Emission Rules Have Holes; Critics Say Conservatives Will Likely Let Big Polluters Pay

Emission rules have holes; Critics say Conservatives will likely let big polluters pay into a technology investment fund instead of cutting emissions

Ottawa appears set to announce a measure that would let industries evade its new rules on climate-change emission cuts, environment groups say.

Details are expected in the new year, when the Conservative government is to announce draft regulations for greenhouse-gas emission caps and timetables for reductions, likely up to 2015. But critics say the Conservatives will likely let big polluters that exceed their emission limits pay into a technology investment fund instead of making actual cuts.

They call the move hot air, arguing it would allow the polluters and the government to claim targets are being met while emissions continue to rise. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has said several times over the past few weeks that Ottawa will let big companies write off excess emissions through contributions to a fund.

But she hasn't said whether such payments would be limited.

The climate-change plan of the previous Liberal government - scrapped by the Conservatives - included a similar fund for the large emitters. Former prime minister Jean Chretien included it at the insistence of the oil and gas industry. But the companies would have been allowed to pay off only one-fifth of their required 45 million tonnes of reductions.

While government officials say details of the fund are still being worked out, a source said the decision has been made to eliminate the cap. "It makes no sense...but it looks like that's the way they're going," said Matthew Bramley, of the Pembina Institute, an independent, not-for-profit environmental policy research and education organization.

The policy would cover Canada's 700 largest industries, including oil and gas producers, electricity generating stations, steel mills and manufacturing plants. They'd contribute a payment - the amount not yet announced - for every tonne of carbon emissions over their cap. Ambrose says the fund would support development of new technologies that combat climate change.

"The idea is that if, once targets are in place, if an industry sector goes over their target, based on carbon price, they will be able to pay into the technology fund," she said in a recent interview.

"That money in the technology fund will then be reinvested back into that sector for clean-air technology for reductions of emissions.

"It's revenue neutral; it helps industry keep the money in the country, which is what their preference is, and to keep it coming back into their sector."

Critics say there's no guarantee the money going into the fund would actually lead to emissions cuts, especially within the time period when they're supposed to be achieved.

"Paying into a fund whose efficacy is unclear - that's a very different thing from reducing emissions," Bramley said. "If that were allowed, you'd be in a situation where whatever target you announced would be meaningless.

Complying with the rules is not the same as meeting reduction targets, said Eric Haites, a climate change expert with Margaree Consultants Inc., in Toronto. As well, if the government sets a relatively low fee for each tonne of carbon paid it could undermine the emission-trading system it also plans to establish. Trading schemes let companies that are under their emissions caps sell credits to those that are over. But if the fund price is low, they'd simply abandon the trading system and make their payments into the fund, Bramley said.

"You'd essentially kill it (trading)."

Even if the Canadian fund's contribution cost were about the same as the trading price, companies would opt for the fund, Haites said. Ambrose hasn't said what the fund price would be, but indicated in the interview she wants to abandon the $15 per tonne cap imposed - again at the insistence of the oil and gas industry - by the Liberals.

The industry would oppose any move to increase the price, said Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. The price in Europe, the world's largest carbon-trading market, for emissions in the period that would be covered by Ottawa's policy is equivalent to about $23, making the current fund price attractive.

Quebec to probe overpass collapse; No way of predicting tragedy: Charest Five die in cars crushed by concrete

MONTREAL -- Quebec's provincial government has ordered a public inquiry into an overpass collapse north of the city that crushed three members of a suburban Montreal family and also claimed the lives of a young couple expecting their first child.

Five people who were in vehicles crossing the viaduct on Blvd. de la Concorde E. at the moment of the collapse remain in hospital - one in critical condition - while a sixth was recovering at home yesterday.

It took rescue crews in Laval, a sprawling city north of Montreal, until nearly 3 a.m. yesterday, more than 15 hours after the accident, to reach two cars crushed under the deluge of reinforced concrete. One vehicle was so severely compressed its roof came up to mid-shin on a firefighter standing next to it.

It emerged yesterday that the fallen overpass was designed by Quebec-based Dessau-Soprin. The same firm designed an overpass a few kilometres west of the accident site that collapsed while under construction in June 2000, killing a 50-year-old motorist. A coroner's inquiry found negligence and faulty bracing methods were to blame for his death.

Though Transport Quebec confirmed it received at least two reports of debris falling from the bridge in the minutes before it collapsed Saturday, Charest insisted the tragedy couldn't have been foreseen.

"We're not talking about a situation the government was aware of. We weren't aware of it," said Charest. "For the moment this is inexplicable. This bridge broke in a place where normally this does not happen."

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Quebec Transport Minister Michel Despres told a news conference he has closed a second overpass built on a similar design to the one that failed, adding that engineers with his department have pored over blueprints and plans for all 4,900 bridges and viaducts in the province, concluding that 20 merit closer scrutiny.

The accident also means months of heavier commuter traffic for motorists who use the already-overburdened highways that link downtown Montreal with the northern suburbs.

Laval officials warned of several weeks of traffic slow-downs because what remains of the overpass will almost certainly have to be demolished. The area will be closed indefinitely, Transport Quebec said.

Despres also announced he has appointed former Parti Quebecois premier Pierre-Marc Johnson to preside over the public inquiry into the collapse.

There were few details, however, concerning the precise scope of Johnson's mandate.

