Regulator urges ‘single-window’ approvals

After nine years on the Alberta Energy Utilities Board, seven of them as chairman, Neil McCrank is leaving plenty for his successor to chew on.

Following his last major speech as head of the Alberta regulatory body, he said regulatory reviews of oil sands projects should be conducted under a single umbrella and cover broader issues such as societal and environmental impacts.

He said Alberta should also look at the possibility of major regional hearings every year or two to probe the infrastructure, resource and environmental impacts of the multi-billion dollar sector.

McCrank noted that everyone involved was suffering from “regulatory exhaustion” last year after conducting three successive public hearings to review megaprojects — Imperial Oil’s Kearl project costing C$6 billion-$8 billion; Shell Canada’s 100,000 barrel-per-day expansion of its Athabasca operation carrying a C$12.8 billion price tag; and Suncor Energy’s 50 percent addition costing C$7 billion.

Better way than three separate hearings?

“I think there are a lot of parties — industry included as well as government and non-government people — that would be anxious to see that kind of an examination in a broader way.”

He said change could be implemented within 18 months, but Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Vice President Greg Stringham told the Calgary Herald the merits of the idea also contain potential pitfalls, including a lack of clarity relating to policies that must come from government rather than a regulator.

If policies were clear, articulated and stable, the regulator could perform the function, but turning a regulator into a policy-maker and turning that forum into a public policy forum would not be appropriate, he said.

McCrank said provincial regulation should fall under a single agency that incorporates federal oversight, arguing the present fragmented regulation allows for items to fall through the cracks, or results in duplicated effort.

—Gary Park