EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA — Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says Alberta’s plan to make greenhouse gas emissions data the property of the provincial government could lead to oil and gas companies breaking federal laws.
It’s one of many steps Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government would take to challenge the federal Liberal government’s proposed emissions cap if it comes into force.
Smith has said the cap is unconstitutional and harmful to Alberta, and on Tuesday she announced a series of steps her government would take under her untested Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act to try and circumvent the cap, including a court challenge.
Smith said she’d also have the province take over the responsibility of emissions reporting to the federal government, something major emitters are now required to do. Emitters would be responsible for sharing that information with Ottawa under the proposed cap program as well.
A draft sovereignty act motion shared with media Tuesday said the province intends to declare “that all information or data related directly or indirectly to greenhouse gas emissions … are proprietary information and data that are owned exclusively by the government of Alberta.”
Guilbeault told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday that Smith is being “highly irresponsible.”
“It’s more irresponsible behaviour by the premier of Alberta,” he said.
“If companies stop reporting to the federal government, they would be in violation of federal laws — something I certainly wouldn’t advise to any large companies, especially oil and gas companies.”
The cap, which is still in draft form, would require individual oil and gas companies to cut emissions by 35 per cent from 2019 levels before 2030 to 2032.
A final version of the regulations is expected to be published next year.
Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said Wednesday that her federal counterpart can’t be entrusted with emissions data, even though Smith said that data would still be shared with Ottawa.
“I think that they would use it to turn around and impose more punitive policies to shut down an industry that they are just absolutely fundamentally against,” said Schulz.
On Tuesday Smith said the data the government would disclose would represent the entire industry’s emissions and not those of individual companies.
She also mused about other ways emissions could be calculated, saying she’d like to see Alberta get credit for emissions reductions if energy produced in the province is used to reduce emissions in other parts of the world.