Day 1 of a two-part project on Alberta's carbon tax. Tomorrow: A look at the politics of the carbon tax, its history and how the levy has been marketed to Albertans.

The carbon tax has pulled in more than $2 billion since it was introduced two years ago to fund local green projects in every corner of Alberta, but it remains the most pummelled punching bag in provincial politics.

From the tax’s beginning on Jan. 1, 2017, it has plumped Alberta’s green fund coffers via gas pumps and heating bills. Everyone knows they pay it, but what’s been far less visible is exactly where that money has gone.

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When the Notley government unveiled the plan in November 2015, it pledged to spend every cent of the new tax on green projects or rebates for millions of Albertans. They’ve made plenty of high-profile announcements about big ticket items bankrolled by carbon revenue, but a detailed and comprehensive picture of all the spending has been hard to come by.

Postmedia reporters pushed Alberta Environment to release those details, finally getting a breakdown of spending tied to Alberta’s carbon tax in mid-February. Trawling through government data, we found a complicated distribution of funds across more than a dozen government ministries and at least 55 programs and stand-alone projects.

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But the data also shows that from Acadia to Zama City, municipal governments, businesses and individuals in more than 300 communities across the province have seen carbon tax money earmarked for local projects.

The big-ticket items are Alberta-wide — $450-million in carbon tax rebates to individuals and a $220-million cut to small business taxes to offset their carbon tax costs. In terms of single projects, Calgary and Edmonton unsurprisingly topped the list, with $33.5 million dedicated to Calgary’s C-Train Green Line expansion and close to $230 million to Edmonton’s LRT build out. (Both projects are also promised millions of dollars more in coming years).

The bulk of the 2,000 line items funded by the carbon tax, however, are in rural Alberta. They’re small green projects, like energy audits on town buildings, retrofitting arenas with LED lights, helping farmers become more energy efficient, upgrading seniors’ homes and working with First Nations to develop community energy plans.

A controversial tax

In Alberta politics, issues tend to burn bright then die down in a matter of weeks or months, replaced in the public mind by the next set of laws, a new budget, or a juicy controversy.

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Not so the carbon tax.

From its conception to today, it remains one of the most talked-about political hot buttons — and that’s unlikely to change heading into the spring election.

For the NDP, it remains a hill to die on. Since the new levy was announced in 2015, the provincial government has lauded it as a vital part of its plan to tackle climate change. Environment Minister Shannon Phillips insists the carbon levy is working, and that Alberta needs to be a responsible environmental steward.

But the official opposition remains as fundamentally against the carbon tax now as it was in 2015.

Then-opposition leader Brian Jean, of the Wildrose Party, regularly demanded in the house that the NDP “axe the tax.” Now, UCP leader Jason Kenney is promising the carbon tax will be jettisoned should he win power. In fact, he says, it would be the first piece of legislation passed by a United Conservative government.

Despite the partisan politics, that hasn’t stopped hundreds of communities from jumping at carbon tax bankrolled programs to make outdated facilities more energy efficient.

Yes, it’s a nod to the environment, but community officials interviewed by Postmedia said it also makes financial sense.

Photo by Leah Hennel / Postmedia

Lights, solar, action: Carbon tax programs in rural Alberta

In Barrhead, new solar panels on the regional aquatic centre roof hibernate under a thick blanket of snow.

Despite the blinding mid-February sun drenching the town 120 kilometres north of Edmonton, the panels lay virtually dormant generating only trace amounts of power.

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Centre maintenance manager Mike Bryant, showing Postmedia the solar panels covering the roof, scuffed his foot at the winter’s accumulation, pointing to the mere inches of space between the panels, making it impossible to shovel.

Four months ago, the flat, black rectangles were generating enough electricity to run the fans and exhaust below and feed back onto the power grid. From May to October 2018, they cut $7,481 from the town’s power bill. But it will take anywhere from seven to 12 years until the solar panels pay for themselves in saved energy costs (depending on the weather and power prices).

A screen in the aquatic centre lobby displays the kilowatts generated above on warmer days and how much they’re saving in emissions — and cash. The results add up to 65.8 tonnes so far, the equivalent of a car driving nearly 439,000 kilometres.

“(It’s) kind of nice so it at least gives your average person … a little bit more to relate to,” Bryant said.

Then there’s the Town of Mayerthorpe, around 140 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, which clinched carbon tax funds for an energy audit on its exhibition centre.

