Moving forward on Alberta's plan to grow its natural gas industry was a high point over the last year for Dale Nally, MLA for Morinville-St. Albert and associate minister of natural gas and electricity.
“We are blessed in this province with a multi-generational supply of natural gas. It's clean from a secure jurisdiction and ethically-sourced. It is an opportunity for us to leverage this resource in a responsible fashion to get us out of recovery and create jobs for Albertans,” said Nally.
Released in October, the Natural Gas Vision and Strategy Plan outlined five areas where Alberta has potential to grow and includes petrochemical manufacturing, hydrogen, Alberta industrial demand, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the plastics circular economy.
In a year-end review, Nally spoke about the strategy plan and about his vision for creating a “destination for world-class petrochemical facilities” in the province.
“The natural gas mission strategy was a year in development. We built that in conjunction with the entire natural gas value chain. It was one of the most robust consultations that we did in the natural gas field,” said Nally.
Nally said the plastics circular economy is exciting, not only for its environmental aspects but because of its financial potential. Under a circular economy, plastic waste is collected and reused, rather than being used once and thrown away. By 2030, the value of unrecovered plastics could rise to $11.1 billion, according to a 2019 federal study of the industry.
“Instead of banning plastics, our circular economy is going to embrace plastics, because COVID-19 taught us the important role of plastics and keeping us safe with N95 masks and gloves and face shields for doctors and nurses,” said Nally.
Nally said he is also excited about the opportunity the province has to create blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas through carbon capture and storage technology. Blue hydrogen produces less emissions than other forms of hydrogen, but it is not emission-free.
He said it has the potential to be a $2.5 trillion-dollar industry by 2050.
“Our officials tell us that we are going to have some of the cheapest blue hydrogen in the world. It won't be zero-carbon, but it'll be near zero-carbon. So, it's going to be a clean energy source,” said Nally.
While Nally said he has been passionate about the development of the natural gas industry, it only ranks second on his list of priorities this year.
“Number one is keeping Albertans safe. The global pandemic, the economic meltdown and the global collapse of energy prices have put Albertans in a precarious situation. Our number one priority has always been to protect Albertans,” Nally said.
Nally said he has spent more time connecting with local organizations, like food banks and continuing care facilities, and making himself available to them this year than he has in the past.
“These are things that I probably would not have focused on pre-COVID because of my preoccupation with jobs, the economy, and pipelines. So it's definitely, definitely changed my focus,” said Nally.
Another issue that has been important for Nally this year is advocating on behalf of Jessie’s House in Morinville.
Since opening in May, the women's shelter has provided assistance to individuals from Morinville, Sturgeon County, St. Albert, Edmonton, Beaumont, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
“In this part of Alberta, we didn't have access to a women's shelter, so women had to drive distances to go to seek shelters. And sometimes they've been turned away because there's a shortage of shelters in our province,” said Nally. “Knowing the great work that this team has done and building that has been absolutely incredible.”
This year has been a particularly difficult year for charities and non-profit organizations as many annual fundraisers have been cancelled due to COVID-19. Nally said he is hopeful that he will be able to host a charity golf tournament for Jessie’s House in the spring.
“As soon as COVID-19 will allow us, and we're going to do that for Jessie's House,” he said.
In the coming year, Nally said he will continue to deliver on the natural gas and vision plan, promote hydrogen, LNG and petrochemical facilities to companies around the world. He said he is optimistic about the future, with the arrival of the vaccine and what that means for the economy.
“Because the vaccine is here, because the numbers are starting to go down, we are going to absolutely start to see recovery in 2021. And layered on top of that recovery that we're going to see in 2021 is continued progress,” he said.
Pipelines are going to be of continued focus in the coming year. Nally said the government hasn’t given up on the Keystone XL pipeline and they are still working and lobbying to get that running.
“We campaigned on pipelines, and if we deliver on TMX, Line 3, Coastal GasLink and get KXL built as well, that's incredible news for Albertans," he said. "There will absolutely be jobs. And by the way, there's some pipelines that we're working on that Albertans don't know about at this point."
