With Bill 21, the CAQ government formalizes the end of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Quebec. The potential of deposits, when they exist, is not amazing. That’s small beer compared to projects off Newfoundland, not to mention the plethora of oil sands reserves in western Canada. Quebec may be consistent, but the fact remains that it is part of an oil state which is not about to give up black gold.
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, is ready to pay 100 million to the companies affected. To obtain compensation, the companies will have to hermetically close the 62 natural gas wells for which they are responsible and restore the sites. The government will assume 75% of the 44 million bill, but this disbursement will be deducted from the 100 million paid to the industry.
Together with environmental groups, both Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois oppose the payment of financial compensation. But by decreeing the revocation of permits, the State has placed itself in a situation where a form of compensation must be granted.
The Legault government could have left things as they were and let the industry die a beautiful death, even if it meant facing a few rare operators in court, such as Gaspé Énergies and Questerre.
By sounding the death knell for oil and gas exploration in Quebec, the CAQ government was sending a message that paid off politically, here and abroad. It should be remembered that François Legault made this announcement just before participating in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) where he presented Quebec as a champion of the green economy and a land of welcome for companies concerned about their environmental record.
Obviously, once you accept the principle of compensation, you run the risk of having the level of compensation challenged. Already, the Association de l’énergie du Québec believes that it is not the costs incurred that must be reimbursed, but the eventual income. Shale gas from the St. Lawrence Valley could represent profits of three to five billion, according to him.
For Michael Binnion, president of Alberta gas company Questerre, which has exploration rights in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Legault government’s decision is not even worthy of a banana republic, reported The Press. Mr. Binnion boasts of having extensive experience in dealing with banana republics. Everyone has their own expertise.
Questerre President Says His Company Can Develop Technology That Captures CO2 and the “stimulation” of gas extraction without fracturing or the use of toxic products. These are claims that are difficult to verify. And even if we managed to exploit hydrocarbon deposits without emitting an iota of greenhouse gases, their consumption would necessarily produce them.
This also applies to oil on the seabed off Newfoundland and Labrador. The Newfoundland government plans to double the province’s oil production, and the federal government, without shouting it from the rooftops, supports this ambition. In March 2020, Ottawa gave its imprimatur to oil companies to carry out 10 exploratory drilling in the marine environment by 2027. In January 2021, authorizations for 40 drilling were added. It’s only a beginning.
When one seeks, one finds. Former environmentalist star and current Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault must make a decision by March 6 on an application from Equinor that the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has received favorably. In an “area of ecological and biological importance”, according to the United Nations, which Ottawa is responsible for protecting, the Norwegian company intends to extract 300 million barrels in 30 years and carry out 60 exploratory drillings in order to increase these reserves to a billion barrels. We will see how the minister will reconcile his convictions with the fact that Canada is an oil state that is still working to increase its hydrocarbon production well beyond the 2030 horizon.
Nobody, not even Steven Guilbeault, escapes it: if humanity wants to stop global warming, the enormous reserves of fossil fuels, whether it be the gas from the St. Lawrence Valley, the hundred billion barrels of oil contained in the oil sands or the potential of deposits off Newfoundland, will have to remain in the ground.