EnergyCanada plans hydropower push as Biden looks to clean up U.S. grid
Nia WilliamsAllison Lampert
5 minute read
High voltage electrical power transmission lines are photographed at night in Toronto, February 9, 2007. REUTERS/J.P. Moczulski (CANADA)/File Photo
Canada sees an opportunity in U.S. President Joe Biden s push to achieve a carbon-free electrical grid by 2035: hydropower exports.
With Canadian crude exports taking a hit from Biden s decision to scrap the Keystone XL oil pipeline, Ottawa is increasingly focused on sales of clean energy.
Around 60% of the 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed in the United States in 2019 came from fossil fuels, government data show. Biden s push to convert that to clean energy gives Canada, the world s third-largest producer of hydropower, a window to sell more hydro exports to its southern neighbour.
Highway 401, seen from above, winds through Ontario s Greenbelt. If built, Highway 413 would also cut through the protected area. Photo by Haljackey / Wikimedia Commons
The federal government’s decision this week to review the environmental impact of Ontario’s Highway 413 has delayed the project but long term, the controversial project’s fate is unclear.
In the months ahead, the federal Impact Assessment Agency will weigh what the scope of its review should be. But it’s unclear how rigorous that process will be, how long it will take, and what it might mean for the future of the 413.
“I think it s a bit of a wait and see,” said Laura Bowman of Ecojustice, an environmental group that has opposed the highway.
iPolitics AM: MPs to debate looming pipeline-shutdown order By Kady O Malley. Published on May 6, 2021 6:01am Enbridge s offices in Calgary (Mack Male via Flickr)
For the second time in two days, MPs are set to hold a special afterhours sitting to discuss an issue of critical concern to Alberta: namely the potentially imminent shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which is facing a May 12 deadline to pull the plug on its Michigan leg, courtesy of an order from state governor
Gretchen Whitmer.
As per a request from
Conservative MP Blake Richards, the emergency debate is slated to get underway after regular House proceedings wrap up, and will continue until midnight, or no further MPs rise to speak, whichever comes first.
Export Development Canada headquarters in downtown Ottawa, June 25, 2018. Photo by Alex Tétreault
A Crown corporation’s financial support to the oil and gas sector came under scrutiny Tuesday as part of a new legal opinion outlining Canada’s obligations in responding to the climate crisis.
The legal opinion, written by a professor of law and environmental policy at the University of Cambridge and an environmental law expert barrister at London-based Matrix Chambers, says governments must take steps to stop their export credit agencies from providing financial help to oil and gas projects worldwide.
If they don’t, nations could eventually find themselves at odds with their obligations in principle under customary international law, as well as international human rights law, in keeping with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN’s climate change framework, said professor Jorge Viñuales and barrister Kate Cook on May 4.