In the past year ...
Roadside Optical Vehicle Emissions Reporter III
(A Survey of On-Road Light and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions)
From the Executive Summary:
Roadside Optical Vehicle Emissions Reporter (ROVER) III emerged as an outcome of a 2015 to 2017 CASA project that examined non-point sources for emissions reduction opportunities from the transportation sector.1,2 Based on the 2014 Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory, the on-road transportation sector was projected to be:
- A large source of nitrogen oxides3 (NOx, particularly from heavy-duty diesel vehicles, followed by light duty gasoline trucks);
- A source of hydrocarbons (HC, particularly from light-duty gasoline trucks); and
- A source of particulate matter (PM2.5, particularly from heavy-duty diesel vehicles).
For the complete report, click ... here.
30 August 2023 Letter Published by The Lethbridge Herald
Greenhouse Gas Emission Crisis Warrants Lifestyle Change
Humans with their industrial achievements must make decisions which are in the long term interest of life for all species. Humans are adding more greenhouse gases (GHG) mainly carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere than ever before. The best data- based studies indicate that these emissions are impacting climate and life on the globe.
[...]
How do we meet our energy demand and reduce fossil fuels? Our lifestyle options have to change quickly. We know what we have to do. Can we globally cooperate and act on it?
We are left with two choices:
1. Emit even more GHGs with fossil fuel to produce the required alternative energy within 40 years. This will have predictable negative consequences to the climate, life and our lifestyle. What will be the effect on water and food production?
2. Speed up the reduction of the use of fossil fuels and GHG emissions with drastic negative impacts on our lifestyle.
We got only a taste of that in the COVID-19 year, 2020. We have created a GHG crisis which cannot be countered without impacting our lifestyle. GHG emission is a crisis if we do not respond to it.
The future has arrived. Good news: We will just come down from our high lifestyle to meet the conditions we have created: More good local living.
To read the entire Letter, click ... here.
26 August 2023 SAGE Comment
Pausing Renewable Energy Projects in Alberta
Recently, the UCP government decided to pause the development of renewable energy in the province for seven months. Though there have been a series of excuses tested for public acceptance, the UCP seem to have settled on the need for better planning of the electricity grid to accommodate intermittent electricity production. Though there have been other reasons floated from end-of-life restoration of land and aesthetics, the two main issues appear to be: grid stability and transmission capacity.
Electricity is a carrier of energy that is used to do work or provide light and heat. It is important to note that electricity is not a primary form of energy. As such, it is unlike primary energy sources like hydropower, nuclear power, wind and solar power, and fossil fuels like coal, oil & natural gas. Electricity is a technology that moves energy from where it is generated (using primary sources) to where it is used. The ‘grid’ is a web of transmission lines that accomplish this task, with large lines at the point of generation and becoming smaller as they fan out to the users dispersed throughout the province.
To read more, click ... here.
26 August 2023 Letter published by The Lethbridge Herald
Precaution & Planning are Good
The decision by the UCP government to pause the development of renewable energy in the province for seven months is mystifying. Though there have been a series of excuses tested for public acceptance, the UCP seem to have settled on the need for better planning of the electricity grid to accommodate intermittent electricity production. One has to wonder what amount of planning (required for the transition to a low-emission grid) has actually been done by successive governments over the past quarter-century, the span of time since it has been known that global emissions must be reduced to net-zero by 2050. Nevertheless, that this notion has only recently filtered through to the UCP government is dismaying. That it was so sudden a revelation that a pause of renewable energy development was initiated without consultation or planning with the industry is nothing short of astonishing.
But, to be charitable, planning is good. And we should be grateful that the UCP has discovered the importance of it.
Planning might have been useful when the UCP government rescinded the Coal Policy endangering our water quality, or decided to close or privatize a number of provincial parks. ...
For the complete Letter, click ... here.
04 May 2023
Open Letter on Environmental Policy in Alberta
The future of Albertans will be based on a healthy and resilient environment: Water flowing in our rivers must meet instream flows and water quality levels necessary for long-term health of aquatic ecosystems and humans dependent upon them; biodiversity must be preserved to maintain the complex, interdependent ecosystem of which humans are a part; soil must be conserved to sustain food production for animals and humans; and polluting emissions to the atmosphere must be minimized, including greenhouse gases that contribute to the destabilization of climate. It is important to emphasize that these aren’t simply aspirations or luxuries of an affluent society – they are fundamental to the sustainability of human civilization. As such, to relegate a healthy environment as a ‘special interest’ is to foreclose on our collective future.
