In response to public health orders issued by the govt of Alberta. Members of Alberta’s energy industry have submitted information. To the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) about conflicts between these orders and AER requirements. These conflicts mean that following one set of requirements puts them in noncompliance with the opposite set.
The AER developed a process to resolve these conflicts while ensuring that the environment. And therefore the health and safety of Alberta communities and industry workers remain protected. The AER adopted two guiding principles as a part of this process. To work out the effects a short-lived pause of AER requirements would wear environmental outcomes:
AER’s environmental monitoring and reporting
A clear conflict exists between complying with the government’s public health orders and complying. With the AER’s environmental monitoring and reporting requirements.
A short-term exemption to environmental monitoring would only be provided. If it might not seriously jeopardize our ability to guard environmental health and maintain public safety.
The AER applied these two guiding principles during a formal review process. Decisions on which monitoring projects might be paused were supported assessments by technical experts to make sure that any temporary suspensions represented a coffee risk to public safety and environmental outcomes. Essential environmental monitoring continues, and everyone requirements to watch and report emergency events remain in situ. More information on what monitoring has been temporarily suspended is out there on our website. These suspensions and modifications will apply for therefore long as ministerial orders 17/2020 and 219/2020 and therefore the public health orders are in effect.
Overall, the temporary suspensions issued by AER represent between two and five percent of overall monitoring requirements.
The suspensions were carefully chosen to deal with the conflicts in requirements. While maintaining the integrity of Alberta’s long-term environmental information systems. These programs collect data over decades and are ready to accommodate some breaks in the collection and still allow us to assess changes within the environment.