Canada Serious - No More Flaring after 2020

The Canadian Press reported today that the natural gas industry in British Columbia is preparing to get behind their Premier Gordon Campbell's aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by the year 2020, a spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Friday, September 28, 2007.

The natural gas industry is working with the Canadian government on plans to virtually eliminate the practice of flaring natural gas at British Columbia wells, said Dave Price, association vice-president for Western Canada.
The Canadian government will introduce legislation this fall that sets emission targets for industry and government - the first province in Canada to introduce laws enforcing environmental goals, said Campbell.

The oil and gas industry has been consulting with the British Columbian government to develop a flaring reduction plan similar to the province of Alberta, said Price.
"It really builds on what was done in Alberta," he said. "We're more than 70 per cent reduced in our flaring (in Alberta.)."

Part of the British Columbia strategy includes reduction targets, Price said.
"The abilities to accomplish the targets in the time frames remain to be seen, but we're working with the Crown to see what we can do," he said. "Essentially what it calls for is a 50 per cent reduction by 2011 and elimination of all routine flaring by 2016."