B.C. reports on methane inaccurate, study finds

Methane pollution in B.C. is more than twice that reported by the provincial government, an environmental study concludes.

Currently, government estimates for the amount of methane pollution from the oilpatch are based on self-reporting by industry, best guesses for leaks and limited point-source measurements, says the study.

Field research into industry methane emission in 2015 and 2016 by the David Suzuki Foundation and Nova Scotia-based St. Francis Xavier University in the gas-rich Montney Basin shared by B.C. and Alberta found those measurements to be inaccurate.

Researchers travelled more than 8,000 kilometres in a “sniffer truck” using a vehicle-mounted spectrometer covering more than 1,600 well pads and facilities. Full results are published in the peerreviewed scientific journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Ian Bruce, the foundation’s director of science and policy, said the B.C. government reported the release of 78,000 tonnes of fugitive methane due to leaking and intentional venting from extraction and production operations in 2012.

The study, however, measured more than 111,800 tonnes of methane alone from the B.C. portion of the Montney Basin, which represents 55 per cent of the province’s total production.

Calculating for that level of methane pollution across the entire oilpatch, the study suggests true emissions are more than 2.5 times higher than the provincial estimate — and represent the largest source of climate pollution in B.C., surpassing commercial transportation.