B.C. amends oil and gas acts in bid to help reduce greenhouse gases

British Columbia’s Minister of Natural Gas Development has introduced amendments to two acts regulating oil and gas activities in the province to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Rich Coleman announced the amendments on Thursday. Bill 40, the Natural Gas Development Statutes Amendment Act, will amend the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act to allow carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a permanent solution for disposing of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in British Columbia, the provincial Ministry of Natural Gas Development noted in a press release on Thursday.

Allowing industry to move forward with CCS projects will reduce GHG emissions because the CO₂ is not released into the atmosphere, the ministry explained. Instead, industry will be able to remove CO₂ from industrial sources, like raw natural gas, and inject these emissions safely, and permanently, underground in rock formations.

The Oil & Gas Activities Act (OGAA) amendments include:

• Providing authority for the BC Oil and Gas Commission (BCOGC) to authorize work needed to determine the location and feasibility of well sites, pipeline routes or other oil and gas activities;

• Updating notification protocols to remove impractical requirements such as alerting landowners living kilometres away of small work activities like maintenance on a pipeline;

• Clearly defining statutory immunity provisions so the BCOGC and the provincial government are the agencies responsible for the decisions made by individuals under OGAA; and

• Regulations to improve the transparency of oil and gas activities throughout the province.

Amendments are also being introduced to provide the BCOGC with the authority to regulate CCS projects in British Columbia, including oversight for all exploration, storage and monitoring activities.

“Carbon capture and storage is a promising option to substantially reduce GHG emissions in the near future and these amendments will help the province achieve its GHG reduction targets,” said Geoff Morrison, manager of British Columbia operations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, in the press release.