Alberta Regulation
Oil and gas projects in Alberta are subject to a highly fragmented regulatory framework constituted by a series of provincial Acts and various government bodies, but is overseen primarily by two provincial government agencies: Alberta Energy (AE) and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER - formerly the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board). AE is the central body mandated to manage the development of provincially owned fossil fuel resources (oil, gas, coal), and is responsible for issuing development rights as well as managing hydrocarbon-based revenues (duties long criticized as being in conflict). The AER was created in June 2013 as a one-window regulator of Alberta’s energy industry. It handles all of the operational regulations of the former Energy Resources Conservation Board and is phasing in the previous land, air and water regulatory functions from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. The AER is a quasi-judicial body governed by a cabinet-appointed Chair and a Board of Directors with the legislative authority to approve individual hydrocarbon projects (wells, facilities, and pipelines), grant all environmental permits for those projects, issue exploration licenses as well as granting access to public lands and managing reclamation projects. The final phase in the transition to the AER is expected to take place in spring 2014. There are two other mediation boards, besides the AER, involved in aspects of energy development: The Environmental Appeals Board, which is associated with AENV, and the Alberta Surface Rights Board, which is available for intervention in disputes over land access.
Further/Suggested Reading:
Cater, A.V. (2010). Regulating the Environmental Impacts of Alberta’s Tar Sands. Paper presented at “Canadian-United States Energy Issues after Copenhagen: Oil Sands and Energy Interdependence”, May 27-29.
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This page was peer-reviewed in September 2013. We’d like to acknowledge the assistance of the external reviewers and Dave Campanelli, Dave Vasey, and Amanda Chrisanthus for contributing to this webpage content.
