Shocked, Shocked: Explosion In Fracked Gas For LNG Industry Erasing BC Methane Reduction Goals
Wow, couldn't have seen that coming . . . .
There are currently seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in various stages of proposal, planning and construction in B.C. To feed those facilities, B.C. is anticipating an explosion in the amount of fracking in the province’s northeast at the same time as it’s trying to get a handle on one of the gas industry’s worst climate offenders: methane emissions.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a climate warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide on a 100-year timescale. Global efforts are underway to curtail methane emissions, and as a part of Canada’s international commitments, B.C. set a goal of reducing provincial methane emissions 45 per cent by 2025, compared to 2014 levels. But trying to meet that target at the same time as pursuing B.C.’s LNG ambitions sounds like wishful thinking to scientist John Werring, who ran for the Green Party in Surrey Centre in the last federal election. “With the anticipated amount of fracking proposed over the next 10 or 15 years to supply the liquid natural gas industry, I don’t think we will ever catch up,” Werring told The Narwhal.
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Just how bad fugitive methane emissions are in B.C. is notoriously difficult to pin down. “We’re pretty shocked at the lack of data and research that has been done,” Sonia Furstenau, Cowichan Valley Green Party MLA, told The Narwhal. “You can’t properly measure or understand outcomes of efforts being undertaken if you’re not doing that data collection, research and analysis right.”
In 2017, Werring used infrared cameras and gas detection equipment to estimate methane emissions from oil and gas operations in B.C.’s Peace Region and found they were 2.5 times greater than the province reported. At the time of Werring’s research, B.C. reported 78,000 tonnes of annual fugitive methane emissions across the province.
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https://thenarwhal.ca/climate-change-b-c-methane-targets-out-of-reach-growing-lng-fracking/
