GHG Election Tracker - Churchill Falls & The Liberal Platform

Two quick snippets from the election trail.

Conservatives & Churchill Falls

Last week Prime Minister Harper threw his support behind the Newfoundland Churchill Falls Hydro Project. He also declared that this development was a key piece of a strategy to meet Canada's GHG emission reduction targets.

"This has the potential to be a very important part of our efforts to fight climate change in Canada," Harper told supporters. (The Globe and Mail, March 31, 2011)

Wrong. Whatever the merits or disadvantages of that project may be, reducing GHG emissions is not one of them. In fact, large hydro projects that flood thousands of hectares of land are net emitters of GHG emissions. The flooding of land results in destruction of forests and fields, which results in tonnes of rotting organics that bubble to the surface as methane. Methane has a global warming potential that is 23 times greater than CO2. The new dams at the Churchill Falls project will flood 41 sq. km and 85 sq.km.

Scientists estimate that the GHG emissions resulting from large hydro dams can be approximately double that of the equivalent size natural gas plant.

For more information about the environmental impacts of the new Churchill Falls development, you can check out the more thorough analysis by the Sierra Club.

The Liberal Platform

The Liberals released their platform today. The good news is there is lots in there on climate change and carbon emission strategy. The bad news is this will take longer to review and analyse than a quick snippet on today's blog. More about the Liberal Platform tomorrow.