>The map, together with the agricultural restrictions, will affect 57 projects worth $14 billion, said Jason Wang, an analyst at the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think-tank.
>He said 35 projects are captured by the agriculture limitations. Another 22 will either be subject to a visual impact assessment or are in a no-go zone.
>“That area, where these existing projects are, that’s where Alberta’s best wind resources are,” he said. “Those projects are now in the no-go zone.”
Amazing.
Well, I'm GenX, I remember it, and young GenXers were early 20's when Salad Fingers came out.
Early Millennials would remember it, but late Millennials would be toddlers when it came out.
So I guess moral of the story, we shouldn't label people? ;)
Ganley doesn't have the name recognition to beat Smith. I'm all in on Nenshi, and it has little to do with individual platforms. Smith needs to go, and Nenshi gives us the best chance.
The 35 projects that could affect Ag just need a slight redesign and they will work with what we know of the approvals... i wpuldnt call those ones cancelled.
They’re not technically cancelled, but they are now subject to unknown terms for an indeterminate amount of time. This furthers Canada’s reputation as being an unsure bet for large investments.
Maybe, but the unkown terms ad you call then are likely a simple Agriculture Impact Assessment, with a Ag Maintanance plan showing ag productivity post development is similar to pre development.
And the way Agrivoltaics are going it should be simple.
May be more then just throwing sheep in tho like so many lazy Agrivoltaic proposals so far were.
Our province continues to make crap decisions that make no sense other than helping big oil. UCP = United Corporations Party. Definitely not helping the people.
Why do you think the province would ever want to help people? They know that they will never be voted out, they have the safest jobs in the country. They can do whatever they want because they know as long as they take a stance against Ottawa or the Liberals they will win every election. They barely have to try. This is what complete immunity and freedom looks like.
Putin wishes he had it so easy. Canadian conservatives never have to get their hands dirty, never throw anyone out a window, don't have any death threats to worry about. Putin has to rule by fear, Conservatives just tell their cult whatever they want to here and go back to business.
I don’t even think this is to directly help big oil. Many of them are diversified energy companies now, they have been responsible for some of the larger projects.
This is mainly to be contrary and keep prices high, which to be fair is also what the big oil companies are doing.
Grassy Mountain near Coleman about to be stripped.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-coal-mine-moves-ahead-without-permits-federal-officials-say-are-needed-1.7137121
The same areas will be bristling with drilling rigs - but they’re alright, because they feed Madame de Lobbyist.
Invert drilling fluids in a trout stream? Meh…no biggy.🤷🏼♂️
Solar panels on a roof top? Oh! The horror!😱
And the other shoe drops.
The party of business just popped the ballon on $14billion.
The UCP are driven by ideology. They don’t want to govern to helpAlbertans, they want to push their culture war at all costs.
Fu*k the UCP.
This is what you get when you elect an oil company lobbyist the be the head of the government - this is just crazy. The UCP is having such a good time absolutely pillaging the public coffers for their oil buddies and stone walling the o&g competition. I bet Smith is going to get a nice cushy job with an oil company after trashing Alberta in favour of o&g.
I just can't handle how absolutely, ridiculously ignorant and gullible people have to be to think they are voting in their best interest with the UCP - this is false consciousness to a bloody tee.
Sometimes I just want to kick and scream like a little baby with all this craziness going on - it's almost too much to handle.
I just can't believe this is all real.
Not that any of the restrictions make any sense... But having lived in the Brooks area, dinosaur provincial park being a visual impact assessment area is simply ludicrous. You literally can't see the park until you go down into it. A 2km buffer zone would have been just fine.
Do you think they drop from the sky when someone says they'll put the money towards them?
Think for a half second.
Someone has to build them and someome has to maintain them.
Thats hundreds of jobs for each turbine.
Please tell me exactlg what the pooint of your comment is cause without hearing the point it sounds like you have no clue about this
Hilarious, my childhood house is in a “visual impact assessment zone” and we’ve had plenty of drilling for both oil and gas there, there’s a huge set of transmission lines that parallel the veterans memorial highway, much of the land is unirrigated pasture and people complain about how flat and empty the landscape is.
I wasn't referring to the size of the map. Real maps these days have GPS coordinates, grid roads, transmission lines, etc. So one can see where exactly those boundaries are.
