GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: More trouble with 2030

[Oscar]

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: More trouble with 2030

[ http://www.pembina.org/blog/776 ]

P.J. Partington — Jan. 15, 2014

Last week I wrote [ http://www.pembina.org/blog/774 ] about a new report the federal government released quietly over the holidays. [ http://unfccc.int/files/national_report ... 5B1%5D.pdf ]

It projects a significant and sustained rise in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions unless we dramatically improve our climate policies. In this post, I’ll explore some of the other significant stories found in that report.

Provincial trends

My previous blog described the national picture, but trends in greenhouse gas emissions at the provincial level are also important. Climate policy is a shared responsibility between provincial and federal governments, and each province has its own climate change plans and targets as well.

Alberta was already Canada’s largest emitter in 2005. As you can see in the graph below, its emissions are projected to increase by nearly 40 per cent from 2005 to 2030.

The only other province with a notable increase in emissions is British Columbia. Unconventional gas production is the likely culprit here, along with the related development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector in the province (although the assumptions around the scale of LNG development in this federal report appear to be very conservative compared to the B.C. government’s aspirations).

On the other hand, emissions are expected to fall between 2005 and 2030 in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Quebec.

MORE:

[ http://www.pembina.org/blog/776 ]

[Oscar]

Saskatoon chapter calls for an end to methane venting and flaring

[ http://www.canadians.org/blog/saskatoon ... nd-flaring ]

December 1, 2014 - 4:10 pm

Council of Canadians Saskatoon chapter activists Burton Urquhart and Dallas New write in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that, "Saskatchewan has the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita emissions of greenhouse gases of any province." [ http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technolog ... story.html ]

In their op-ed they note, "Most of us think of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the major culprit in climate change. However, even though less of it is emitted, methane is much worse - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says as much as 86 times worse if we take a 20-year time frame. Yet, by the oil and gas industry's own figures, in terms of the effect on climate change, 21 per cent of Saskatchewan's emissions are from the release of methane from oil and gas installations: venting, which is the deliberate release of methane; flaring, the burning that turns the methane into CO2 and water, thus still contributing to climate change; and leakage."

The chapter activists highlight, "The provincial government's target is to reduce the 2006 level of emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. So it is easy to see that the step of eliminating or dramatically reducing the release of methane from oil and gas installations would achieve that goal all by itself."

They conclude, "Emitting methane is both wasteful and destructive. It is not something that we should permit the oil and gas industry to continue."

To read their full op-ed - Stop venting, flaring methane gas - please click here:
[ http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technolog ... story.html ] .

Brent Patterson's blog
[ http://www.canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

[Oscar]

US seeks to limit methane gas 'flaring' at drilling sites

[ http://bigstory.ap.org/3b82400808be4f2c9d56937e243051e7 ]

By MATTHEW DALY Jan. 22, 2016 11:56 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday proposed new rules to clamp down on oil companies that burn off natural gas on public land, arguing the effort will reduce waste and harmful methane emissions as part of President Barack Obama's bid to curb climate change.

Energy companies frequently "flare" or burn off vast supplies of natural gas at drilling sites because it does not earn as much money as oil. A report by the Government Accountability Office said 40 percent of the methane gas being burned or vented could be captured economically and sold . . . . .