Alberta auditor general seeks reforms to how province manages oilpatch liabilities | 24CA News
Alberta’s system for managing environmental dangers from previous oilpatch amenities nonetheless hasn’t spelled out the way it will gather safety to make sure cleanups and doesn’t do sufficient to examine that the work will get accomplished, the province’s auditor common stated Thursday.
“We conclude that (the Alberta Energy Regulator) had liability management processes in place during the audit period, but not all those processes were well designed and effectively mitigating risks associated with closure of oil and gas infrastructure,” stated Doug Wylie’s report.
Wylie acknowledged the regulator is reforming the way it evaluates and ensures the cleanup of previous vitality websites.
However, he stated that program has but to take care of two main points — the so-called “legacy sites” which have been deserted and insufficient safety collected to make sure the variety of such websites doesn’t improve. Wylie stated present applications that mandate spending on properly closures is probably not getting on the drawback websites.
“The program is new, so it is too early to tell if sites are being closed faster,” Wylie wrote. “Licensees have focused more on low-risk and lower-cost sites.”
Wylie stated the regulator ought to develop and launch targets to make sure the general public can gauge whether or not sufficient previous websites are being cleaned up.
He additionally identified that Alberta nonetheless lacks timelines for operators to remediate their websites.
The report emphasizes that, regardless of the regulator’s reforms, essential questions stay on how Alberta collects safety from vitality firms.
“We recommend that the Alberta Energy Regulator determine how much security needs to be collected, when it will be collected, and how collection will get enforced,” it says.
As properly, the regulator must tighten up supervision of remediation applications.
About 17,000 suspended wells don’t adjust to rules. No course of exists to make sure deserted wells reside as much as environmental requirements. Automated approvals for reclaimed wells are hardly ever checked up on.
“We recommend that the Alberta Energy Regulator evaluate compliance assurance activities for suspended wells and routine abandonments,” stated the report. “”(The regulator ought to) guarantee there’s proof of assessment of remedial motion plans.”
In its response, the federal government didn’t point out whether or not it could settle for and undertake Wylie’s 9 suggestions.
“The auditor general’s report shows that we are making significant progress addressing the cleanup of oil and gas sites,” Alberta Energy spokeswoman Gabrielle Symbalisty stated in an e-mail.
“We appreciate their review and recommendations about the new framework, and we will continue to work collaboratively with the (regulator) to improve the process.”
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