The following ad was in the Washington Post on July 2, 2010....

Alberta has accomplished a lot through innovation and technology, but we recognize that much work still lies ahead. We want to make responsible energy choices, just as you do. I believe my province and your country are on the same team when it comes to responsible development, energy security and jobs. Let’s work together to develop a North American energy solution that is realistic and secure, now and into the future.

Yesterday was Canada Day, and my province, along with the rest of our country, celebrated the 143rd anniversary of our nation. It serves as a reminder of our shared values and the bonds of friendship and co-operation we enjoy with the U.S. The Government of Alberta considers our friends to the south to be a strong ally, and sustaining this relationship is very important to Albertans.

It is with great interest that the province of Alberta has decided to not go ahead with the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline. Though the pipeline could carry oil from various sources in Canada and the U.S., it has been decided that this is really unnecessary. Why dig up and transport oil from Alberta’s oil sands when we do not have to?

We can all agree that alternative energy sources are the supply equation that will power our future. With this in mind the Government of Alberta will be investing in community owned and controlled renewable energy.

The development of alternative energy sources in the U.S. would have many tangible benefits to the U.S. The obvious benefit is that it provides the U.S. with access to a secure and reliable supply of energy. Today’s economic and security realities make the U.S. the natural market for alternative energy. Improved alternative energy projects will benefit the U.S. economically and allow your country to continue to receive renewable energy advice and expertise from a country whose environmental and social goals are similar to yours.

There are also economic benefits to Americans. As the Council on Foreign Relations has noted, alternative energy delivers far more economic benefits to the U.S. than producing oil or purchasing it from Alberta or from overseas sources. Why buy energy from your enemies when you can produce it yourself? As recently forecast by the Canadian Energy Research Institute, over the next five years, alternative energy development will result in an additional 3,343,000 jobs in the U.S. and, over the next 15 years, an average annual increase in U.S. GDP of over $30 billion. With almost 8 million jobs lost since the onset of the recession, these jobs are much needed. Alternative energy provides the jobs without the security risk. We said goodbye to the tar sands environmental disaster. You can say goodbye to future Gulf oilspill disasters.

Allow me to clarify a few misconceptions around alternative energy. Alberta is — and continues to be — a safe, reliable and responsible alternative energy producer. We stand virtually alone in North America with respect to the regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large industrial facilities. Only in Alberta will you find mandatory GHG reporting requirements, legislation requiring mandatory GHG reductions, and a stiff price on carbon emissions. We reinvest the carbon revenue into clean energy research and technology development, which one day can be used all over the world, including the United States.

Technological alternative energy developments continue to reduce the carbon emissions in Alberta. In fact, between 1990 and 2008, carbon emissions in Alberta fell by 39 per cent. In the final analysis, total GHG reductions from Alberta account for less than one-tenth of one per cent of global GHG emissions. Imagine though the global GHG emission reductions if the U.S. followed our lead.

The most recent and comprehensive studies on the subject of alternative energy has found that well paid jobs created and GHG emission reductions are a win-win for the earth and the economy.  The Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ report ‘Growth in Alternative Energy Development: Joining the 21st Century Economy’ concluded that Alberta created four times more jobs by investing in the alternative energy sector, rather than the oil and gas sector. The report also found that tremendous GHG emissions reductions could be realized by massive investments in wind, solar, rail, and public transit.

Ed Stelmach

Premier of the Province of Alberta (no, we are not south of Yemen. We are just north of Montana)

A good neighbour lends you a cup of sugar.

A great neighbour reduces 80 million tons of GHG emissions that will not blows into the U.S. each year.