Rural Municipalities of Alberta conducts an analysis of Natural Gas report
RMA has completed an analysis of the 2018 Roadmap to Recovery: Reviving Alberta’s Natural Gas Industry Report. The report was written to provide advice and recommendations to the Minister of Energy on short to medium-term actions the Government of Alberta could take to improve outcomes and Alberta’s interests related to natural gas. Specifically, this report seeks to resolve issues related to:
- Persistently undervalued natural gas
- Extreme price volatility
- Intra- and inter-provincial natural gas transmission
- Natural gas storage
- Market access
The RMA analyzed the report after Associate Minister of Natural Gas, Dale Nally, stated the Government of Alberta would be looking at recommendations from the report to help resolve the current challenges facing Alberta’s shallow gas industry, including concerns identified by Trident about high property taxes in an article in the Calgary Herald. After a full analysis, the RMA learned that the report focuses on broader issues related to market access and pipeline capacity, both of which are beyond the control of municipalities. There was only one reference to municipal taxes, and the report offered limited evidence that many companies identify municipal taxes as large operating costs which compound “big-picture problems”.
The RMA will continue to monitor this issue and notify members about future issues.
To view RMA’s Natural Gas Advisory Report Analysis, click here.
To view the full Natural Gas Advisory Report, click here.
For enquiries, please contact:
Alex Mochid
Policy Analyst
alex@RMAlberta.com
Tasha Blumenthal
Director of External Relations & Advocacy
tasha@RMAlberta.com