Alberta oil and gas company fined for violating methane rules
The Alberta Energy Regulator has fined a Calgary-based junior oil and gas producer for failing to meet its fugitive emission and methane reporting requirements.
The regulator says it began investigating Tallahassee Exploration Inc. in 2022 and has determined the company broke Alberta's methane emission rules on two counts, with both violations occurring in 2021.
The AER also says Tallahassee provided false or misleading information by resubmitting information from the 2020 reporting period and representing it as data from the 2021 reporting period.
The company has been ordered to pay a $191,885 fine.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is the second-largest cause of global warming, after carbon dioxide. It is the main component in natural gas and is also a byproduct of oil drilling.
Fugitive emissions is a term that refers to the unintentional or unwanted release of harmful gases into the atmosphere as a result of oil and gas drilling activity.
Canada has set a target of reducing oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 per cent from 2012 levels by 2030. New proposed federal rules for the oil and gas sector would prohibit the routine controlled release of methane — a practice known as venting and flaring — from oil and natural gas operations, as well as require companies to invest in enhanced leak detection and repair.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
What we've learned so far in the Trump hush money trial and what to watch for as it wraps up
Testimony in the hush money trial of Donald Trump is set to conclude in the coming days, putting the landmark case on track for jury deliberations that will determine whether it ends in a mistrial, an acquittal — or the first-ever felony conviction of a former American president.
Sentencing trial set to begin for Florida man who executed 5 women at a bank in 2019
Zephen Xaver walked into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then called police to tell them what he did. Now 12 jurors will decide whether the 27-year-old former prison guard trainee is sentenced to death or life without parole.
'How do you get hypothermia in a prison?' Records show hospitalizations among Virginia inmates
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: "unbearable" conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.
The Israel-Hamas war is testing whether campuses are sacrosanct places for speech and protest
Administrators on some campuses have called in local police to break up pro-Palestinian protesters demanding that their schools divest from Israel in demonstrations that Israel's allies say are antisemitic and make campuses unsafe. From Columbia University in New York to the University of California, Los Angeles, thousands of students and faculty have been arrested in the past month.
Helicopter carrying Iran's president suffers a 'hard landing,' state TV says without further details
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
Flammable kids' sleepwear, salmonella-contaminated chips: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for various items this week, including kids' bassinets, chips, and stoves. Here's what to watch out for.