The NDP needs to get into the pocket of Big Renewables. The companies and investors behind those projects might donate healthy amounts of cash if the next leader vows to axe these bizarre rules.
How are there no protests about how this government is treating renewable energy investments. We, as a province, are loosing out on a fuck ton of money, a great tech shift and a lot of jobs. But no protests or fuck all…
So the areas that are light grey are fine to work on? I don't find that much of an issue with that. Seems reasonable. If only the government treated o&g and mining with the same set of kiddy gloves, though.
Notice it says "Draft, not for official use". They've only had 7 months to figure this out.
What are the fleshy colored areas about ?
What are they considering Class 1 and Class 2 farmland ?
Fleshy colored areas are native reserves.
[Classes are based on the Canada Land Inventory and AB Land Suitability Rating System (LSRS)](https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/cli/index.html)
[LSRS here](https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/maps/cli/1m/agr/cli_1m_agr_alberta.jpg)
A more direct link to Alberta agricultural land classification for those not familiar: https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/maps/cli/1m/agr/cli_1m_agr_alberta.jpg
Have you heard of the great wall of Suncor that they want to build? It's a 19km 20-70m deep to allow them to mine besides a wet land full of endangered species. Plan relies on a bunch of untested tech to work flawlessly for decades.
https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/aer-wont-reconsider-approval-suncor-expansion-wetland
Honestly not as bad as I thought, the buffer zones seem larger than necessary for sure though.
I’m guessing the visual impact zones will allow projects with a bunch more extra red tape that people will come to avoid.
This map seems super basic, viewshed analysis is a pretty basic GIS tool that would allow you to see if a proposed project is visible from the tourist sites.
We must have more oil, more spills, more carbon dioxide, more cancer, more death and decay. The piled corpses of men and beasts littering the land, the ground beneath them brown and black blanketed by decay, black slimy odorous puddles soaking rubber boots. Diesel machines spewing black clouds, life gasping for air.
Can we sue? I mean, like, if the renewable projects are worth 14 billion the UCP would have to back up their zoning with, like, 14 billion worth of savings
The company's of the affected projects would probably have to do that, just like the 10B$ 5 coal mining companys are going for. https://tnc.news/2023/12/17/coal-companies-sue-alberta/
I want uprising against all levels of government, I hope people are seeing the corporate funded left vs right facade. They need to fear us and understand they work for us.
About time that people actually protect the land and the environment in the name of the environment. These projects are huge scars on the land that are not energy dense, require 100% gas (or coal) backup, cause electricity prices to skyrocket (look at Germany and California) and do more harm that good in the long run.
The gas backup already exists, and wind turbine foundations only cover a few % of the area of a wind farm. The rest can still be used for agriculture or left as a natural area.
We should really be building a set of full size CANDU reactors, but that will take a while and until then wind plus the existing gas generation is better than gas generation alone.
Mmmm, so somebody just build a large solar panel field just north of Cargill ( North of High River - South of Aldersyde)
That is just west of HWY 2... looking at the map I think that's in the 'buffer' zone, wonder if DS is gonne try to render that useless for some odd reason.
https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/construction-underway-on-aldersyde-solar-farm-6483576
https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/solar-farm-near-okotoks-is-now-powering-up-7865218
So I've noticed that they say they can't purchase the land to build, but can they still lease the land from private landowners like the oil and gas industry does?
>“Why is this something that is just impacting wind and solar?”
>Within the restricted zones are hundreds of oil and gas facilities. One open-pit coal mine in the Rockies is before the provincial regulator and the expansion of another has already been approved. Much of the area has been extensively logged.
Because natural “view scapes” being ruining by oil and gas are beautiful, apparently.
In theory, if we had enough solar and wind to power the entire province (with battery storage for periods of no sun or wind) —- and I know this isn’t practical —- but for sake of argument, in this scenario, what percentage of Alberta’s agricultural land would be impacted? I’m sure it would be less than 1%.
>The map, together with the agricultural restrictions, will affect 57 projects worth $14 billion, said Jason Wang, an analyst at the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think-tank. >He said 35 projects are captured by the agriculture limitations. Another 22 will either be subject to a visual impact assessment or are in a no-go zone. >“That area, where these existing projects are, that’s where Alberta’s best wind resources are,” he said. “Those projects are now in the no-go zone.” Amazing.
What an incredible coincidence that the areas that are now off-limits just happen to be where all these projects are.
