VANCOUVER - Today’s announcement by the federal government delaying urgently needed methane regulations has no justification and is dangerous to our climate, charges the Wilderness Committee.

 

Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna had originally planned to bring the new rules into force in 2018 and finish them by 2020. But now they won’t be complete until 2023. Methane is an extremely damaging greenhouse gas and these new regulations would require industry to cut down on spilling it into the atmosphere.

 

“These methane regulations are the lowest of the low-hanging fruit to fight climate change and there is absolutely no excuse to delay them,” said Wilderness Committee Climate Campaigner Peter McCartney. “This is just pathetic.”

 

These rules merely require industry to check for and fix its leaky infrastructure and adopt best practices to stop venting the gas into the air.

 

“This isn’t some heavy burden on the industry that will take years to implement — they could start tomorrow,” said McCartney. “It will cost them a bit of money, whether they start now or wait three years.”

 

McKenna cited industry pressure as the reason for the delay. 

 

“For 40 years, Canada has been kicking the climate can down the road and we are out of time,” said McCartney. “Now, with just a few years to get on track, the government is caving to oil and gas industry pressure and allowing them to continue pumping this destructive gas into our atmosphere.”

 

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Peter McCartney | Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee

778-239-1935, peter@wildernesscommittee.org