Interim NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre, James Dinn, was disappointed to hear the Premier refer to a just transition as a ‘buzz word’. The NL NDP sees this as another example of how the province has no plan to diversify the economy, and its only solution is to go against global trends and further increase oil and gas exploration in the province.
“A just transition is one where workers, the environment, and the economy are balanced. Not a transition that puts the continued profits of oil and gas companies at the forefront,” said Dinn. “What is concerning is that all we seem to hear the Premier talk about is the fallacy that we have ‘clean oil’. Clean oil is the buzzword. Oil is oil. Carbon is carbon. They just don’t get it.”
Currently there are 27 active licenses for oil and gas exploration in this province. This is in stark contrast to International Energy Agency’s working paper “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector” which states: ‘The trajectory of oil demand in the Net-Zero Emissions Scenario means that no exploration for new resources is required and, other than fields already approved for development, no new oil fields are necessary.’
“If there is demand for our oil – the market will buy it,” said Dinn. “It’s time that this government announce their plan for a just transition and stop wasting time peddling oil when workers need to know what their future will be in an oil-free economy.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca