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Canadian pipeline group wants red tape untangled
Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary correspondent
The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association is calling for a single federal agency to clear out the bureaucratic jungle that stands in the way of project approvals.
David MacInnis, president of the association, told newly appointed Natural Resources Minister John Efford that the “current morass of regulation is the single biggest impediment to this industry.”
Both pipeline and offshore projects face a multitude of federal and provincial regulators that the industry insists must be cleaned up or Canada risks losing investment.
EnCana has warned that development of its Deep Panuke gas field offshore Nova Scotia could be scrapped unless regulatory authorities can simplify and speed up the process.
MacInnis urged Efford to establish a “priority projects office,” to give first priority to pipeline schemes that connect incremental supply and/or connect supply/demand balances. Pilot project suggested The association also suggested there could be a pilot project involving the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which poses one of the greatest challenges to the industry because it is so decentralized and its regulations are enforced differently from region to region. Efford committed himself to discuss that proposal with Fisheries and Oceans Minister Geoff Regan and other cabinet ministers.
The Energy Pipeline Association said the priority should be on new pipelines and upgrading existing infrastructure to get new supplies from Canada’s North and Alberta’s oil sands to market.
Despite Efford’s indications that he is delving into a new national energy policy for Canada, MacInnis said it is not yet clear that the government has “decided energy policy plays a role in providing for economic growth.”
Preston Manning, a former leader of the official opposition in Canada’s Parliament, said Prime Minister Paul Martin should go beyond a national policy and seek a continental energy security pact with the United States.
He said that if a fraction of the money being spent by the United States on securing cheap Middle East oil was devoted to Arctic gas and accelerated oil sands development the United States would “end up with a more secure petroleum source at lower cost than relying on petroleum from other parts of the world.”
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