Quebec's Order of Engineers called for a full and complete inquiry that considers the broader question of infrastructure maintenance. Charest acknowledged Quebec's road system is aging rapidly, but pointed out his government has doubled road maintenance and construction budgets over the past three years.

Irate municipal officials pointed out Transport Quebec's budget was cut in the 1990s, along with those of other departments under PQ governments, and that both the provincial Auditor-General and transport ministry bureaucrats have raised alarm bells recently over deteriorating infrastructure.

A government analysis released in late 2005 said as many as 2,200 of Quebec's 4,900 bridges and overpasses were in need of repair, and nearly 800 were structurally deficient. Charest defended his government's efforts at improving the province's increasingly dilapidated highway infrastructure, and bristled at the suggestion they have skimped on repairs.

"When it's a question of security, money is no object. Whenever we've had a situation that put the security of the population in peril, we've never, never, hesitated to spend the money on getting the work done," he said.

Despres pointed out the overpass underwent a full structural inspection just over a year ago, which revealed no structural problems or weaknesses. "This structure was built in 1970, the experts estimate the life-span of such a bridge is 70 years," he said.

With files from La Presse

Air taxi tragedy points to industry flaws; Short-hop fleet has majority of fatalities Investigation shows lax regulations

The weather was a mild seven degrees C when Stacey Curtis and Marissa Richmond arrived at the Tofino airport on Vancouver Island's west coast in January.

Curtis was surprised when she arrived at Vancouver airport on Jan. 14 to find a single-engine Cessna Caravan waiting.

At the time, Sonicblue was one of almost 600 small airlines flying close to 3,000 planes that form Canada's air taxi fleet, which makes up more than half the commercial aviation industry. By definition, air taxis carry fewer than 10 people - generally on short-hop or charter flights - and also ferry cargo and act as air ambulances. Air taxis carry more than 100,000 passengers a year in Canada.

A joint investigation by the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and the Record of Waterloo Region shows Transport Canada regulations are lax when it comes to air taxi operations, which regularly account for the majority of accidents and fatalities in the commercial industry.

British Columbia's air taxi industry, with Canada's largest fleet of planes, has had an especially difficult time, suffering six fatal crashes killing 14 people in the past 13 months.

Three of the province's air taxi companies have been shut down. One of them - with six fines or suspensions and three fatal crashes in the last eight years - was Sonicblue. Despite Curtis's initial misgivings about the single-engine Sonicblue plane, the flight to the island had been uneventful - beautiful even. By the time Curtis arrived back at Tofino airport at 1 p.m. on Jan. 21, she was more concerned about making her connecting flight to Toronto. The plane's captain, Ed Huggett, reassured Curtis the flight was 15 minutes early, leaving plenty of time to catch her next plane.

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Curtis remembers she was looking out the window when she heard it: A loud clunk followed by complete silence. She turned her gaze to the front of the plane, wondering if maybe they had hit a bird. Instead, she saw the Caravan's lone propeller slowing to a stop.

A blade in the Cessna's turbine engine compressor wheel had snapped off as the plane cruised at 9,000 feet. The blade either tore through other blades or set the compressor wheel off balance, causing it to break apart. The engine failed at 2: 08 p.m.

The failure was catastrophic for a one-engine plane flying more than 300 km/h. With no power, it would eventually fall out of the sky. For 10 minutes the plane glided toward the ground.

Huggett told the passengers to get ready for impact. Curtis felt the plane hit the top of some trees, 60 feet above the ground. It pitched nose-first into the mountain, just short of one of a series of logging roads in the area.

When search and rescue arrived, they pulled the five women and Curtis' dog Emma from the wreckage. They also recovered the bodies of Huggett, 58-year-old Terry Douglas and Braeden Hale.

Nine days before the crash, Transport Canada investigators had visited Sonicblue's offices and found that six planes had missed mandatory inspections.

Investigators discovered Huggett's Caravan was more than 270 hours past due for an inspection of the struts that hold up the plane's wings. The company agreed to do the work, but put the Caravan back in the air before the inspection was finished.

Inspectors hadn't considered Sonicblue an immediate safety risk since the company had agreed to fix the problems, said Rod Nelson, Transport Canada's B.C. spokesman.

The plane crashed before the work was done. Sonicblue's licence was immediately suspended and Transport Canada's enforcement branch launched a separate investigation into whether Sonicblue violated any federal regulations.

Two months later, Transport Canada cancelled the company's licence and fined it $125,000 for the missed inspections - the largest penalty ever laid against a B.C. airline. The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating why a crack in the blade of the Cessna's turbine compressor wheel was never detected.

Transport Canada says making the decision to shut down an airline simply takes time.

"It doesn't matter which airline you're talking about, you can't go out there and say, 'Well, I think this isn't safe so I'm shutting you down.' You'd be in federal court," said Merlin Preuss, head of civil aviation with Transport Canada. "You have to give them time to respond and then you have to take the appropriate action.

"That's not stopping us from taking immediate action when there's an emergency, but we're required to show that something is not safe."

Last week, two lawsuits were filed in B.C., one from the family of Braeden Hale, the other from Stacey Curtis and Marissa Richmond. In the latter suit, the plaintiffs claim that an engine design flaw, coupled with poor maintenance, caused the crash. They also allege that air traffic controllers directed the pilot to Tofino instead of the closer Port Alberni; and that Transport Canada did not properly regulate Sonicblue. Among those named in the suits are Sonicblue, Transport Canada, Nav Canada and Cessna.