Alberta moving against federal emissions cap plans [UPDATE]

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith outlined November 26 how the province will stop efforts by the Canadian government to impose a cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the oil and gas sector – a move she says would amount to a cap on production.

Under Section 92(a) of the Canadian Constitution, provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over non-renewable energy production within their borders. To block Ottawa’s intrusion into an area of provincial jurisdiction, Smith’s government will introduce next week an Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act motion to stop the cap from infringing on the province’s distinct jurisdiction.

Under the sovereignty act, the government must first put forward a motion in the legislature identifying a federal matter at issue – in this case the pending emissions cap – and outlining potential steps the government could take in response. Once the motion is passed by the legislature, Smith’s cabinet will determine the legality of the measures before taking action.

“We will continue to defend our province from Ottawa’s senseless and direct attack,” Smith said. “Our motion protects Albertans’ jobs and livelihoods, puts Ottawa back in their place, and ensures we can continue to support global energy security with Alberta oil and gas for decades to come.”

The motion will propose the Alberta government launch an immediate constitutional challenge, when or if the cap becomes law, and instructs the government to consider passing legislation, amending provincial regulations or taking whatever other steps might be necessary to block the cap’s implementation or enforcement in Alberta.

These measures would include taking steps to ensure that no provincial entity participates in the cap’s implementation and declaring oil and gas production facilities in the province “essential infrastructure” under the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.

Additionally, only those with prior approval from the Alberta government – presumably not federal officials – would be allowed entry to any oil and gas production facility in the province, while any GHG emissions data collected from those sites would become proprietary information owned by the provincial government, which would decide how it would be reported and disclosed.

Meeting with reporters, Smith said taking ownership of emissions data and reporting those emissions in aggregate would reduce the likelihood of producers from being targeted under Ottawa’s Bill C-59 – the so-called “anti-greenwashing law” – for talking about their emissions reduction efforts.

Alberta will also explore taking ownership of provincial oil and gas production under its existing royalty-in-kind legislation and direct the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission to market that production, on behalf of producers.

And it would work with other provinces and territories, First Nations and the US to double down on oil and gas pipeline capacity to tidewater and to US markets.

“Ottawa seems to think that they need to save us from ourselves, but they are wrong,” Smith told reporters. “We are not just working with industry to drive down emissions, we are succeeding at it.”

Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, who joined Smith in meeting with reporters, said Alberta has been working for years to reason with “this out of touch” federal government.

Now, she said, Alberta faces a choice: “Secure our economic future and the livelihoods of all Albertans, or let Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sacrifice our prosperity for his extreme ideological agenda.”

The federal emissions cap, Schulz said, risks the affordable and reliable energy Canada relies on, while its implementation, which would effectively reduce production, will have no impact on reducing global emissions.

“Capping our production does not cap the world’s energy demand, but it certainly does increase how much coal and other higher polluting energy is produced by less responsible jurisdictions around the world,” she said.

In a joint statement, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and his cabinet colleague, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, insisted the emissions cap is constitutional and would not lead to a cut in oil and gas production.

“The pollution cap will drive the industry to invest record profits back into the sector helping to fuel Canadian-made clean technologies and creating jobs in the process,” they said. “Production and jobs will increase under this policy while pollution goes down – that’s a win-win-win.”

Lisa Baiton, CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), which represents about 80% of all Canadian oil and gas production, welcomed Alberta’s “ongoing support” for the oil and gas industry and agreed with Smith’s characterisation of the emissions cap as a cap on production.

“This punitive policy, layered on top of an already complex web of energy and climate regulations, threatens to reduce oil and natural gas production in Canada and restrict cross-border energy trade,” she said in a statement released November 27. “These challenges are especially significant given Canada’s current struggles with productivity, competitiveness, and affordability, compounded by a new incoming US administration considering 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports.”

She encouraged Ottawa to scrap the emissions cap and instead “work with the provinces to foster growth in one of the country’s largest industries – benefiting all Canadians – while continuing to incentivise emissions reductions, rather than pursuing aggressive climate policy at the highest cost to Canadians.”