Role of the ERCB

 

A Commitment to Albertans

The ERCB’s commitment to inspiring public confidence is founded in our mission: to ensure that the discovery, development and delivery of Alberta’s energy resources take place in a manner that is fair, responsible, and in the public interest. In assessing the public interest, the ERCB has regard for social, economic, and environmental impacts.

ERCB employees embrace four values as they carry out this mission:

• Fairness
• Competence
• Quality Service
• Teamwork

Energy Regulation

The ERCB regulates the development of Alberta’s energy resources—oil, natural gas, oil sands, and coal—and the pipelines that move these resources.

Throughout the Life Cycle

If a company wants to construct or expand a facility or drill a well, it must ask the ERCB for approval. But before approval is granted, all relevant regulations must be complied with and concerns raised during public consultation must be addressed.

The ERCB ensures that any party directly and adversely affected by an application has an opportunity to resolve its concerns or participate in a hearing, where parties bring forward evidence for consideration by a panel of ERCB decision-makers. Should developments proceed and become operational, the ERCB continues to monitor them, conducting thousands of inspections across the province each year to ensure that strict regulations are complied with throughout the life of any operation.

A compliance audit process also verifies that licensees comply with ERCB requirements. When oil and gas facilities are no longer needed, the ERCB ensures that sites are properly abandoned at no cost to taxpayers.

AGS

The ERCB also includes the Alberta Geological Survey, or AGS. The AGS’s role is to provide geoscience information and expertise to government, industry, and the public in support of the sustainable development of Alberta’s energy and mineral resources.

Effective Regulations Evolve

Over time, new factors arise that require revisions and improvements so that regulations remain relevant and continue to meet their objectives, a fact that is particularly true as industry seeks out nonconventional resources, such as the oil sands. At the ERCB, stakeholder input guides and informs regulatory change. Industry, environmental groups, other government departments and agencies, Alberta communities, and individual citizens all have a stake in the responsible development of our energy resources, each with its own particular perspective and emphasis. For the ERCB to develop sound regulations, it is important that we understand and balance these perspectives. Stakeholder engagement is a key strategy in making this a reality.

Information

An important part of the ERCB’s business is to provide people with easily accessible, relevant, and high-quality

• data,
• information,
• knowledge, and
• advice

regarding the sectors we regulate.