The issue reflects a wider bid by the Trudeau government to support both environmental and economic interests in the country — an increasingly fraught balancing act
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is facing calls to either approve or reject the $20-billion Frontier oilsands mine, for which a final decision is expected by end of month.
as opinions on climate policy remain deeply divided. Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson on Monday reiterated that cabinet was assessing the environmental damages tied to the project, and said it would consider whether the mine aligns with its broader climate targets.A number of significant questions remain. Can the Liberals justify its approval? And can an oil producer really claim net-zero emissions? Here we provide the basics on a large and complicated oilsands mega mine.
Frontier is expected to emit 4.1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per annum, which leaves plenty of room under the provincial cap . But environmentalists warn that approving the project would make Ottawa’s faraway goal even more far away. They also say it would lock in future oilsands expansion, providing a kind of social licence to heavy oil producers to continue broadening their operations at a time when, according to some, the industry should be phased out.
The rest of the reductions would likely come from softer, more abstract offsets. Mining firms sometimes claim emissions reductions through their extraction of lithium, copper, metallurgical steel and other commodities, because they are used in the production of green technologies like wind turbines and solar panels.
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