The following issues represent important policy directions that reflect environmental priorities in Alberta and can be implemented in the immediate future:
1. Expand protection of the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area as approved in the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan.
2. Reject new, and phase out existing, coal extraction projects (both thermal and metallurgical). Design legislation to protect the headwaters on the Eastern Slopes from industrial development so as to preserve the quality and quantity of water, and to reduce GHG emissions from the export and burning of fossil fuels.
3. Expand efforts in regional and subregional land-use planning in the province to reduce environmental impacts, conserve native grasslands and wetlands and increase protection of biodiversity. Recognize limits to human use and implement measures to ensure those limits are not exceeded.
4. Alberta is the largest contributor to Canada's total NOx emissions, mainly generated by industrial processes, conventional gas and oil production, and transportation. Assessments for air quality indicate that most air zones in Alberta are in the ‘orange’ management level for both hourly and annual nitrogen dioxide according to the Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards. Policy is needed to increase air quality monitoring throughout the province and implement measures to meet CAAQ standards.
5. Require fulsome environmental impact assessment and public interest determination of proposed major expansion of irrigation agriculture in the South Saskatchewan River Basin, including comprehensive modelling of surface and groundwater availability under climate change scenarios and assessing cumulative effects on instream flows, native grasslands, species-at-risk, soil quality, greenhouse gas emissions, current and future water allocations, and apportionment obligations of interprovincial and international agreements. We do not want to experience the economic and social disruption caused by long-term drought and over-allocation of rivers in the American southwest.
6. Re-integrate the Fish and Wildlife branch for cohesive research and decision-making in the public interest (which is the health of the natural environment).
These represent an important, though not exhaustive, list of policies that would embody an actionable response to existential environmental challenges in Alberta. Simply, we must do better to protect our air and water resources and restore the land. SAGE will continue to offer its expertise and support to decision-making processes in the province.
For the complete letter, click ... here
Published 11 April 2023 in The Calgary Herald:
More Irrigation in a Dry Land with Shrinking Rivers?
Lorne Fitch
The substances most essential in life are the ones we consistently overuse. In arid southern Alberta, water is limited, yet we treat it as though it was abundant.
Southern Alberta’s rivers are currently unhealthy, mostly because of an overallocation of water for irrigation agriculture. Sufficient water at the right time is essential to keep ecosystem processes functioning, fish alive, riparian areas green and creating opportunity for other users, now and in the future.
Our profligate, blinkered use of water is related to a trifecta of factors. A frontier attitude toward resource use has led to irrigation being allocated half of average river flows. Persistent lobbying efforts for irrigation expansion has jumped ahead of reason. Lastly, and key to this discussion, is climate change, which is shrinking the flow in southern Alberta rivers and creating hotter, drier weather.
There is, as well, the usual human hubris. Pretending that we don’t live in an arid climate, that water is abundant and that we can continue to grow an economy based on crops produced by artificial rain from irrigation sprinklers, clouds our thinking.
For the complete article, click ... here.
8 February 2023
Clean Air Strategic Alliance: Potential to Reduce Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Alberta
A new report by the Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) identified potential options to reduce air pollution in the province and presents stakeholder perspectives on those options. This project was initiated because of anticipated exceedances of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS) that may occur if no action is taken to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
For more information, click ... here.
For the full report ... here
8 February 2023
... However, there is a risk that if the proposed investment tax credit for hydrogen is poorly designed, it could be used to subsidize fossil-hydrogen technology - which is incompatible with Canada’s climate commitments - or inadvertently impact the availability of more cost-effective and reliable climate solutions. This would risk locking Canada into a fossil-based economy and divert funds from effective, cost-effective decarbonization measures that align with limiting global temperature increases to 1.5°C. If the objective of ramping up clean hydrogen production is to avoid exacerbating the climate crisis, then a clean hydrogen definition must be compatible with the Paris Agreement’s net-zero goal by 2050.
To read the entire letter, click ... here.
