August 14, 2002
The Editor
The Calgary Herald
Surprise! Surprise! Alberta has reviewed Kyoto science
Re: "Alberta battles the big guys - again", Nigel Hannaford, Comment, August 10
Nigel Hannaford suggests that Premier Klein "can marshal the resources to review
Kyoto science". Nigel might be surprised to learn that he has already done just
that.
Alberta has been involved in a review of the Kyoto Protocol with Ottawa from the
time it was established in 1997. Alberta has differences of opinion with Ottawa.
These have resulted in an alternative plan documented in "Albertans and Climate
Change: A Plan for Action" which is available at www3.gov.ab.ca/env/climate/actionplan/docs/actionplan.pdf.
It opens with "Albertans recognize and strongly agree that climate change is a
growing concern to all Canadians, and action must be taken to address the
issue." It establishes a goal to "reduce Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions
intensity, or emissions relative to GDP, by 50% by the year 2020. That is a very
ambitious goal and hardly inconsistent with the Kyoto goal. Ottawa is listening,
and includes Alberta's plan on the federal climate change stakeholder site at
www.nccp.ca.
The review and debate of the Kyoto Protocol is possibly the best-publicized and
documented issue in Canada's history. It is amazing that those who rush to write
about it choose to ignore the information available.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast