to deal with billions of dollars worth of spent wells and an expanding oil sands tailings problem, with no halt onAlberta Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf said in an interview earlier this week that
the government spoke with “somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200 individuals” before deciding to impose the pause, including stakeholder groups, consumer advocates, and power generators and distributors. That included large companies that rely on natural gas to generate power.
Developers have rushed to Alberta to take advantage of its ample solar and wind resources, and a market structure that lets electricity buyers sign long-term power-purchase agreements with generators. Those buyers include Microsoft Corp.