Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is open to seizing ownership of data that oil and gas companies collect about greenhouse gases at facilities in her province and banning others from releasing the information, as she escalates her fight with Ottawa over its proposed emissions cap.
Ms. Smith on Tuesday said she will lean on her signature legislation, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, to defend against what she considers Ottawa’s latest unconstitutional intrusion into provincial matters. The legality of Ms. Smith’s sovereignty act has not been tested in court.
The United Conservative Party argues Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed emissions ceiling is essentially a production cap for oil and gas and, therefore, infringes on Alberta’s jurisdiction over the development of its non-renewable resources.
Ms. Smith’s legislation and the tactics she is proposing – which include barring entry to oil and gas facilities, save for company employees and their contractors, without approval from the Alberta government – are constitutionally questionable, experts say. But Alberta’s use of the sovereignty act has generated attention for Ms. Smith’s arguments.
Ms. Smith intends to table a motion, under the sovereignty act, proposing a list of actions Alberta could pursue to fight the emissions plan, including a court challenge. The motion also instructs the province to consider implementing legislation and amending regulations to give Alberta significant control over energy facilities, related infrastructure and data.
The proposed remedies include declaring “all information or data” related to greenhouse gas emissions collected by energy companies at facilities in the province as “proprietary information and data that are owned exclusively by the Government of Alberta,” according to the motion’s draft text. The clause would also prohibit companies from reporting or disclosing emissions data to anyone other than Alberta’s government.
Alberta takes its fight with Ottawa to another level over the federal emissions cap
The Premier, in a news conference Tuesday, said Alberta would then release aggregate emissions data to the public. She also said Alberta would report GHG data to federal authorities on behalf of companies operating in the province. These provisions would protect oil and gas companies from the federal government’s legislation designed to end false or exaggerated environmental statements, Ms. Smith said, adding they would also encourage production growth.
“Companies should look at this and thank us for this, for being willing to protect them from federal government overreach,” Ms. Smith said. “We’re anticipating that this should be welcomed by the energy sector.”
Steven Guilbeault, the federal Environment Minister, and Jonathan Wilkinson, who oversees the federal Energy and Natural Resources department, issued a joint statement arguing Ottawa’s plan will reduce pollution while bolstering investment in clean technology and create jobs.
“Smith’s focus on manipulating and politicizing emission reporting is yet another distraction for her government,” the statement said.
Global energy companies operating in Alberta are subject to various disclosure practices around the world, and scores of retail and institutional investors make decisions based in part on environmental and social yardsticks.
Lisa Baiton, chief executive of Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said in a statement that the lobby group appreciates the support of the oil and gas sector from the Alberta government, and its efforts to fight the emissions cap.” Ottawa’s emissions cap is a cap on our economy and our prosperity,” she said.
The UCP’s draft motion suggests the government consider limiting access to oil and gas facilities to their owners, employees and contractors, and people “specifically authorized” by the province; ensure no provincial entity helps Ottawa implement or enforce the emissions cap; and deem oil and gas facilities in Alberta “essential infrastructure,” subject to Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.
Oil and gas production and refinery sites, as well as pipelines and related infrastructure, are already classified as essential under that law, which former premier Jason Kenney created with an eye on shielding the energy industry and related assets, such as railways, from damage or interference caused by blockades or similar protests.
Under that act, it is an offence to enter, destroy, or damage critical infrastructure, with penalties of up to $10,000 for the first offence; $25,000 for subsequent offences, as well as possible prison time; and $200,000 for corporations that help trespassers.
Ottawa’s planned cap would limit greenhouse gas emissions from Canada’s oil and gas sector to 35 per cent below 2019 levels.
The new rules would be executed via a cap-and-trade system. Facilities covered by the cap would be allocated emissions “allowances,” and at the end of each year, they would have to remit to the government one allowance for each tonne of carbon pollution. Over time, the government would give out fewer allowances corresponding to the declining emissions cap.
Only operators producing more than 365,000 barrels of oil a year would have to remit allowances to cover their emissions. The proposed regulations would be phased in through 2029.
Ms. Smith is adamant that it’s impossible for the sector to meet the reduction target without a production cut, but the federal government maintains that firm targets are necessary to spur action on emissions reduction.
Naheed Nenshi, the Leader of Alberta’s New Democratic Party, called her proposals a “cooked up potion of things that won’t work, that are likely illegal and it will not, in fact, make any difference to Albertans’ prosperity.”
Ms. Smith came to power on a pledge to battle Ottawa and, in late 2022, introduced the sovereignty act. Under the legislation, Alberta’s premier or a minister must introduce a motion identifying a federal policy they believe harmful to the province, and suggest proposed remedies for cabinet to consider. The proposals are options to weigh for future legislation or regulation, rather than immediately implemented upon the motion passing.
Janetta McKenzie, the interim director of oil and gas at the Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank, said oil sands companies have failed to move on critical emissions-reduction projects – and those investments won’t happen without regulations like the emissions cap.
“That could be made-in-Alberta regulation, and we would support if the provincial government took steps to develop its own, but so far it has not done so,” she said.
The Premier first invoked the sovereignty act a year ago, when she mused about creating a Crown corporation to defy Ottawa’s proposed environmental regulations for Canada’s electricity grid. Alberta has not yet set up such an entity.
