Alberta’s energy regulator is moving forward on recommendations to improve safety in the oilpatch, but says better communication is needed to resolve difficulties between landowners and other stakeholders.
Confrontations between landowners and energy companies are continuing to happen every day, as energy development creeps closer to populated areas, the chairman of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) told a sold-out business audience at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last week.
With more than 40,000 wells drilled in Alberta over the past three years and more than 1,500 companies regulated by the EUB now operating in the ’patch, there is greater potential for conflict, said Neil McCrank. With several acts of violence in the 1990s – including the shooting death of a Calgary energy executive in a dispute north of the city and vandalism of oilwell sites – “the development of sour gas in this province was on the verge of paralysis,” McCrank said.
“We believe that effective consultation and communication is the key to resolving some of these difficulties,” he said, particularly in the area of sour-gas safety. “Landowners are entitled to answers to their legitimate questions . . . and it is important to those in the field to understand this, and for senior management in head office to be alerted if there is a breakdown (in communication).”
The EUB recently moved to permanently cap flaring at oil and gas fields across the province. The new draft policy sets the cap at 670 million cubic metres a year of solution gas, or uneconomical natural gas, that is allowed to be flared – about half what the province’s total flaring emissions were in 1996. Venting, or the release of unburned gas, has also been reduced by 15 per cent over the past three years.
McCrank said several steps will follow, including shifting the focus from simply reviewing emergency response plans to actually testing the capabilities of the industry to implement them. Earlier, better and continuing public consultation will also be a priority, he added.
