Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is once again making policy by proxy at the UN without consulting the provinces — this time over methane emissions targets..Trudeau and sidekick Steven Guilbeault were posing for photographers at the environment conference in New York City this week while ‘touting‘ Canada’s environmental record..A draft settlement expected before the end of the year — negotiated without consulting Alberta — would cut methane from the oil and gas sector by 75% by 2030 from 2012 levels, Trudeau said after the moderator of the UN conference accused Canada as one of the countries that had increased its production of fossil fuels last year" the most. En français. .The irony is Alberta had previously committed to reducing methane emissions by 45% below 2014 levels by 2025 and had achieved 44% reductions as of 2021. .Back home, Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz was NOT amused..“It is appalling — but not surprising —- that the Prime Minister and Minister Guilbeault would find it acceptable to undermine Alberta’s successful work to reduce emissions, all for a photo op in New York. These statements also undermine and risk the viability of the work commenced by the Alberta-Ottawa working group currently underway to align Alberta’s and Ottawa’s emissions reduction efforts.” .In what is becoming a reoccurring nightmare, Schulz was blindsided. Again..“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault recently announced at the United Nations General Assembly in New York that the federal government would be unilaterally increasing its methane reduction targets,” in a statement dripping with outrage..“Once again, the federal government has announced that it is unilaterally implementing an unconstitutional policy that will devastate Alberta’s oil and gas industry without any meaningful consultation.”.The irony is that Premier Danielle Smith was in Banff Friday morning touting Alberta’s performance on precisely the methane file — so called ‘captive’ emissions that leak from expanding and contracting storage tanks, for example. Alberta has vowed to eliminate them by 2045 and Smith said industry is on track to do just that, six full years ahead of schedule..Alberta was also the first oil and gas producing jurisdiction in North America — and possibly the world — to put requirements on emissions from flaring starting in the early 1990s and has maintained 99% reductions, except those needed for safety..“This recent announcement suggests that the federal government is abandoning the proven approach that Alberta has taken in favour of top-down, punitive federal regulations. It also compromises work that is underway through Alberta’s Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan to further reduce methane emissions in the years ahead,” Schulz raged..In the coming months, Schulz said Alberta would keep working to leading the world on reducing methane emissions. .“We invite Ottawa to work with us and not against us as we do so.”
