Canada: Alberta greenhouse growers critical of carbon levy plan
If passed, the new legislation will establish a carbon levy and rebate plan in law, reinvest the revenue into ways that address climate change and establish a new agency designed to develop and deliver energy efficient programs and services in the province.
The NDP government plan includes a $20 per tonne carbon levy on all fuel that emits greenhouse gases when burned: diesel, gasoline, natural gas and propane.
Alberta’s greenhouse operators are among those who are heavy users of natural gas.
Albert Cramer, a greenhouse operator from Medicine Hat, Alta., and a member of the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association, said he is eager to learn details of the rebate program the government proposes for producers in his business and for farmers who use natural gas for grain drying and other production needs.
“If they are going to put a carbon tax in, then they have to give us greenhouse guys an incentive to make our greenhouses as efficient as we can,” said Cramer.
“B.C. does the same thing. B.C. growers get almost 80 percent of it back if they can prove that they’re energy efficient.”
Read more at The Western Producer