EDMONTON – Premier Rachel Notley says she made inroads in Washington, D.C., when she explained Alberta’s climate-change plan.
“My message everywhere was the same, that Alberta is now one of the world’s most responsible energy producers, that we are an extremely attractive place to do business, and that we hope to be a valued partner in driving green and value-added technologies,” said Notley in a conference call with reporters Friday.
“It’s a message that resonated with everyone I met.”
Notley met with numerous officials during her trip, including Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, the chair of the U.S. senate committee on energy and natural resources
She also spoke with Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Alberta’s climate-change plan, introduced late last year, calls for a cap on oilsands emissions, a broad-based carbon tax and a phase-out of coal-fired electricity.
Notley has said she believes the plan gives Alberta more credibility and moral authority when it pitches for more fossil-fuel infrastructure.
The premier has been pushing for a pipeline to Canada’s east or west coast to get Alberta crude to markets in Asia in order to fetch a better price than the province can currently get from U.S. buyers.
Notley acknowledged her climate change plan slows the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, but doesn’t reverse them.
“In the long term (it) will reduce emissions,” she said.
“You can’t turn on a dime, but you can’t not make change simply because you can’t turn on a dime.”
On Thursday, Notley stressed in a speech at Johns Hopkins University that oil remains critical to her province, given that it’s responsible for one job out of six.
Notley did not use the trip to lobby for the Canada-US Keystone XL pipeline, which was rejected by US President Barack Obama last year.
Notley said she would have liked to meet with more leaders, but said time was tight for US politicos given the presidential election season.
“The issue really is ensuring that you’re talking to those folks that are going to be influential regardless of the nature of the administration after the election,” she said.
“I feel pretty confident that our representations have been heard by people who will have the ear of key decision-makers in January.”