Premier Danielle Smith says the relationship Alberta has with the federal government feels more positive and that it’s been years since she’s seen this level of collaboration. Smith said Saturday on her call-in radio program Your Province, Your Premier that federal environment minister Tim Hodgson also attended last week’s energy conference in Houston -- and that they pretty much echoed each other’s sentiments. “I had to make a joke at one point that it was like we’d swapped speaking notes,” she said, “because he was saying all the things I’ve been saying. “I was talking about something of the things we’re going to do to address carbon pricing and emissions and some of those other big projects,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve seen so much collaboration with the feds since I got elected – and it’s probably been over a decade since we saw that kind of collaboration, so that’s very positive." She said the messaging was the same -- that Alberta is a reliable energy source and wants to be able to send it south to sell to Americans and other international markets. She said getting oil and gas to southern tidewater was just as much of an opportunity for Alberta energy producers as getting it to the tidewater on the west coast. “We still want to build to the U.S.,” she said, “Whether it’s the gulf coast of Texas for oil or Louisiana for (natural) gas -- then they (U.S.) can use it for their own purposes or it can be re-exported abroad just as the Americans do, so then we, as Canadians, can sell oil to Europe. “Or, we as Canadians, can sell oil through the Panama Canal to get to Japan. “I’d rather the direct route on the west coast but there’s an advantage to us in to getting to tidewater regardless of the direction,” she said. Interior Secretary engaged She said she’d had conversations with people from the (U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office) about facilitating collaborations between Alberta gas producers and potential American partners. She pointed to Enbridge wanting to add 400,000 barrels a day and South Bow, alongside U.S. pipeline partner Bridger, which she said was interested building on the old “Keystone assets” to add 450,000 to 750,000 barrels a day going south. “So if we can get another 1.5 million barrels going to the west coast, (in addition to) 1.5 million barrels going to the south coast, then we’ll have achieved my target of doubling our oil production,” she said. Smith said almost all of the “nine bad laws” have been addressed by Ottawa -- they’re still fighting out one on plastics in court -- but did acknowledge that the proof for most Albertans will see is movement on a proposed new pipeline to the west coast. “We are going to put in a submission for west coast pipeline -- a million barrels a day -- by June, ” she said. “We want the Major Projects Office to give the go ahead to start the approvals by the end of the year and then when we identify -- the public will see which port we’re identifying -- that’s where we’ll look for the carve outs to take place so that’s part of our MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement.” Smith said she was scheduled to speak with the prime minister Sunday.
