Partnering for Sustainability – Success Stories

Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) – Success Story from an industry perspective

Story told by David Pryce, Vice President, Western Canada Operations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)

“The Flaring and Venting project team was created in 1996 when the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) asked CASA to examine flaring. Natural Gas Flaring is done in the petroleum producing process for safety, operations and routine maintenance, and to test wells. Flaring has many public concerns associated with it, however, such as health risks, odour, visibility, emissions, and resource conservation. Energy producers recognized that change was needed, and they desired regulatory certainty.

As a result, CASA created a project team - an independent body that employs multi-stakeholder participation in a transparent process that provides for broad public support.

Two years after being formed, the project team came up with a number of recommendations including:
  •  Focusing on solution gas at oil batteries, which are the largest source of flaring emissions
  •  Establishing a new management framework, which includes a provincial policy objective, a
      decision tree, and management tools

The main achievements of the project team have been:
  •  Recommendations that blend mandatory and voluntary and flexibility standards
  •  A 50% reduction in gas flaring by 2001
  •  Significant research to identify flare performance issues and solutions as well as potential
      areas for improvement

Industry was supportive of the team's recommendations because the recommendations:
  •  Focus on economic solutions
  •  Offer a flexible approach
  •  Allow for time to affect change
  •  Acknowledge and remove barriers
  •  Provide regulatory certainty
  •  Address the concerns of both the public and regulator

The industry views CASA as a forum and process for constructive stakeholder engagement that allows issues to move issues forward.”

Read a Partnership Success Story from a government perspective

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