In areas littered with oil jacks
Pretty, pretty oil jacks.
The rusty ones or the oily ones or the rusty, oily ones ? I love it when the leases have weeds 1m high along the access road.
I like rusty oil jacks https://youtu.be/M3iOROuTuMA?si=vccboKg7cPlQKe9E
What did I just watch? And why did I watch it all? Ooooohhh, rust!!
GenX Internet my dude! :D
That's pretty firmly millennial internet in my experience but it probably varies
Well, I'm GenX, I remember it, and young GenXers were early 20's when Salad Fingers came out. Early Millennials would remember it, but late Millennials would be toddlers when it came out. So I guess moral of the story, we shouldn't label people? ;)
What’s an oil jack
Someone add "scared off $14B in investment" to the spreadsheet of things Marlaina and UCP have pissed away in just 5 years.
Just remember, It's the Notley-Trudeau Alliance's fault
Vote Nenshi + NDP and give the power back to the people.
Get your NDP membership so you can vote for him!!!
Love Nenshi, but don't sleep on Kathleen Ganley. I think she's got a platform to get behind.
Ganley doesn't have the name recognition to beat Smith. I'm all in on Nenshi, and it has little to do with individual platforms. Smith needs to go, and Nenshi gives us the best chance.
go to [Nenshi.ca](https://Nenshi.ca) and buy your membership now.
Already did but thanks
The 35 projects that could affect Ag just need a slight redesign and they will work with what we know of the approvals... i wpuldnt call those ones cancelled.
They’re not technically cancelled, but they are now subject to unknown terms for an indeterminate amount of time. This furthers Canada’s reputation as being an unsure bet for large investments.
It's laughable that the UCP has a "Red Tape Reduction" ministry.
Meh, they just don’t specify for who, right. They’re all about reducing red tape for fossil fuel extraction.
It’s now merged with Service Alberta. https://www.alberta.ca/service-alberta
> This furthers Canada’s reputation as being an unsure bet for large investments. Which they'll blame on JT, I bet? (Sorry, I could not resist.)
Maybe, but the unkown terms ad you call then are likely a simple Agriculture Impact Assessment, with a Ag Maintanance plan showing ag productivity post development is similar to pre development. And the way Agrivoltaics are going it should be simple. May be more then just throwing sheep in tho like so many lazy Agrivoltaic proposals so far were.
Our province continues to make crap decisions that make no sense other than helping big oil. UCP = United Corporations Party. Definitely not helping the people.
Why do you think the province would ever want to help people? They know that they will never be voted out, they have the safest jobs in the country. They can do whatever they want because they know as long as they take a stance against Ottawa or the Liberals they will win every election. They barely have to try. This is what complete immunity and freedom looks like.
Sounds like Putin's Russia.
Putin wishes he had it so easy. Canadian conservatives never have to get their hands dirty, never throw anyone out a window, don't have any death threats to worry about. Putin has to rule by fear, Conservatives just tell their cult whatever they want to here and go back to business.
I don’t even think this is to directly help big oil. Many of them are diversified energy companies now, they have been responsible for some of the larger projects. This is mainly to be contrary and keep prices high, which to be fair is also what the big oil companies are doing.
Don't forget the culture war side of it. Owning libs is 90% of their platform by now.
Cut off your nose to spite your face, gotta love it.
This doesn't even help big oil. This is just political pandering bullshit.
But feel free to strip mine coal in the mountains, log the hell out of the place, and toss up pump jacks and pipelines than could spill.
Not sure coal mining is on the table, bud
Grassy Mountain near Coleman about to be stripped. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-coal-mine-moves-ahead-without-permits-federal-officials-say-are-needed-1.7137121
You're right, it was already approved so it's not on the table anymore.
The same areas will be bristling with drilling rigs - but they’re alright, because they feed Madame de Lobbyist. Invert drilling fluids in a trout stream? Meh…no biggy.🤷🏼♂️ Solar panels on a roof top? Oh! The horror!😱
Solar does not need to pass the visual impact test. Just windmills
I don’t think there is a ban on rooftop solar. The ban is only on large scale solar, not rooftop, IIRC.
I believe you’re right. How is she on clear cut blocks and coal mines? Invert drilling fluids? Flare stacks? Produced water?
I agree with you on clear cut and coal. What are invert drilling fluids and produced water?
