Atmospheric Pollution
Fracking / Methane

Clean up Canada's fracking mess

Burgess COMMENTARY
To:

'The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau'
'The Honourable Catherine McKenna'
'The Honourable Jim Carr'

Subject: Canada's LNG has a methane problem

Canada needs to get this stuff right, it is very important.

Recent research from the David Suzuki Foundation found methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are at least 2.5 times higher than the Canadian government estimates. Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas that traps 84 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, making this a serious issue.

Given Canada’s commitment to reduce methane emissions by 45 per cent by 2025, I ask you to act now to ensure accurate measuring and reporting on this problem. Please do not water down or delay regulations because of industry demands.

The federal government should:
• Take action to ensure industry is accountable to reduce and eliminate its pollution: Commit to elimination of methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by 2030.
• Establish proper industry oversight and monitoring: Enact national regulations requiring quarterly leak detection and repair, capping or capture of existing emissions and transparent reporting.
• Don't delay given the true scale of the problem: Re-commit to the original plan of enacting new regulations in 2018, with full implementation by 2020.
• Report pollution accurately: Update climate pollution inventories to account for higher methane pollution emissions than previously estimated.
• Mandate the use of existing full methane-capture technologies and avoid use of flaring.

I look forward to hearing your response to this important issue.
Peter Burgess

Clean up Canada's fracking mess


Infrared camera captures potent methane emissions from gas compressor station.

UPDATE: The federal government has released its strategy to reduce potent methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Unfortunately, the strategy includes a delay we can't afford. Since we now know the industry’s real climate impact is much bigger than reported, these regulations need to be stronger and implemented sooner.

We expect pushback from the oil and gas industry, so it’s important to let government know that Canadians want swift action. Please SEND YOUR MESSAGE NOW!

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The liquefied natural gas/fracking industry is dumping methane and other harmful chemicals into the air 24 hours a day. Methane is a greenhouse gas that traps 84 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, accelerating climate change and making this a serious problem.

David Suzuki Foundation researchers recently discovered methane emissions are at least 2.5 times higher than the government estimates, meaning the LNG/fracking industry is much dirtier than we've been told.

Even abandoned wells are constantly spewing out methane.

Cutting methane pollution is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to address climate change. The federal government can eliminate these emissions if regulations aren’t watered down or delayed because of pressure from the oil and gas industry. This is a key moment that will affect Canada’s ability to fight climate change.

The good news is that, because of its potency and short lifespan, eliminating methane emissions from fracking will have a quick and major impact on addressing climate change.

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