scholarly journals Northeast First Nation participation in the British Columbia oil and gas policy community

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey Marie Wolsey
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Policy Community

scholarly journals Water Use Challenges to Oil and Gas Developments

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wally Braul ◽  
Mike Theroux ◽  
Robbie Armfield
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Civil Litigation ◽  
First Nation ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Treaty Rights ◽  
Single Strategy ◽  
The Media

As public concern over fracking gains increased prominence in the media, litigation concerning the practice is starting to appear before Canadian courts. The litigation thus far has focused largely on water use and its associated licensing regimes, as well as Aboriginal treaty rights. Opponents of fracking have employed diverse strategies to combat the practice. Aside from the Environmental Appeal Board case involving the Fort Nelson First Nation, the British Columbia government and Nexen, no single strategy has proved particularly successful, though the litigation remains in its infancy. This article profiles the emerging Canadian litigation, considering it alongside the developing American civil litigation.

Potential of recovering elements from produced water at oil and gas fields, British Columbia, Canada

CIM Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
G. J. Simandl ◽  
C. Akam ◽  
M. Yakimoski ◽  
D. Richardson ◽  
A. Teucher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Oil And Gas Fields ◽  
Gas Fields

scholarly journals The Changing Regulatory Scheme in Northeast British Columbia

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wally Braul
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Contaminated Sites ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Third ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
Exploration And Production

The Northeast British Columbia (NEBC) oil patch is undergoing a boom in land tenure sales, exploration, and production. This comes at a time of increasing public concern over the use of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), an unconventional technology that ushered in a new era of production in NEBC, along with several new contentious issues. Recently, four significant regulatory changes have been enacted or planned for the immediate future. The first, likely in response to public concern over fracking, occurred in October 2010 with an overhaul of the decades-old Petroleum and Natural Gas Act and the coming into force of the bulk of the provisions in the Oil and Gas Activities Act. The changes primarily affect production and environmental management, and several new provisions have a direct impact on fracking. The second change under development is the creation of a long-awaited groundwater licencing regime, marking a stronger environmental presence in the NEBC, and possibly abrogating pre-existing extraction rights. The third change arises from the expiry of Crown-First Nation Consultation Process Agreements (CPAs). Recent jurisprudence continues to point to the need for improved consultation and accommodation, but current negotiations may or may not succeed in arriving at a more comprehensive successor to the expired CPAs. Finally, under British Columbia’s contaminated sites regime, new measures expand the liability exposure of oil patch operators for contaminated sites in both civil actions and government enforcement proceedings.

Achieving Efficiency in Environmental Assessment Through Focused Selection of Valued Components

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ward Prystay ◽  
Andrea Pomeroy ◽  
Sandra Webster
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Environmental Assessments ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
The Government ◽  
Selection Of

Some of the largest oil and gas projects in Canada are currently being proposed in British Columbia. Establishing a fulsome and scientifically and socially defensible scope for environmental assessments in the oil and gas sector is a serious challenge for government and proponents. The approach taken by the federal National Energy Board to scope effects assessments on pipelines is quite different than the approach taken by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office on other types of oil and gas projects. The NEB has published guidelines for scoping and conducting environmental and socio-economic assessments within its Filing Manual (National Energy Board [NEB] 2014). This manual sets out the expectations for scoping, baseline information, and effects assessments to be submitted as part of approval applications. Proponents are expected to provide all information necessary to meet the guidelines. In British Columbia, the environmental assessment process is dictated by the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act and includes a negotiated terms of reference for the assessment, called the Application Information Requirements (AIR). The approach to selection of valued components is guided by provincial guidelines (EAO, 2013). The first draft of the AIR is prepared by the proponent and is then amended to address matters raised by federal and provincial agencies, local governments, and representatives of potentially affected First Nations. Through two to three revisions, the scope of assessment is jointly established and then formally issued by the government. While there are valid reasons for the differing federal and provincial approaches to scoping environmental assessments, each of these processes create risks for proponents in terms of project timelines and costs for preparing the environmental assessment. More specifically, the use of generic and negotiated guidelines can result in a number of issues including: • A scope of assessment that is broader than necessary to understand the potential for significant adverse effects • Inclusion of issues that are “near and dear” to a specific regulator or community but has no direct relationship to the effects of the project itself • Selection of valued components that do not allow for defensible quantification of effects or use of directly relevant significance thresholds • Selection of valued components that are only of indirect concern as opposed to focusing the assessment on the true concern. • Double counting of environmental effects • Risks in assessing cumulative effects This paper discusses where and how these risks occur, and provides examples from recent and current environmental assessments for pipelines and facilities in British Columbia. Opportunities to manage the scope of assessment while providing a fulsome, efficient, effective and scientifically/socially defensible assessment are discussed.

Environmental pathways of potential impacts to human health from oil and gas development in northeast British Columbia, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judi Krzyzanowski
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Actual Health ◽  
Water Borne

Concerns have arisen recently as to whether the upstream oil and gas (UOG) sector — responsible for exploration, production, and some processing of raw fossil fuels — is negatively impacting human (and environmental) health in northeast British Columbia (NEBC). The region has experienced increased rates of cancers and other illnesses that have been linked to the contaminants and stressors associated with UOG. Contaminants reach human receptors through environmental pathways, namely air, soil, water, and food. Each contaminant or stressor has specific sources, transport, exposure mechanisms, and biochemistry; and each can impact health both directly and indirectly. Of particular concern are airborne sulphur and nitrogen oxides, hazardous volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulphide, ozone, noise, and radiation; as well as soil- or water-borne hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and radiation — some of which can also impact human health through food pathways. It has been determined that UOG is negatively impacting human health in NEBC; however, further information, such as environmental monitoring, is required before the actual health risks and impacts posed by UOG can be quantified.

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