Chris Severson-Baker, Policy Director for the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the competitiveness review released today:
"Albertans, the owners of the province's oil and gas resources, were completely left out of the process of reviewing Alberta's royalty rates.
"The review happened behind closed doors primarily with industry at the exclusion of representation from Alberta citizens.
"Albertans are the owners of the resource, the provincial government is the manager of the resource and the oil and gas companies are hired to undertake developments. The goal is to maximize value to Albertans, yet they have been excluded from negotiations. We can't be sure that today's changes will allow Albertans to get the best value from the development of their resource because they weren't consulted as part of this review.
"The changes appear to mean lower revenue to Albertans due to significantly reduced royalty rates, plus reduced regulatory requirements that could increase environmental damage. They also mean more taxpayer subsidies to an industry that is already receiving significant subsidies for such things as carbon capture and storage."
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The Pembina Institute is a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank.
For more information, contact:
Chris Severson-Baker
Policy Director
The Pembina Institute
Cell: 403-899-7423
