Fossil Fuels
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) strongly supports reduced consumption of fossil fuels because of their climate change impacts, which are projected to become more and more severe as the 21st century proceeds. In particular, SES opposes the Saskatchewan government’s plans to increase Saskatchewan’s oil production 25% by 2030. The provincial government’s target is to take oil production up to 600,000 barrels per day. The International Energy Agency and the Secretary General to the United Nations have emphasized again and again that new drilling for oil and gas undermines any plan for reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
SES also opposes the passage of “The Saskatchewan First Act.” The primary purpose of this legislation has been to try to block federal government climate change initiatives in the oil and gas sector, the electricity generation sector, and the forestry sector. SES calls for the repeal of this legislation and SES urges the Government of Canada to refer the Saskatchewan First Act to the Supreme Court of Canada for a ruling on its constitutionality because it asserts that the Saskatchewan government has exclusive authority in regulating greenhouse gas emissions in the above-mentioned sectors of the Saskatchewan economy. In other words, it asserts that the Government of Canada has no role to play in greenhouse gas regulation in these sectors.
The Government of Canada is now proposing new regulations governing methane emission from the oil and gas industry, which are being opposed by the Government of Saskatchewan. The proposed federal regulations would reduce methane emissions from each province’s oil and gas sector 75% below 2012 levels. SES proposes the implementation of a high pollution price on methane emissions from the Saskatchewan oil and gas sector, to take effect in 2025. This should be combined with a comprehensive aerial and ground monitoring program to accurately measure methane emissions from each oil extraction and production site. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas with its concentration in the atmosphere rising each year. Methane now accounts for over one quarter of observed global temperature increases. Unlike carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, methane has a relatively short lifetime of 12 to 14 years in the atmosphere. Thus, sharply reducing methane emissions is the most immediate way to reduce the threat posed by climate change in the decades ahead.
SES adopted a position on the Line 5 oil pipeline in 2021. This pipeline carries up to 70% of Saskatchewan’s oil exports and has been identified as a potential source of pollution in the Great Lakes. SES encourages the Canadian government to insist the owner of the pipeline, Enbridge, who is in a legal dispute with the state of Michigan, to abide by the corrective actions needed to ensure the safety of the pipeline.
In the summer of 2016, a rupture in a Husky Energy oil pipeline spilled as much as 250,000 litres of crude oil and diluent into the North Saskatchewan River. The contamination spanned 500 kilometres of the river, putting the drinking water of nearly 70,000 Saskatchewan residents at risk, and resulted in at least 150 reported wildlife deaths. The spill exposed a lax regulatory system governing oil pipelines in Saskatchewan. In an inclusive set of recommendations, SES called for 13 new oil pipeline safety measures for the Saskatchewan government to implement, to ensure better safeguards for our water.
SES continues to monitor local environmental issues in Saskatchewan and respond to concerns raised by people around the province.