ALBUQUERQUE, April 16 (UPI) -- Western Canada already provides large volumes of oil and natural gas to the United States and now appears anxious to become an electricity exporter as well.
A protocol signed at the Western Governors' Association energy summit in Albuquerque, N.M., sets the stage for the development of a regulatory framework for more cross-border power trading between the western U.S. and Canada.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein noted that his province currently produces little in the way of surplus power, pragmatically implying that new plants would have to be built before a large-scale flow of electricity to the south could begin.
Building new electricity infrastructure -- namely power plants and transmission lines -- will be strictly up to the producers, he said.
"It's entirely up to the producers to decide if they want to charge those costs back to their customers," the plain-spoken premier said without having to state the obvious answer that the cost would most likely be shouldered by consumers.
