Climate draft allows spike in oil-sands emissions

Greenhouse-gas emissions from Alberta’s oil sands would be allowed to rise dramatically under a draft version of the government’s long-anticipated climate-change plan obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The internal documents appear to underestimate significantly future oil-sands development as a way of producing more positive figures, said two environmentalists who analyzed the documents for The Globe.
The draft plan has many similarities with what was proposed in 2005 by the Liberal government and is clearly meant to show an improvement over that plan. While the rules for industry would take effect in 2010 — two years later than the Liberal plan — the specific reduction targets for each sector are deeper for most industrial sectors under the draft Conservative plan.

Environment Minister John Baird has promised to unveil regulations before the end of March that will force every sector of Canadian industry to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

Globe and Mail