Smith says new methane emissions regulations are “illegal,” but Alberta already has an agreement with Ottawa under existing federal legislation
If Danielle Smith felt shame, she would be embarrassed by this morning’s press release claiming Canada’s intent to regulate 75 per cent methane (instead of the current 45 per cent) emissions reduction is illegal and unconstitutional. Canada already has the regulation. Has had since 2018. In fact, Alberta has an equivalency agreement with the federal government under the regulation that runs to 2025. How does the Premier not know this? If she does know it, how in blue blazes can she be that cynical?
“Given the unconstitutional nature of this latest federal intrusion into our provincial jurisdiction, our government will use every tool at our disposal to ensure these absurd federal regulations are never implemented in our province,” Smith and her environment minister Rebecca Schulz said in a joint statement.
The problem for Smith is that methane emissions reductions from oil and gas are already covered under the federal Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector). These regulations were finalized in 2018 under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.
Astoundingly, given the apocalyptic rhetoric, Alberta already has an equivalency agreement with Ottawa under the existing regulations!
That means Alberta regulations apply but the provincial government agrees to meet minimum federal standards. When Smith and Schulz say that using “a province-led approach, Alberta has already reduced methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 45 per cent,” they mean the regulations under that Alberta-Canada agreement.
The new, stricter regulations would simply be an amendment to the existing federal regulations by the federal government. Legal scholars can debate whether the update requires the equivalency agreement to be amended, but the basic principle seems clear enough: there isn’t that much new in this announcement.
Hard to imagine how the federal changes are unconstitutional when Alberta has been regulating methane emissions for five years under the same federal legislation.
Is Smith’s nose out of joint because the original agreement was negotiated by Rachel Notley’s NDP government? There is a strong streak of “anything NDP is bad” in the UCP, so it’s not implausible.
Or did the Premier’s office simply not talk to their civil service advisors before drafting the release? Given the cock up surrounding the renewable energy moratorium this summer, where Smith claimed that a number of parties (Alberta Utilities Commission, Alberta Electrical System Operator, Rural Municipalities Association) asked for the pause but evidence shows that none of them actually did, anything is possible with this government.
Or is she lying again? It seems like every time the subject of the federal government and Alberta’s energy industries comes up, Smith becomes a prolific fib machine. Such as the following:
“Once again, the federal government is setting unrealistic targets and timelines. Infrastructure can only be updated as quickly as technology allows.”
There’s plenty of new technology to help lower methane emissions from oil and gas operations, including remote sensing equipment and replacements for pneumatic devices powered by natural gas. How does Smith think operators lowered emissions by almost half already?
Here’s another one: “This approach will also cost tens of billions in infrastructure upgrades, yet Ottawa has provided virtually no financial support to do so.”
Environment and Climate Change Canada estimates compliance costs to be about $70 per tonne of emissions, or $3.9 billion from 2018 to 2035. But every molecule of methane (which makes up most of what we think of as natural gas) saved is a molecule that can be sold. This should fetch about $1 billion in revenue for operators. Net cost? About $153 million annually for the entire Canadian industry.
Let’s not forget that Alberta produces roughly two-thirds of Canadian gas, with BC supplying most of the rest. Meaning Alberta accounts for around $100 million of the additional cost. This hardly seems onerous, but if Smith is so concerned about the added costs, let her dip into the provincial industrial emitters carbon tax (TIER) to help out.
Sorry, but this announcement just doesn’t seem to merit Smith and Schulz lighting their hair on fire.
Claiming that it’s “illegal for Ottawa to attempt to regulate our industries in this manner” when it’s already cooperating with Ottawa to do that very thing is farcical.
And claiming that “Ottawa also hasn’t even hit one of its past arbitrary and unscientific emissions targets” after four-and-a-half years of UCP governments fighting Ottawa tooth-and-nail over every federal climate regulation is beyond farcical.
Smith is into self-parody territory now.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, never one to hold back the invective over federal regulations that increase costs for its members, was decidedly more tactful in its press release about the regulations. EPAC, the trade association for the smaller oil and gas producers, who arguably would be hit hardest by the new rules, couldn’t even be bothered to put out a statement.
My apologies for the mixed metaphors, but this is a tempest in a teapot. The oil and gas industry knows which way the winds are blowing.
On Saturday, 50 oil and gas companies representing more than 40 per cent of global oil production signed the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter. They committed to “zero-out methane emissions, eliminate routine flaring by 2030 and to continue working towards industry best practices in emission reduction.” Canadian companies, it should be noted, were absent from the list of signatories.
The long arc of the oil and gas industry is ever tougher climate regulations coupled with destruction demand caused by the energy transition. How fighting against the inevitable benefits Alberta is anyone’s guess. If we asked the Premier, would we even get a straight answer?
Not a chance.
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