The unravelling of Danielle Smith's case for Alberta's renewables pause$1:
If there was any doubt remaining that Alberta's nearly seven-month moratorium on renewable-energy projects was a political decision — made in the halls of power rather than in the offices of expertise — it was erased by internal documents released to the public last week.
As first reported by The Narwhal, which obtained the documents under a freedom-of-information request, the CEO of the independent Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) was actually opposed to the moratorium. In internal communications, Mike Law said it would send a "closed-for-business message" and could drive renewable-energy investments into a "tailspin."
This, of course, flies in the face of Premier Danielle Smith's long-standing justification for the controversial policy, which has introduced all sorts of uncertainty into the province's once-bustling market for renewable-energy investment.
After announcing the moratorium last August, Smith claimed "the Alberta Electric System Operator asked for us to do a pause to make sure that we could address issues of stability of the grid."
In support of her claim, she pointed to a published letter from the AESO CEO to Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf — even though the letter said nothing of the sort.
The internal documents now show the opposite chain of events: rather than the AESO asking the government for the pause, it was the government that asked the AESO to write a letter in support of the policy.
CKA Moderator 
CKA Moderator 
