demanded an overhaul of Bill C-69, dubbed the “No More Pipelines Act” by critics, and the repeal of the West Coast oil tanker ban, among other measures.

“If Carney rejects all that, and to date, he’s shown every indication that he would, that’s like rejecting the demands of the Canadian oil industry, and frankly, the demands of really, what I would say conservative Alberta,” said McConaghy.

“And I think in that environment, there would be some form of (referendum) within Alberta, if it was that stark, as to what Alberta is going to do. The idea that you’re going to grow this country through green projects is ridiculous in a world that can’t afford green projects.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she will fight the federal government on an emissions cap.