Canada Proposes New Energy Regulator
Canada’s federal energy ministry, Natural Resources Canada, proposed February 8 sweeping changes to the federal regulatory system that would replace the globally-respected National Energy Board (NEB) and add an additional agency to review environmental, economic and cultural impacts of proposed projects.
“We want to restore investor confidence with better rules and greater predictability for environmental assessments and regulatory reviews – all while ensuring Canada also meets its international commitments on combatting climate change,” Natural Resources minister Jim Carr said. “Our new legislation, including a new Canadian Energy Regulator (the CER, which would replace the NEB), will enhance our global competitiveness in a number of important ways.”
The new regulatory structures, he said, would provide legislated timelines that are shorter and better managed, encourage early engagement by all Canadians to identify public priorities and provide clear direction on consultations with Indigenous communities.
The new CER would have a dual leadership structure: the CEO would be separate from the chair, a board of directors would provide strategic direction and a separate group of commissioners would be created, without the current policy that says a commissioner must live in Calgary.
The CER would, however, be based in Calgary, as the NEB is now, but at least one member of its board of directors and at least one commissioner would need to be First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
The second agency would be known as the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), charged with providing a single, predictable assessment process by reviewing a project’s effect on the environment, health of communities and Indigenous people, jobs and the economy.
Reviews of designated projects – those not requiring an impact assessment by the IAAC – would be completed within 300 days, down from the current legislated timeline of 450 days, while major projects subject to IAAC review would carry a maximum timeline of two years.
The new rules must still be approved by the Canadian Parliament.