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Tar Sands to be Regulated by Paid Shills of the Oil Companies
Topic Started: Dec 27 2013, 07:37 AM (322 Views)
Brewster
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Climate Progress
 
Alberta’s Tar Sands Will Now Be Regulated By Fossil Fuels-Funded Group
The Alberta government is handing over the regulatory responsibility for the province’s tar sands industry to a corporation that’s funded entirely by Canada’s oil, coal and gas industry.

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is taking over the duties of the now defunct Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) — which was funded in part by taxpayers — and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. Previously, the ERCB was responsible for making sure “appropriate precautions are taken to develop oil sands resources in the interests of all Albertans…through regulation, reviewing applications, managing conditions and approvals, surveillance, and enforcement” — now, those responsibilities will fall to the AER. On top of that, according to the AER’s website, the AER’s duties include “allocating and conserving water resources, managing public lands, and protecting the environment while securing their economic benefits for all Albertans,” as well as administering Canada’s Water Act and Public Lands Act, dealing with fossil fuel-related spills, and approving or denying oil and gas permits.

The shift to the AER as the main environmental regulator in Alberta is part of the provincial government’s plan to streamline the approval process for oil companies. It’s drawn concern from environmentalists in Alberta, who are worried that the AER’s financial backing from the fossil fuel industry makes the group too close to the industry it’s supposed to regulate.

Adding to their worry is the fact that the AER’s chairman of the board, Gerry Protti, is one of the founders of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, a major oil lobbying group.

“This is just another step going down this road — we now have a regulator whose prime mandate in legislation is to promote economic development, and it is now also the prime environmental enforcer in the oilpatch,” Alberta legislative assembly member Rachel Notley told the Edmonton Journal.

The AER won’t be the first fossil fuel-funded organization to oversee the tar sands, however — air quality in the tar sands region is monitored by the Wood Buffalo Environmental Association, a group that’s funded by Canada’s oil and gas industry. Tar sands development in Alberta has come under public scrutiny recently, as debates over Keystone XL and other pipelines that would carry the bitumen heat up. One study found levels of air pollution downwind of the oil and tar sands-rich “Industrial Heartland” of Alberta rival levels found in the world’s most polluted cities, and that the pollution could be tied increased incidence of blood cancers in men that live in the area. This year, an environmental report card found that the climate change impacts of oil sands and other unconventional fuel sources in Canada were growing. And on average, according to the ERCB, Alberta has had two oil spills per day, every day, for the past 37 years.
LINK

So the people regulating the Tarsands will be paid by the people who want to exploit it to the maximum.

Now What Could Possibly Go Wrong With That?
Edited by Brewster, Dec 27 2013, 07:39 AM.
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Pat
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The fox guarding the chickens. A clear message that anything goes.
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Neutral
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Money and common sense trumps scammers!
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Brewster
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'fraid so, Pat.

The Conservatives may have just signed their death warrant. The only thing that might save them is that their closest competitors, the Wild Rose Party, is even more conservative than they are, and will have trouble fighting this development without alienating their own base.
Edited by Brewster, Dec 27 2013, 12:51 PM.
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Neutral
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Another Brew prediction that most likely will not come to fruition.
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colo_crawdad
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Brew,

It looks as if many on the the right will consistently allow big oil money to trump common sense and even human lives.
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Neutral
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I suppose canooks will vote their wallets the same as everyone else does.
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Berton
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Governance

The AER’s governance structure is designed to achieve benefits of both strong corporate oversight and independent adjudication. The corporate, operational, and governance responsibilities have been separated from adjudicative functions (i.e., hearings on energy applications); this is a significant change from the ERCB model, where these functions were combined.

Chair and Board of Directors

The AER is headed by a chair, who leads a board of directors, all appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and all part-time directors of the AER. The chair and the board of directors are not involved in the AER’s day-to-day operations and decisions. Rather, the directors set the general direction of the regulator’s business affairs and are charged with approving regulatory change and setting performance expectations for the AER and its chief executive officer (CEO). In this way the AER’s board operates as a truly “corporate-style” board.

Chief Executive Officer

The current CEO was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council upon the chair’s recommendation; in the future, the board of directors will appoint the CEO, subject to ministerial approval. The CEO, who reports directly to the chair, oversees day-to-day operations, which include receiving and making decisions - and delegating decision making - on applications, monitoring and investigating energy resource activities for compliance, and closure of energy developments, including remediation and reclamation.
Hearing Commissioners

Hearing commissioners represent another key part of the AER’s structure. Reporting to a chief hearing commissioner, the commissioners are responsible for the AER’s adjudicative functions, acting as the decision makers on major applications and conducting hearings. The commissioners are also involved in developing the organization’s hearing procedures and rules. Hearing commissioners are independent adjudicators and their decisions are generally only overturned by the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

Code of Conduct and Ethics

AER Board of Directors, Hearing Commissioners, and employees are bound by a code of conduct and ethics.
AER implementation

Creating the AER is a complex undertaking that requires careful implementation. For this reason, the Government of Alberta is taking the time to ensure a well-managed transition using a three-phased approach.

Phase 1, which occurred in June 2013, involved the government proclaiming certain sections of the Responsible Energy Development Act (REDA), resulting in the launch of the AER and its new governance model.

Phase 2 begins the transfer of additional responsibilities to the AER, beginning with public land and geophysical jurisdiction and the Private Surface Agreements Registry. New rules and processes for public engagement and participation will be in effect as of November 30, 2013.

In Phase 3 all environmental and water jurisdictions under REDA will come into force and will be transferred to the AER. This phase represents the final step in creating a single regulator for upstream oil, oil sands, natural gas, and coal development in Alberta.

All phases will be completed by spring 2014.

The AER’s funding

The AER is 100 per cent funded by industry and is authorized to collect funds through an administrative fee levied on oil and gas wells, oil sands mines, and coal mines. The industry-funded model is commonly used by regulatory agencies from various sectors across North America.

- See more at: http://www.aer.ca/about-aer/governance#sthash.62mcr7fl.dpuf
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campingken
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Greed is, unfortunately, the strongest human instinct.
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Neutral
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Yep, that's why Brew is too cheap to buy a Volt.
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