Environment Committee on June 7th, 2007

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Is this for the future?

[Basia Ruta]

That's right, this is--

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

We don't do it right now.

[Basia Ruta]

In the past, it hasn't been done by Environment Canada. I'm not sure, some of my colleagues may know whether it was done more broadly through other structures. For Environment Canada, we have one portion. We don't have it for the entire climate change initiative. Prospectively, we have been given that mandate for climate change.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Thank you.

Mr. Warawa and Mr. Vellacott, I believe you're sharing your time.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Yes, Chair. We're running a little bit short, and just to make sure everybody gets a chance to ask their questions, instead of taking the full 10 minutes I'll share my time.

Thank you to the officials for being here today and answering questions.

Being from British Columbia, I'd like to focus on what the trust funds for the province of British Columbia are being used for.

I was very excited to have gone to the GLOBE conference just prior to the G8+5, and I was very encouraged that all the different ideas being proposed to address greenhouse gas emissions are actually being implemented in Canada. So, very much, we have turned the corner.

I'd like to ask about the mountain pine beetle kill, where we have devastation of the forests and are actually using that. What are the benefits of extracting the energy from that pine beetle wood?

[Michael Martin]

Mr. Chairman, there is activity now in British Columbia to take sawmill scrap and wood that has been infested with the pine beetle and use it as biomass for energy generation. The benefit of using biomass, clearly, is that it acts as a substitute for other less clean fuel sources and through its use serves to reduce greenhouse gas production. As well, of course, I think many companies in the forest industry have found that it reduces their overall energy costs at the same time.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Okay, I have another question on the benefits of geothermal and bio-energy projects in British Columbia, including the capture of biogas from landfill sites. I've seen a number of demonstrations now of very successful projects. Could you again elaborate on the benefits of some of these geothermal projects and bio-energy projects?

[Michael Martin]

Again, in this area the use of alternative fuel sources allows companies to substitute fossil fuels for cleaner fuel sources that reduce GHG emissions and also reduce air pollutant emissions. It provides greater independence for companies in terms of managing their costs and can serve to lower their overall energy consumption costs as well. So it's beneficial both from an economic standpoint and from an environmental standpoint.

A number of the initiatives taken by the government are intended to stimulate the adoption of such technologies to prove them commercially and to support their wider deployment in Canada, and that is one such technology.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

How much time do I have left, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

You're at three and a half minutes.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Wonderful, thank you.

On hydrogen, I was quite excited to see buses here on the Hill that are actually using hydrogen. It is a wonderful clean technology being developed here in Canada.

The Governator came to visit Canada last week, and he spoke of a hydrogen highway going right from California up to and including British Columbia. That's an exciting project. Could you share with us the benefits of having a project in Canada, in B.C., of the hydrogen highway that takes us all the way into Whistler in time for 2010?

[Michael Martin]

Mr. Chairman, as committee members know, transportation is a major source, and a growing source in many jurisdictions, of greenhouse gases. Emissions and of course transportation are a significant source of air pollution. The use of alternative fuels, including hydrogen, offers the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of transportation, and these types of initiatives that demonstrate these projects serve to promote the commercialization of the technology, increase consumer understanding and acceptance of them, and also stimulate this kind of research and development here in Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Thank you, Mr. Warawa.

Mr. Vellacott.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In respect to the provinces, Saskatchewan is my home province, and I represent the riding of Saskatoon—Wanuskewin. I would like to ask Mr. Martin about the funding thus far. I think you stated it before, but just for the record again, if we could get that much funding provided to Saskatchewan as part of the trust fund, what would the province use that money for?

[Michael Martin]

Under the trust fund for clean air and climate change, $44.4 million has been committed to the province of Saskatchewan. When that funding was announced, a series of projects was indicated. That includes the continuing deployment of near-zero CO₂ emission electrical generation projects and the development and utilization of renewable and alternative energy sources, such as biofuels and solar energy technologies. It will support efforts to lead in carbon capture and sequestration through the international test centre for carbon dioxide capture, which is a world-leading facility in Saskatchewan, as well as measures to improve energy efficiency and conservation by homeowners, businesses, farms, and communities.

As I noted earlier, Mr. Chairman, we will be pleased to provide a summary of all of these specific initiatives funded through the trust fund to the committee.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

You made mention of the near-zero CO₂ emission electrical generation projects. That intrigues me. Can you give us a little bit of background on that to give me a better understanding of that and some of the benefits?

Mr. Manson.

[Alex Manson, Special Advisor, Climate Change Policy, Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

There are several technologies nearing commercialization that could result in coal-fired power plants having reductions and emissions of their greenhouse gases by 90% and virtual elimination of the rest of the emissions that are associated with them--sulphur oxide particulate matter and that type of thing. With these new technologies, it gets captured and stored or used for enhanced oil recovery. The Government of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Power are very interested in looking at the possibility of building a power plant using one of these technologies in the foreseeable future.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

We just had some representatives here yesterday from the University of Regina for our Saskatchewan caucus, who gave us a little bit of detail on that. It's interesting to try to get one's head around this, because it's complex and sophisticated, but sounds like it has great potential.

Could you also explain a little bit about the benefits of the development and utilization of renewable and alternative energy sources, such as biofuels and solar energy technologies? Why I ask that question is that tomorrow, in my home riding of Saskatoon—Wanuskewin up at Hague, Saskatchewan, we'll be announcing some nine different projects. Those are in respect of biofuels.

So can you give me a little bit of background on some of that and our hopes about it, and its prospects?

[Alex Manson]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

As my colleague Mr. Martin said, being able to replace some of the fossil fuel component of our fuels, whether in the gasoline stream or diesel fuel or heating oil, with a renewable component like ethanol or biodiesel allows us to make some significant emissions reductions in the transportation sector. Our cars and light trucks on the road in Canada are responsible for about 12.5% of our total greenhouse gas emissions, and the whole transportation sector is responsible for about a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions. So increasing the use of renewable content in our transportation fuels is very important to reducing emissions in that sector. And increasing the use of renewable energy, whether in industrial sources or with respect to homes or communities, and those type of things, again, is a key component of moving forward and reducing our GHG emissions.

[Maurice Vellacott, Conservative, Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK]

Right, thank you.

I appreciate that very much, because it does appeal to me as an individual to be less oil dependent. Obviously to the province of Saskatchewan, with 50% of the arable land in the country, it could be of great benefit, and certainly up in my riding of Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, to our farmers as well. So it has some tremendous possibilities in terms of relieving some of the issues and difficulties we've had with agriculture, and we think it's a very good thing in this way.

I guess the last thing in terms of where the rubber meets the road is that some of the benefits of the measures to improve energy efficiency and conservation, and also to promote and support some of the energy reductions by homeowners, businesses, farms, communities and so on, come down to all of us doing our part at the end of the day. That's where the rubber meets the road.

What's the intent there and what exactly in the way of specifics can you tell me about some of those measures we hope to have implemented?

[Michael Martin]

Mr. Chairman, a number of the government's initiatives are intended to provide Canadians with information and tools to make good choices, and also to improve their energy efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of their own lifestyles. The individual choices of Canadians are an absolutely critical driver of Canada's performance in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants, and a range of these programs are indeed targeted to assist them in that regard.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Thank you, Mr. Vellacott.

Mr. Godfrey.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you.

Forgive me if I go over some ground again, but I just want to make sure I have the $1.5 billion for the ecoTrust correct.

First of all, it's to be taken from the surplus left over from the 2006-07 budget. Is that right?

[Michael Martin]

The funding for the trust fund is being drawn from funds in the 2006-07 fiscal year.