Citing the political conversation over climate change, Teck Resources Ltd. has announced it’s withdrawing its application for a major oilsands mining project just days ahead of an expected federal government decision.
Teck says it will take a $1.13-billion writedown on the project in Alberta.
The proposed $20.6-billion enterprise was expected to create an estimated 9,500 jobs and about $12-billion in federal income and capital taxes.
However the project was also expected to produce about four-million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions-per-year- over 40 years.
Teck CEO and President Don Lindsay says investors and customers increasingly want jurisdictions to have a framework in place that reconciles resource development and climate change.
In a letter to the federal environment minister, Lindsay adds that ”does not yet exist here today,” and that the debate has placed Frontier at the centre of broader issues that need to be resolved.