Federal methane rules suspended in Alberta

Summary#

The government published a proposed order — Order Declaring that the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector) Do Not Apply in Alberta, 2025 — on July 5, 2025. If approved, it would temporarily stop the federal methane rules from applying in Alberta while a new equivalency agreement between the Minister of the Environment and the Government of Alberta is in force.

What it does#

• Suspends the federal methane regulation in Alberta, except for federal works and undertakings (for example, interprovincial pipelines).
• Bases that suspension on a new equivalency agreement between the Minister of the Environment and the Government of Alberta covering roughly 2025–2030 (equivalency agreements can last up to five years).
• Keeps Alberta’s own methane rules — the province’s regulations and directives — as the controlling standard for Alberta facilities.
• Adds expanded information-sharing requirements for Alberta, including facility-level emissions data, verification activity details, enforcement information, and an annual Canada–Alberta implementation meeting.
• Says the order would come into force on the day it is registered and would end when the equivalency agreement is terminated or reaches its maximum term.
• Repeals the previous order that suspended the federal rules for Alberta.

Who's affected#

• Oil and gas companies and facilities operating in Alberta.
• Facilities located on reserve lands of 26 First Nations that were identified as subject to the federal rules.
• The federal government (smaller administrative and enforcement workload in Alberta) and the Government of Alberta (responsible for meeting the equivalency terms).
• Small businesses: officials say no new costs to industry are expected because Alberta’s rules will be used instead.
• Note: the federal rules would still apply to any federal work or undertaking in Alberta.

Why it matters#

• It avoids two overlapping sets of rules for the same emissions sources in Alberta, so companies there would follow only the provincial rules rather than both provincial and federal requirements.
• The government’s modelling finds Alberta’s rules would achieve similar or slightly greater methane reductions over a five-year window (38.68 megatonnes (Mt) CO2e for Alberta rules vs 37.77 Mt CO2e for the federal rules from 2025–2029, a difference of 0.91 Mt or about 2.4%).
• The federal government estimates administrative savings of about $1,638,577 over five years from not enforcing the federal rules in Alberta.
• This is a proposed order, not final. The Canada Gazette notice allows public comment for 60 days after publication.