Weyburn 鈥� Scott Moe, 小蓝视频 for Rosthern-Shellbrook since 2011, has served as Minister of Advanced Education and Minister of Environment, in addition to other legislative duties. Now he鈥檚 taking a run at the leadership of the Saskatchewan Party, and the position of premier. Pipeline News spoke to him in Weyburn on Sept. 13, just prior to his tour of a local drilling rig.
The interview took place prior to TransCanada announcing it was cancelling the Energy East Pipeline.
In describing his energy policy, Moe said, 鈥淚 think the direction we鈥檝e had over the past decade, as the Government of Saskatchewan, has been to expand all our industries in the province, for a number of reasons: one, to grow our jobs in our communities across the province, the rural population of the province. Two, we feel when we compare, for all industries, including energy, we feel that we compare what we do here in the province of Saskatchewan and, quite frankly, even in Western Canada, to other places in the world, the suite of environmental protection that we operate under is as good as anywhere in the world, and we鈥檙e proud of that. We feel we need to continue in that direction.
鈥淭hat 小蓝视频 said, the challenges that we face in many industries, maybe especially the energy industry, are changing, and are changing rapidly. We can talk about carbon taxation and the government of Saskatchewan鈥檚 stance on that has been, I think, crystal clear. That will continue. I won鈥檛 speak for the other leaders, but that will continue under leadership I will be involved in. For certain, a $2 billion or $2.5 billion cost that doesn鈥檛 need to be borne by our $26 to $32 billion worth of exports, which is our source point of wealth and employment in the province.鈥�
He alluded to his announcement earlier in the day on growing exports in energy, mining, agriculture and manufactured goods. 鈥淚n order to do all that, some of the policy efforts and initiatives that are currently underway under the current premier, Premier Wall, are on how do we get some of that product to market, whether that be through rail or, more ideally, through pipelines of some nature. I think, if you compared to a decade ago, the conversation around pipelines is very different today than it was in 2007.
鈥淪o as we had that plan for growth, to 2020, that we had, we are approaching that as we look forward to the next decade. I think it鈥檚 time for us to update that plan and go further and really start asking the questions about what are our challenges through the next decade. How are we going to persevere through some of those challenges, and most importantly, what do we want to look like as industries, communities, and a province in the year 2030,鈥� Moe said.
Asked about his stance on royalties, he said, 鈥淭he royalty structure we have in the province, I think, has served us well, all of us well; the people in the industry and the province. As we move forward, again, understanding we鈥檙e a little over $32 billion in exports here in the province a year ago. This past year we鈥檙e doing to a little over $26 billion, most of that due to a depressed energy market, quite frankly. We have these other challenges before us, things in the way of carbon taxation, things in the way of getting our product to market, in particular pipeline construction across the province. I think royalties, whether it be in the mining industry, in the energy industry or forestry industry, wherever that is, we always have to be willing to work with those industries on where the appropriate level is to ensure we鈥檙e not dipping in, and getting ourselves into additional challenges in NAFTA negotiations, things of that nature, but are keeping us competitive with like industries, particularly in North America, but also around the world. Ultimately, if we鈥檙e going to be 1.165 million people exporting plus $30 billion each and every year, and the intention is to increase that every year, we need to be competitive. Royalties are part of that competitiveness.鈥�
Asked if royalties would remain static, he noted that remaining static on the carbon tax will be a gain for Saskatchewan compared to its neighbours. 聽
鈥淭he whole conversation on carbon taxation is something that started with our federal government. When you get to the commitments that were actually made, with respect to the Paris Accord and the whole conversation around emissions, it was a 30 per cent reduction by 2030. There鈥檚 no mention of carbon taxation, or anything of that nature in the Paris Accord. When we talk with industries across the province about what have you done, from an emissions perspective, and what鈥檚 possible between now and 2030, they鈥檙e all willing to have the conversation about what we can do. It really doesn鈥檛 matter what industry it is. Some can do more, some can do less. When you start talking about carbon taxation and what impacts that will have for the industry, transportation, agriculture, mining, they鈥檙e very real, and they鈥檙e dollars taken directly out of your pocket. They鈥檙e dollars that will makes us directly uncompetitive in many cases, on those $30 billion of exports, and they鈥檙e dollars that will force businesses to move out of the province. That鈥檚 something we鈥檙e not going to commit to.鈥�
Does that mean Saskatchewan should invest more in carbon capture and storage? Moe said some of the latest carbon capture plants in the world have been driven by the need for CO2 for enhanced oil recovery, and there are opportunities there.
鈥淭he fact of the matter is, in the electrical generation world, the opportunities are multiple in how you reduce your emissions. You can do wind and solar, backed up by natural gas, or coal with CCS, for example, or you could bring hydro in, if you have that opportunity, biomass, other opportunities. You have a lot of low-hanging fruit in your electrical generation mix. And that takes investment. I think Saskatchewan has been committed to, over time, making intelligent decisions on making that investment. We have until 2030 to work through that.鈥�
On carbon taxation, he said some jurisdictions made investments in how they generate electricity, raising electrical rates, and the tax is yet to come, while others have implemented the tax, but haven鈥檛 moved to lower emissions sources. Saskatchewan will make investments to lower emissions, but not the carbon tax.
On the Energy East pipeline, he said, the reasons behind the delay are problematic for communities and the province, because of the potential benefits Saskatchewan has to potentially feed directly into that line. 鈥淭he discussion around upstream and downstream emissions is tremendously problematic. I think it鈥檚 problematic for us as a province, for me as an 小蓝视频, and as a leadership candidate. And here鈥檚 why: There鈥檚 about a million barrels a day imported into Canada. Thirty per cent of that is coming from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria. I would put Saskatchewan鈥檚 environmental suite of protections, any day of the week, against any of those nations, quite frankly, including from an emissions perspective.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no upstream and downstream emissions 小蓝视频 measured against, with those jurisdictions, where we鈥檙e importing that oil, nor is there any upstream or downstream emissions measured on that diesel-powered boat that鈥檚 bringing it here. If we鈥檙e going to look at climate change from a global perspective, then it needs to be a fair comparison of what upstream and downstream are.鈥�
Moe said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 times, during this, we鈥檙e going to have to stand tall and we鈥檙e going have to stand firm, to ensure we protect the competitiveness of our industry, of our energy industry, of our agricultural industry, our mining industry, our manufacturing industry. We have to be competitive, with not just the United States. We export the majority of our product there. They鈥檙e our biggest export market. They鈥檙e also our biggest competitor. And we need to be cognizant and aware of that. We need to stand up for communities and industries across this province. We鈥檝e done it for the past decade, we need to do it for the next 10 years.