That audit built on a long list of green improvements over the past decade, including on-demand water heaters, lighting upgrades and energy efficient furnaces and hot water tanks at the town hall.

“It’s about reducing our footprint and reducing our energy consumption, implementing technology that requires less operator maintenance over a long period of time,” said Karen St. Martin, the town’s chief administrative officer.

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“The savings are not so much immediate. You have to look at this over the long term.”

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The carbon tax disconnect

Barrhead and Mayerthorpe are just two of h undreds of communities throughout Alberta where the carbon tax has funded projects.

But not everybody draws a parallel between the extra 6.73 cents per litre they pay when filling up their gas tank and the green energy produced above them as they swim.

Even the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank and staunch supporter of the carbon tax, thinks the provincial government could have done a better job forging that connection.

“It is a problem in the sense that people don’t see how it benefits them. Why should they continue supporting it?” said Julia-Maria Becker, clean economy director with the institute.

Becker identified a couple of major reasons for that disconnect.

First, rebate cheques come from the federal government and contain nothing that links them to the tax. Branding them with something like, “The carbon tax — working for you,” would have helped, Becker said.

Then there’s the lack of communication.

“(The government) have been so busy doing things that they don’t have the time to talk about things,” Becker said. “So people again don’t make the connection, because nobody explains it to them and nobody talks to them about it. So how should they know?”

In Mayerthorpe, St. Martin steers clear of the political nature of the carbon tax. But the private company that conducted the energy audit on the town’s civic centre didn’t shy away from the connection, noting in its report to the town that carbon levies in Canada have “relative infamy.”

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That infamy and the routine anti-tax gut reaction of Albertans has likely led to the disconnect acknowledged by town officials. Many people simply don’t see the link between newly installed energy efficient lights at their local rink and the extra $200 or so the carbon tax has added to their household heating bill each year.

“I don’t think there’s a correlation there in the public mind,” said Jeff Shaw, chief administrative officer for the Town of Cardston, a stone’s throw from the Montana border.

Given that projects in the town and county have received almost $700,000 from the green fund, do locals like the carbon tax?

“When people get their utility bills they don’t. When they go to the gas pump they don’t,” Shaw said. “I don’t know of anyone praising a tax. It seems counter-intuitive.”

That divide is also apparent in Barrhead.

“I don’t think a lot of our tax base see that connection yet. It’s there, it’s definitely there, but I don’t think a lot of them are thinking of it,” said Shallon Toute, the town’s parks and recreation director.

The aquatic centre’s Bryant said most locals weren’t even aware of the solar panels when they came online in September 2017, but appreciate the fact the town is leaning green.

It’s part of a larger push in the community, he said, which has also involved replacing old lights with LEDs in parks and public buildings, and installing additional recycling bins.

“What people comment is, it’s nice to see us doing it, trying to put our foot forward,” Bryant said.

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“It’s a nice example to set. If we’re not doing it as a town, how do you expect the town’s people to come on board and do things?”

Tomorrow: A look at the politics of the carbon tax, its history and how the levy has been marketed to Albertans

Photo by Larry Wong / POSTMEDIA

Alberta carbon taxes at a glance

Alberta’s consumer carbon tax kicked in Jan. 1, 2017, pricing carbon emissions at $20 per tonne. That rose on Jan. 1, 2018, to $30 per tonne.

In 2007, the government began collecting funds from industrial emitters who released more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases in a year. Those fees go into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund (CCEMF).

Here’s how much revenue those two taxes have generated in the last two fiscal years, along with the forecast for 2018-19.

2016-17

Carbon tax revenue: $250 million

CCEMF revenue: $163 million

TOTAL: $413 million

2017-18

Carbon tax revenue: $1.05 billion

CCEMF revenue: $251 million

TOTAL $1.23 billion

2018-19 forecast

Carbon tax revenue: $1.3 billion

CCEMF revenue: $485 million

TOTAL: $1.785 billion

Money out

2016-17: $276 million

2017-18: $1.1 billion

2018-19: Spent and budgeted so far: $414 million

Where Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan spent the carbon tax

Alberta’s carbon tax, combined with an existing carbon tax on large industrial emitters, is expected to generate nearly $3.5 billion from January 2017 to March 2019. That revenue has been spent on hundreds of projects, according to provincial data. Here are the largest expenses in each of the fiscal years.

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