Ottawa: The federal budget has announced measures to improve the certainty of the timeline for review of major energy projects. The following observations are excerpted from a report prepared by Patrick Duffy and Daniel Suss of Stikeman Elliott:
The government plans to create a “one project, one review” policy in coordination with the provinces and territories for environmental assessments (EAs) and associated regulatory processes. Provincial EAs would substitute for federal EAs, and responsibility for review would be consolidated significantly from at present over 40 departments and agencies. Federal and provincial governments would also coordinate Aboriginal consultations and fully integrate them into project reviews.
The government is proposing new fixed timelines for reviews as follows:
• 24 months for panel reviews
• 18 months for National Energy Board (NEB) hearings
• 12 months for standard EAs
The Major Projects Management Office initiative would receive $54 million over two years to continue its work that has already shortened the average approval process from 4 years to 22 months for a number of major natural resource projects, including for oil and natural gas pipeline and offshore oil developments. As motivation for these changes, the government cites delays between the NEB and federal approvals, and delays between federal approvals and provincial approvals of up to 2 years for projects including a $2 billion pipeline proposed by Enbridge and a 396 MW offshore wind project proposed by NaiKun Wind Energy Group.
The government is proposing to invest $35.7 million over two years to strengthen regulation over tanker inspection, the double hulling of vessels, oil spill emergency preparedness and response, oil products handling, research on marine pollution risks, and a further $13.5 million for the NEB over two years to strengthen pipeline safety.