B.C. delivers on promise to cut regulatory costs

Gary Park, PNA Canadian correspondent

British Columbia has taken another step to clean out red tape from its permitting process as it tries to fuel growth in its oil and natural gas industry. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said seven of 22 fees will be eliminated to streamline the bureaucracy and shrink regulations by one-third over the next three years.

“Eliminating these fees will help reduce costs because there will be less paperwork for industry and government,” he said Aug. 5.

The changes are designed to help achieve C$24 billion (US$151 billion) in energy and minerals investment by 2008 and create 8,000 direct jobs, Neufeld said.

They also close the gap on neighboring Alberta, enabling British Columbia to compete on more of an equal footing with Canada’s dominant oil and gas producing region.

Fees will be eliminated, effective Sept. 1. They include pipeline plan approvals and compressor or pump station approvals and annual inspections.

“This elimination and reduction of fees is a result of the commission’s service plan to continue to improve efficiency and effectiveness for industry and the regulatory agency,” said Derek Doyle, a member of the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission.

Neufeld’s ministry of Energy and Mines and the Oil and Gas Commission are confident the legislative changes will help streamline regulations, eliminate overlapping legislation and move the commission closer to a single-window authority.

Since the landslide election of the Liberal government under Premier Gordon Campbell in May 2001, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has lobbied for corporate tax reduction and an easing of some more stringent regulations.

CAPP President Pierre Alvarez said the industry has been blunt about its desire to see the cost of doing business in British Columbia reduced.

Neufeld promised to reduce needless regulation for every industry, but has been less forthcoming on corporate tax cuts, saying only that they will be announced “in time.”