Alberta can gain from methane emission rules
Reductions are simply good business,
What if we could reduce air pollution, achieve our climate targets more cost effectively and create thousands of high-paying jobs in a single step? It may sound too good to be true, but it’s a real opportunity we could seize right now by immediately implementing best-practice regulations to reduce methane emissions from the oil-and-gas sector in Alberta.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame, which is why jurisdictions such as Colorado, California and Pennsylvania require oil and gas companies to ratchet down these emissions by taking a wrench to valves, pumps and other methane-leaking equipment.
What these jurisdictions have discovered is reducing methane emissions is good business.
It creates a host of jobs, from inspecting and repairing components to manufacturing new emission-free equipment. And methane mitigation produces revenue both for companies that recover previously wasted gas and governments that collect royalties on that gas.
In Alberta, a growing methane reduction industry is finding new technologies and approaches pay dividends for clients by recovering serious quantities of wasted gas and ensuring equipment remains in a state of good repair.
An economic analysis of methane emission reduction opportunities shows the methane gas being released in Alberta is estimated to be worth $67.6 million on the energy market and could heat more than 200,000 Alberta homes.
A new Blue Green Canada report finds job growth could be significant in the methane reduction sector if the Alberta government takes the lead and implements methane regulations now instead of waiting six years for the federal government’s draft regulations to take effect.
The report shows the business of regularly inspecting equipment for leaks, undertaking repairs, replacing equipment and redesigning systems to reduce venting could generate 1,500 jobs a year in the oilpatch. A recent industry survey found a large majority of companies in the methane reduction sector in Western Canada are poised for growth, and hiring, but need Alberta to kick growth into high gear.
As Terence Trefiak of Target Emission Services notes in the report, “many companies only fully realize the benefits after taking action” to reduce emissions.
Oil and gas companies, he and other chief executives in the industry believe, have long been overestimating the costs and underestimating the benefits of taking action.
That could be true of our governments as well. How else to explain the focus on costly solutions such as carbon capture and storage, and the lack of recognition of the direct cost in lost royalty payments from letting methane leak?
There are also the health costs associated with the air pollutants and cancer-causing substances such as benzene released alongside methane.
One of the popular excuses for delaying action on methane is a lack of competitive advantage with the U.S. But Canada is behind the U.S. and needs to catch up.
Major gas-producing states, such as Colorado, California and Pennsylvania already have stringent methane reduction requirements.
Alberta companies have developed systems using Canadian expertise and components that can be used at remote well sites to reduce or eliminate methane emissions. We need to give these companies a fighting chance by levelling the playing field between Alberta and places like Colorado that have already started the job.
With studies showing action to reduce methane pays for itself through the recovery of previously wasted gas, there is no reason to wait another half decade or more to regulate a reduction in these climate-damaging emissions. Methane offers an opportunity to jumpstart emission reductions at low or no cost while creating good jobs across the province.
What these jurisdictions have discovered is reducing methane emissions is good business.