Oil and gas flaring became a political flashpoint in Alberta last week. We take a look at why
CBC
The process of flaring in the oil and gas industry became a lightning rod in Alberta last week when the federal government unveiled proposed legislative changes to reduce methane emissions in Canada.
Against the backdrop of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault unveiled a blueprint for capping emissions in the oil and gas sector via a national cap-and-trade system that it says will set emissions limits without restricting production.
The framework proposes to cap 2030 emissions at 35 to 38 per cent below 2019 levels to reach the government's goal of reducing carbon emissions in the sector to net zero by 2050. The oil and gas sector is responsible for 28 per cent of Canada's emissions.
The Alberta government sounded alarm bells immediately with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith calling it an "intentional attack by the federal government on the economy of Alberta and financial well-being of millions of Albertans and Canadians."
Tucked away in draft regulations on methane emissions released earlier last week was a reference to flaring.
The proposed regulation would limit flaring to only when completely necessary, but the province says the proposed regulations would ban flaring altogether.
"Alberta will not accept nor impose a total ban on flaring at this time, as it is a critical health and safety practice during production," Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said in a joint statement at the time.
"Any regulation that completely prohibits this is putting lives at risk. A total ban would also be costly, resulting in shut-ins and loss of production."
Put simply, gas flaring is the burning of natural gas as part of the oil extraction process.
Flaring can happen for a variety of reasons, from relieving pressure during the extraction of oil and gas, to a lack of equipment needed to capture, store and transport the gas for commercial use.
"Flaring is basically very simple, it's the combustion of waste or unwanted or undesired flammable gas," said Matthew Johnson, from the Energy and Emissions Research Lab at Carleton University.
"Basically, you've got some flammable gas, for whatever reason, you've deemed it's not economical to deal with and you need to get rid of it, so you just burn it on site."
The proposed regulation says that by 2027, facilities would "be required to design and operate systems to limit emissions during combustion and to eliminate routine flaring where feasible."
Johnson calls the province's focus on the directives around flaring in the proposed regulations a "red herring," saying that the concerns around safety are already addressed in the proposed regulations.