You hear a lot of debate among climate advocates about the roles of fear and hope. But sometimes it just feels like we’ve been transported into the theatre of the absurd.

In a province where farmers, ranchers and other landowners cannot refuse oil and gas drilling, the Alberta government has announced sweeping restrictions on renewable energy. After freezing approvals in the booming wind and solar sector last year, Premier Danielle Smith announced the moratorium will be replaced with a morass of rules, yet to be clearly defined.

The fossil fuel industry will remain free to mine the oilsands and drill near communities and parks. But wind and solar will be restricted. Drill rigs and pumpjacks, pepper fields and landscapes, but solar panels and wind power must not impinge farmland or “viewscapes.” The liability costs for cleaning up oil and gas operations mount into baffling billions while reclamation bonds will be imposed on renewables.

Maps of the no-go zones will be produced at some point in the future, says the provincial government. Based on the statements at the premier’s press conference, the Pembina Institute and CPAWS calculate that 76 per cent of the province would be ruled out-of-bounds, including all the best wind and all but a smidgen of the best solar.

That level of restrictiveness is so absurd, it seems likely to be softened. But the degree of double standard has to be mapped to be grasped. Here’s the map of oil and gas operations.

It’s an incredible “double standard,” but that phrase seems far too tactful in the theatre of the absurd. Tragicomedy? Farce?

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says: “Danielle Smith’s temporary moratorium on renewable energy development is becoming a permanent attack on our economic future.” Other earnest advocates describe the clampdown on renewable power as an “uncertainty bomb,” a “backdoor ban” or a “soft moratorium.”

Only a “soft moratorium”?........

© National Observer