Critics

Aboriginal and environmental critics have been put on notice that Canada’s Arctic natural gas project will be allowed to advance through the regulatory process without becoming bogged down by protests.

Aboriginal and environmental critics have been put on notice that Canada’s Arctic natural gas project will be allowed to advance through the regulatory process without becoming bogged down by protests.

British Columbia, formerly notorious for erecting rigid regulatory barriers inspired by environmental critics, is now vowing to keep its promise to make its gas-rich northeastern corner more accessible. The BC Oil and Gas Commission is inaugurating a new era of “performance-based” regulation this fall, initially with liberalized procedures for pipeline projects.

British Columbia, formerly notorious for erecting rigid regulatory barriers inspired by environmental critics, is now vowing to keep its promise to make its gas-rich northeastern corner more accessible. The BC Oil and Gas Commission is inaugurating a new era of “performance-based” regulation this fall, initially with liberalized procedures for pipeline projects.

British Columbia, formerly notorious for erecting rigid regulatory barriers inspired by environmental critics, is now vowing to keep its promise to make its gas-rich northeastern corner more accessible. The BC Oil and Gas Commission is inaugurating a new era of “performance-based” regulation this fall, initially with liberalized procedures for pipeline projects.

Responding to critics who called its enforcement lax, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) has over the past four years increased both the number and size of the civil penalties imposed on pipeline operators who violate safety regulations, but it “is not clear” if this tougher strategy has proved to be a strong enough deterrent for pipeline companies, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) official told a House panel earlier last week.

Responding to critics who called its enforcement lax, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) has over the past four years increased both the number and size of the civil penalties imposed on pipeline operators who violate safety regulations, but it “is not clear” if this tougher strategy has proved to be a strong enough deterrent for pipeline companies, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) official told a House panel earlier this week.

In much-watched oral arguments before FERC Monday, California representatives blasted critics who have tried “mightily” to turn the high-profile complaint alleging market manipulation on the part of El Paso Natural Gas into a case involving pipeline safety. “El Paso’s cry of safety is a blatant attempt to divert this Commission’s attention from the fact that [it] failed — failed egregiously, failed miserably — to fulfill its contractual service and regulatory obligations in California,” said Kevin J. Lipson, attorney for Southern California Edison. But El Paso Corp. attorneys said capacity on its system was reduced to alleviate safety concerns, and argued that detractors were attempting to second-guess the pipeline’s operating judgment.

Western senators, who have been the sternest critics of FERC for its refusal to install power price caps in the state and elsewhere in the western region, extended an uncharacteristically warm welcome to commissioners when they appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee yesterday.