December 22, 2022
Re: Review comments on Proposed Terms of Reference, Environmental Impact Assessment Report, for St. Mary River Irrigation District Proposed Chin Reservoir Expansion Project
Southern Alberta Group for the Environment (SAGE) is a non-profit organization based in Lethbridge whose mission is to serve as a leading voice for a healthy and environmentally sustainable community. For over 35 years SAGE has worked to protect and restore rivers and watersheds in the Oldman River basin and beyond. SAGE researches environmental concerns and issues and writes letters, briefs and articles to inform the community, including elected decision-makers. SAGE members have been active participants in multi-stakeholder efforts to improve water management including the work of the Oldman River Basin Advisory Committee to develop the South Saskatchewan River Basin Water Management Plan (2006), the Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative and the Oldman Watershed Council. SAGE engages in regulatory and appeal processes when it is the only responsible avenue available to influence key decisions affecting environmental sustainability.
We have reviewed the Proposed Terms of Reference, Environmental Impact Assessment Report, for St. Mary River Irrigation District Proposed Chin Reservoir Expansion Project posted on Nov 15, 2022 to Environment and Protected Areas website. We provide the following written comments for your consideration to assist in achieving a comprehensive assessment of project impacts that will provide a solid basis for a public interest determination by the Natural Resources Conservation Board.
To read the entire letter, click ... here
December 2, 2022
To: Hon. Sonya Savage, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas
RE: COP15 - Conference on Biological Diversity
Biodiversity is both vital to, and an indicator of, a healthy natural environment (an intrinsic value) and the ecosystem services it provides (a human value). The Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by Canada in 1992, “aims to conserve nature, ensure nature is used sustainably and that the benefits to people from the use of genetic diversity are shared fairly.” The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-10) adopted a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period. This plan provides an overarching framework for biodiversity in the context of the 2050 Vision, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The upcoming Conference on Biological Diversity (COP15) will provide an opportunity for global leaders to establish goals and make commitments to address biodiversity loss, from threats of local extirpation to global extinction.
Habitat loss and degradation is the primary threat to biodiversity, in Canada and globally. The United Nations recognizes biodiversity loss as one of the world’s most pressing emergencies, along with pollution and climate change (which contribute to threats to biodiversity). ...
To read the entire letter, click ... here.
For more information:
https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/oth_202210_e_44128.html
November 10, 2022
Letter: Environmental Impact Assessment of the “historic expansion of Alberta irrigation” including Chin Reservoir, Deadhorse Coulee Reservoir and Snake Lake Reservoir
"We are responding to Minister Guilbeault’s recent decisions that three proposed irrigation reservoir projects that are part of the larger project do not warrant designation under the Impact Assessment Act because existing legislation and processes provide a framework to address potential adverse effects within federal jurisdiction (...). We have reviewed IAAC analysis reports for the three projects and have identified gaps and uncertainties to be addressed if the Minister’s rationale for decision is to be realized."
To read the entire letter, click ... here.
October 2022
The River of Unfulfilled Expectations
Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.
Alberta’s big rivers, the Peace and Athabasca, flow north, away from people. The North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan rivers, along with their tributaries the Red Deer, Bow, and Oldman rivers, flow east through the Alberta heartland, delivering essential waters to most of the province’s population. As one travels further south the demand for water escalates in concert with increasing aridity. So the expectations for the Milk River, the one furthest south, are the greatest.
The poor Milk River has never lived up to people’s expectations. This likely started with President Thomas Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery in the early 1800s. Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark out on an exploration of his Louisiana Purchase, essentially the Mississippi/Missouri watershed. Among other things, their instructions included determining whether there was a connection with the Saskatchewan drainage and the long established and lucrative fur trade route of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
To read the rest of this informative essay, click ... here.
26 October, 2022
International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board
I am writing on behalf of Southern Alberta Group for Environment to suggest that an on-stream dam on the Milk River in Alberta is not a feasible infrastructure option and that your resources are better focused on studying options for changes in administrative procedures. At the Town Hall meeting hosted by the International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board in the town of Milk River on October 24, it appeared that members of the Study Board may be unaware of the Milk River Basin – Preliminary Feasibilty Study conducted in 2003 to investigate on-stream and off-stream water storage options in the basin. I am attaching a copy of the draft report.
For a summary of the report's conclusions and recommendations, click ... here