Sierra Club asks NEB for intervenor funding to participate in offshore drilling consultation process

The National Energy Board has recently publicized its move toward introducing a funding process for intervenors in its public hearings.  The Sierra Club has written this week to request funding to participate in a consultation process concerning offshore oil drilling in Canada.  Will funding be made available? 

National Energy Board Chair says Canadian regulations adequate - is he right?

The National Energy Board (NEB) has released the opening statement by Gaeton Caron, Chair of the NEB, to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources on the issue of the emergency response to offshore oil and gas drilling.  While Caron deals mainly with the risk of a repeat of the BP disaster in Canada, he makes several broad statements about the effectiveness of NEB regulations in protecting the environment and lands.  He talks about the "stringent" environmental assessments of projects undertaken by the NEB.  He also says that, "NEB-regulated companies are fully responsible for anticipating, preventing, mitigating and managing incidents and oil spills of any size or duration."  Is this the experience of NEB-regulated landowners in Canada?  Is "goal-oriented regulation" working for Canadian landowners?

Read Caron's opening statement at: National Energy Board Opening Statement.

BP has fought safety measures for deepwater oil rigs since Clinton days

WASHINGTON - BP, the company that chartered the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April, spent years battling federal regulators ...

Read Noel Griese's full article at: Energy Pipeline News.

National Energy Board cancels Same Season Relief Well hearing

The National Energy Board (NEB) has now cancelled outright the hearing process announced in February to review the need for relief wells associated with offshore oil drilling.  In an earlier post I commented on the effect the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has had on that hearing process and on the NEB's policy of "goal-oriented regulation".

Now, rather than addressing the particular question of relief wells (work on a relief well in the Gulf of Mexico is currently under way, but won't be ready for months), the NEB plans a general review of Arctic safety and environmental offshore drilling requirements.  The NEB says, "Full details of the review will be announced in the near future, when the focus in the Gulf of Mexico shifts from stopping the leak and protecting the environment to understanding what happened. The process will be public and consultative. The NEB will welcome the participation of other regulators in this process."

Click on this link to view the NEB's Press Release.

Same Season Relief Well issue before the NEB - What will be done in Canada to avoid a repeat of the BP disaster here?

Somewhat ironically, the National Energy Board had started a hearing process in February, 2010 to review its Same Season Relief Well (SSRW) policy, just weeks before the BP drilling rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (relevant documents can be viewed at: MH-1-2010.  BP has been criticized for not having relief wells in place to reduce the pressure in its damaged well that is now spewing oil onto the Gulf coast. 

Here's what BP said in its submission to the NEB in March:

As will be discussed in greater detail below, for both technological and operational reasons, continuance of the SSRW capability is not required and is problematical for BP and other operators, and may well impede further exploration in the Beaufort Sea.

BP is advocating that the policy be changed by eliminating the requirement for same season relief well capability, and any time-of-year drilling restrictions associated with that policy. In BP's view, consistent with the on-going development of goal-oriented regulation, the Board should utilize a series of goals and objectives to enhance safety and protection of the environment.

That was in March.  Of course, in April, BP's operations in the Gulf of Mexico have initiated the worst environmental disaster in the United States since the Exxon Valdez.  Is "goal-oriented regulation", which is the NEB's policy in dealing with safety and the environment, right for Canada?  Where the goal is to avoid environmental disasters, does "goal-oriented" regulation (i.e. set the goal and let industry decide what needs to be done to achieve the goal) do any good?

For its part, Conoco Phillips wrote to the NEB on Monday to suggest that the hearing process be put on hold pending the investigation of the BP disaster: Conoco Phillips to NEB.