The National Energy Board of Canada (NEB) oversees all aspects, including environmental protection, of the construction and operation of hydrocarbon transmission pipelines under federal jurisdiction. The NEB’s regulatory approach is to minimize regulatory burden while maintaining a high standard of environmental protection. To achieve this, the NEB is working toward implementing a flexible, risk-based regulatory approach in which processes fit the scope and range of applications it receives. The NEB requires its regulated companies to develop and implement the equivalent of an environmental management system relating to all aspects of their business. In evaluating the companies’ compliance, the NEB conducts formal audits of these systems to ensure they are appropriately developed, maintained and implemented. The NEB has recently initiated changes to its regulatory processes to utilize companies’ management system information collected during the audits to enhance its application and assessment processes. This paper will discuss how concepts related to risk and management systems principles and information collected during an environmental management system audit can be integrated into a regulator’s environmental impact assessment for a proposed pipeline project. How knowledge and lessons learned are transferred through all stages of the pipeline life cycle will also be discussed.
As part of its mandate, the National Energy Board (NEB) regulates the construction, operation, and abandonment of interprovincial and international pipelines. The primary legislation which directly and indirectly addresses reclamation of NEB lines are the National Energy Board Act and the associated Onshore Pipeline Regulations, 1999, and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The NEB uses a life cycle approach to pursue appropriate reclamation of disturbed rights of way. Initially, reclamation related issues are addressed at the application stage. Subsequent to the application process, the actual implementation of reclamation measures occurs during construction of the line. Success of reclamation is monitored during the operational life of a line through inspection and auditing procedures, with additional measures being implemented as necessary.
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