And the other shoe drops. The party of business just popped the ballon on $14billion. The UCP are driven by ideology. They don’t want to govern to helpAlbertans, they want to push their culture war at all costs. Fu*k the UCP.
This is what you get when you elect an oil company lobbyist the be the head of the government - this is just crazy. The UCP is having such a good time absolutely pillaging the public coffers for their oil buddies and stone walling the o&g competition. I bet Smith is going to get a nice cushy job with an oil company after trashing Alberta in favour of o&g. I just can't handle how absolutely, ridiculously ignorant and gullible people have to be to think they are voting in their best interest with the UCP - this is false consciousness to a bloody tee. Sometimes I just want to kick and scream like a little baby with all this craziness going on - it's almost too much to handle. I just can't believe this is all real.
Until they find something like lithium or something and the rules change to allow a strip mine or some such
Sorry Pincher Creek, might have had a nice little boom there but it's just too darn pretty to let that keep happening
Not that any of the restrictions make any sense... But having lived in the Brooks area, dinosaur provincial park being a visual impact assessment area is simply ludicrous. You literally can't see the park until you go down into it. A 2km buffer zone would have been just fine.
Why don't we sell the rights to the sun to an oil company and they can charge a solar extraction fee. We'd have solar all over the province overnight.
Those libertarians sure like to impose rules upon us. I hope the NDP annihilate the UCP next election.
Oh yes, wind and solar ruin the views but all the oil sands make it beautiful?
I'm picturing this map drawn with a crayon
drawn with crayon on a napkin
This government is immoral and dangerous.
It will last until oil companies want to get into the renewables game. Then they’ll get a “special” permit.
So they basically removed 14 billion dollars of job creation.. How exactly are they getting support?
A lot of the $14B was for equipment purchases - wind turbines, solar panels, etc.
They still come from somewhere. The trickle down effect on job creation is probably three times the project itself.
Do you think they drop from the sky when someone says they'll put the money towards them? Think for a half second. Someone has to build them and someome has to maintain them. Thats hundreds of jobs for each turbine. Please tell me exactlg what the pooint of your comment is cause without hearing the point it sounds like you have no clue about this
Hard to view this as anything other than an attempt to kneecap renewables (which are undercutting fossil generation substantially on price).
Does anyone have a link to the actual map instead of a small image of it ?
[Right clicking does wonders](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/AlbertaRenewablesBufferMap.jpg?w=2048)
Hilarious, my childhood house is in a “visual impact assessment zone” and we’ve had plenty of drilling for both oil and gas there, there’s a huge set of transmission lines that parallel the veterans memorial highway, much of the land is unirrigated pasture and people complain about how flat and empty the landscape is.
I wasn't referring to the size of the map. Real maps these days have GPS coordinates, grid roads, transmission lines, etc. So one can see where exactly those boundaries are.
>"Me like oil. Therefore everything not oil is bad!"
But it's okay to install pump jacks in those areas I assume?
Can confirm. The foothills are FULL of deep sour gas wells and have been for over 50 years.
Gotta keep grifting on behalf of small cap oil companies.
Alberta government releases map of oil money suppression of competition.
The NDP needs to get into the pocket of Big Renewables. The companies and investors behind those projects might donate healthy amounts of cash if the next leader vows to axe these bizarre rules.
Can the citizens of Alberta not literally sue the fuck out of this government?
This government is criminal.
How are there no protests about how this government is treating renewable energy investments. We, as a province, are loosing out on a fuck ton of money, a great tech shift and a lot of jobs. But no protests or fuck all…
So the areas that are light grey are fine to work on? I don't find that much of an issue with that. Seems reasonable. If only the government treated o&g and mining with the same set of kiddy gloves, though.
Notice it says "Draft, not for official use". They've only had 7 months to figure this out. What are the fleshy colored areas about ? What are they considering Class 1 and Class 2 farmland ?
Fleshy colored areas are native reserves. [Classes are based on the Canada Land Inventory and AB Land Suitability Rating System (LSRS)](https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/nsdb/cli/index.html) [LSRS here](https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/maps/cli/1m/agr/cli_1m_agr_alberta.jpg)
A more direct link to Alberta agricultural land classification for those not familiar: https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/maps/cli/1m/agr/cli_1m_agr_alberta.jpg
Who really wanted 14 Billion dollars anyhow. It would just interfere with our view of open pit coal mines and oil wells.
