“The federal government has unilaterally established new methane emissions rules and targets to help win international headlines... that won’t benefit anyone beyond Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault’s post-office career,“Premier Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz.D’oh! He did it again.Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault was at it again making environmental policy by proxy, this time over methane emission reductions in Dubai.Sitting aside US climate ‘envoy’ John Kerry, Guilbeault signed on to even more punitive emission reductions targets without consulting either Alberta Premier Danielle Smith or Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, who are both in attendance.Canada will cut methane emissions “by a minimum“ of 75% by 2030, he told reporters, which is “the most ambitious goal in the world right now.”“So I think we're seeing here the beginning of a global movement towards almost eliminating methane emission from the oil and gas sector. And it matters because Canada is the fourth largest producer of oil and gas so it matters for Canada, but it matters for the world as well," he said.Draft regulations are to be released at the conference. The only problem is, he conveniently forgot to tell either Smith or Schulz.Needless to say, their response was fast — and furious.“The federal government has unilaterally established new methane emissions rules and targets to help win international headlines... that won’t benefit anyone beyond Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault’s post-office career,“ they responded in a statement.And it looks like another Sovereignty Act motion is in the works.“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.”The irony is that both smith and Schulz announced last week prior to departing for the summit that Alberta had managed to reach a federally mandated 45% reduction in 2022, three years early, despite the fact Ottawa has never met an emissions target of its own.Guilbeault never even mentioned or acknowledged the accomplishment, a point that particularly irked Smith when the announcement was made. She further complains that whenever Ottawa sets an arbitrary target, they continue to raise the bar higher.In their statement, Smith and Schulz complained the new, higher level would cost “tens of billions” in additional infrastructure upgrades at a time when Ottawa is subsidizing EV battery makers in Ontario and Quebec to the tune of $37.7 billion.“For years, Alberta, not Ottawa, has done the hard work and achieved results. We strongly support reducing methane emissions and have invested tens of millions into developing these technologies. Minister Guilbeault must work with us, and not against us, to keep cutting methane emissions and charting a course for carbon neutrality by 2050,” they said. “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.”
