Under new leadership appointed last week, Canada’s NationalEnergy Board is vowing to become more user-friendly and easier tounderstand at the same time as it grows busier. Ken Vollman, a53-year-old engineer raised on a Saskatchewan farm and formed bygritty work in western oilfields, was candid about challengesfacing the agency when he was appointed its new chairman July 15 byNatural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale.

In an interview, Vollman reported he and fellow members of theNEB came up with five priorities in talking about the future sinceRoland Priddle retired as chairman in January. He said the boardabove all has to accept that it is operating in a steadily busier,more contentious Canada, as the oil and gas industry becomesincreasingly competitive, spreads to the Atlantic region and dealswith ever more public participation. Priority one will be managinga “very high and unpredictable applications workload.” A decadeago, Canada’s national energy watchdog averaged 60-80 days ofhearings per year. In 1997, NEB three-member panels held 180 daysof hearings. The new chairman expects the workload to be “slightlyhigher” this year. Running a close second on the priority listwill be efforts to “enhance the clarity and consistency” ofenvironmental assessments that the NEB has been assigned to conductunder still-new Canadian legislation.

Priority number three will be improving Canadian publicconfidence in the safety of pipelines.And, the board’s fourthpriority will be to resume an interrupted series of overviewreports on Canadian energy resources and markets, also in answer togrowing public demand. Last but not least, Vollman is also vowingto make the NEB more accessible to a Canadian public that has madeit plain it wants to be more engaged in board processes, especiallywhen cases raise safety and environmental issues.

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