In this episode of Markham Hislop’s Energi.Media, you hear a preview of “Renewables and Restoration,” an April 24 evening event in Calgary featuring a live, podcast-style conversation between Markham and me—and oil and gas geophysicist and host of The Gravity Well—held at the Montgomery Community Association from 6:00–8:00 p.m. as a fundraiser for my work. Much appreciated, Markham!
Markham Hislop
A Canadian energy and climate journalist. He hosts the Energi Media podcast, conducts video interviews with experts from around the world, writes the Markham On Energy political analysis column, and writes about the energy future. He is frequently interviewed on Canadian radio about energy transition issues.
Energi Media is your go-to source for understanding the energy transition in Alberta and abroad. His channel is dedicated to providing insightful journalism, strategic advocacy, and community engagement that empowers Albertans to embrace a new energy future. Expect a variety of compelling content, including in-depth interviews, reports, and explainer videos. Covering topics like the energy transition, economic diversification, and the shift from oil and gas to renewables. Whether you’re a professional, policy maker, or informed citizen, our channel offers insights and strategies for engaging with Alberta’s energy future.
Subscribers gain from our narrative, “The Future is Electric,” highlighting technology, economics, and policy in creating a sustainable energy landscape. Together, we’ll engage, communicate, and persuade for a brighter energy future. Subscribe now and join the movement!
Itinerary
6:00 pm-Doors Open
6:30 pm-Speaker Introductions & Insights
7:00 pm-Dual Podcast Discussion
7:30 pm-Audience Q&A
What to Expect
Drawing on both Jenny’s and Markham’s 25+ years working in or reporting on the Western Canadian oil and gas industry. The discussion will explore how intensive and poorly tracked industrial water use, including fracking withdrawals and large-scale injection, is depleting Alberta’s water table and contributing to broader “water bankruptcy” amid shrinking glaciers, reduced snowpack, and drought impacts on vegetation and agriculture.
The event will also examine the tight linkage between energy and water—given that most energy use involves water movement—and argue for a shift toward water restoration as a core policy and industry priority.
On the energy side, Markham will challenge Alberta’s dominant narrative of rapidly expanding LNG exports and doubling oil production, presenting evidence that Asian oil and gas demand is peaking or slowing due to electrification, petrochemical trends, and the region’s strategic move toward electricity-based energy security, especially in response to recent geopolitical shocks and war-related supply disruptions.
The conversation will highlight how massive new global LNG capacity, falling prices, and Canada’s high-cost position undermine the case for new pipelines and LNG plants, calling instead for a risk-based approach that recognizes shifting Asian markets and the likelihood of overbuilt, stranded infrastructure. A further focus will be Alberta’s vast, under-addressed environmental liabilities—estimated at $260 billion—including inactive wells, contamination plumes, and the industry’s reluctance to fund remediation, alongside insider accounts of professional silencing, career repercussions for raising liability concerns, and even alleged strategies to use political separation to evade cleanup obligations.
Structured as short opening presentations followed by a recorded dialogue and audience Q&A, the event aims to equip attendees—industry professionals and the public alike—with a clearer understanding of how misjudged global demand, mounting liabilities, and unsustainable water use intersect, and why collective pushback and new perspectives are urgently needed in Alberta’s energy conversation.
About me
I am an Albertan, partner, mother, and your friend with more than 25 years of development and liability (asset retirement) experience as a Geophysicist in the Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan Oil and Gas industries.
Raised in Castle Downs, Edmonton then St. Albert, I moved to Calgary in 2000 to join “the patch.” I have drafted energy, environment, and economic policy which puts water and land stewardship laws, regulation, and enforcement front and center.
I am a full-time activist focused on preserving nature and healing relationships with all life here in Alberta, the Bow Bioregion, Treaty 7, and Métis Districts 5 and 6.
Celebrating and sharing the stories of the people looking out for our home is why I hosts The Gravity Well podcast. Empowering the Alberta community with the knowledge and skills required to reestablish stability in our communities and ecosystem.
