Canadian Manufacturing – The Alberta Government has suspended all environmental reporting requirements for industry under emergency powers the province has enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move effectively suspends environmental regulation in the province. Later, on May 6, 2020, the Alberta Energy Regulator suspended a wide array of environmental monitoring requirements for oil sands companies over public-health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Imperial Oil, Suncor, Syncrude and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. don’t have to perform much of the testing and monitoring originally required in their licences.The regulator says some programs are to resume by the end of September, but most have no restart date.
The latest exemptions specifically relieve operators of the following:
- Monitoring most ground and surface water, unless it enters the environment
- almost all wildlife and bird monitoring is suspended
- Air-quality programs, including one for the First Nations community of Fort McKay, have been reduced, along with many other conditions of the companies’ licences
- Testing for leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, has been suspended
- Wetlands monitoring and research is gone until further notice
- Water that escapes from storm ponds no longer must be tested