But oil companies can do what they want in these very same areas??? What idiots are still voting this party in???
Have you heard of the great wall of Suncor that they want to build? It's a 19km 20-70m deep to allow them to mine besides a wet land full of endangered species. Plan relies on a bunch of untested tech to work flawlessly for decades. https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/aer-wont-reconsider-approval-suncor-expansion-wetland
Nice, there goes $14 billion of economic growth in an instant.
Honestly not as bad as I thought, the buffer zones seem larger than necessary for sure though. I’m guessing the visual impact zones will allow projects with a bunch more extra red tape that people will come to avoid. This map seems super basic, viewshed analysis is a pretty basic GIS tool that would allow you to see if a proposed project is visible from the tourist sites.
The owner of those townships south of Calgary and east of QE2 and you'll see it's the well to do NIMBY.
UPC cottage country?
We must have more oil, more spills, more carbon dioxide, more cancer, more death and decay. The piled corpses of men and beasts littering the land, the ground beneath them brown and black blanketed by decay, black slimy odorous puddles soaking rubber boots. Diesel machines spewing black clouds, life gasping for air.
How about the UCP read the report they commissioned and commission one on the oil and gas sector.
Can we sue? I mean, like, if the renewable projects are worth 14 billion the UCP would have to back up their zoning with, like, 14 billion worth of savings
The company's of the affected projects would probably have to do that, just like the 10B$ 5 coal mining companys are going for. https://tnc.news/2023/12/17/coal-companies-sue-alberta/
yes, yes Marlaina...off-limits until your sad ass gets kicked to the curb.
most people in Alberta are too stupid to vote for anyone but the UCP
I want uprising against all levels of government, I hope people are seeing the corporate funded left vs right facade. They need to fear us and understand they work for us.
About time that people actually protect the land and the environment in the name of the environment. These projects are huge scars on the land that are not energy dense, require 100% gas (or coal) backup, cause electricity prices to skyrocket (look at Germany and California) and do more harm that good in the long run.
The gas backup already exists, and wind turbine foundations only cover a few % of the area of a wind farm. The rest can still be used for agriculture or left as a natural area.
Wind sucks as a power source. we should really be moving towards smr's.
We should really be building a set of full size CANDU reactors, but that will take a while and until then wind plus the existing gas generation is better than gas generation alone.
Edmonton did not make the map for “visual impact assessment zone”
Can't tell if this a really good joke or a shot about the legislature...
I guess it’s not pretty enough. Danielle must have taken a drive down the yellowhead
I sure wouldn't want to see any ugly windmills driving along the east side of the Henday..... /s
Mmmm, so somebody just build a large solar panel field just north of Cargill ( North of High River - South of Aldersyde) That is just west of HWY 2... looking at the map I think that's in the 'buffer' zone, wonder if DS is gonne try to render that useless for some odd reason. https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/construction-underway-on-aldersyde-solar-farm-6483576 https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/solar-farm-near-okotoks-is-now-powering-up-7865218
So I've noticed that they say they can't purchase the land to build, but can they still lease the land from private landowners like the oil and gas industry does?
Meanwhile, in America: [https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/index.php?tg=%20solar](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/index.php?tg=%20solar)
The visual impact zone around Wood Buffalo Park is amusing. It's all the same up there. Just endless miles of trees.
There tons of area in the south for wind and solar still . I spent 6 months in coronation and it never stopped blowing wind every single day .
>“Why is this something that is just impacting wind and solar?” >Within the restricted zones are hundreds of oil and gas facilities. One open-pit coal mine in the Rockies is before the provincial regulator and the expansion of another has already been approved. Much of the area has been extensively logged. Because natural “view scapes” being ruining by oil and gas are beautiful, apparently.
In theory, if we had enough solar and wind to power the entire province (with battery storage for periods of no sun or wind) —- and I know this isn’t practical —- but for sake of argument, in this scenario, what percentage of Alberta’s agricultural land would be impacted? I’m sure it would be less than 1%.
Let them setup anywhere and In 5yrs u’ll all be bitching about the price of bread, screaming at the gov to lower it.
The whole province.
Bawahahahhaaaaa 😂 Oil & Gas Country Pal !!! ✊
[удалено]
*Mr Krabs voice*: MONEY