‘Fresh leadership’ sought for new energy regulator
Dan McFadyen’s leadership as chair of the Energy Resources Conservation Board will be missed, a vicepresident of the Canadian Association of Petroleum producers said Tuesday.
Dave Pryce, CAPP vicepresident of operations, said McFadyen earned many friends in the industry with his fair-minded and progressive rulings at the ERCB and before that as deputy minister of Alberta Energy.
“I think Dan McFadyen has been a superb public servant,” Pryce said.
“I think he’s positioned the ERCB for regulatory change that’s coming, not just the new regulator, but ... in the unconventional (oil and gas) business.”
Pryce was reacting to news that the Alberta government will replace McFadyen and split his role as chair and chief executive in two with a new “one-window” regulator that will also enforce six environmental conservation statutes. In an interview Tuesday, Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes said McFadyen, ERCB chair since February 2008, will serve out his term, a period of months, before being replaced by “fresh” leadership.
“He’s served Albertans well but it’s important to send a signal that this is a new regulator,” said Hughes.
“This is not just the ERCB slightly modified, this is a new regulator that has a different mandate ... of overseeing all of the environmental aspects as well as the energy aspects.
“So it’s an opportunity to have a fresh look at it, fresh leadership, both in the chair and the CEO. The chair and the CEO being split, that wasn’t split before, but in best practices in Canada in governance today, that’s completely appropriate.”
The government said in a news release it is hiring two people, a chairman and a chief executive, to head up a transition committee for the new regulator.
Those people will then take on permanent roles as chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
When operational, the new agency is expected to have nearly 1,000 staff, will process thousands of applications each year and manage a budget of more than $200 million.
The news comes less than a month after the government passed Bill 2, the Responsible Energy Development Act, to set up a replacement for the 75-year-old ERCB.
Pryce said McFadyen will be remembered fondly for helping the industry fight higher royalty rates imposed by the Ed Stelmach government in 2007 when he was deputy energy minister.
“We went through some challenging times,” he said, “and Dan was instrumental in trying to find a fair outcome for that. Another piece he’s contributed to on behalf of Alberta.”
On his watch, the ERCB imposed new oilsands mine tailings pond standards and recently began gathering opinions for new regulations on hydraulic fracturing of unconventional oil and gas wells.
In a written statement late Tuesday, McFadyen said it was “an honour and a privilege” to work at the ERCB.
“The ERCB has served the people of Alberta well during nearly 75 years of worldclass regulatory oversight. I look forward to assisting the government of Alberta in the successful transition to the Alberta Energy Regulator.”
Critics have said the new regulator hurts landowners by removing their right to go before the Environmental Appeal Board.
They say it also narrows the scope of who can trigger a public hearing into a project, gives too much power to ministers to override decisions, lacks timelines and attempts to bypass the constitutional right of aboriginal people to be consulted on projects on their traditional lands.
But Hughes has rejected those charges, insisting it provides “a common-sense approach.”
He says the appeal process will be as robust as it is now with the ERCB, although the appeals will go to the regulator’s commissioners, who have yet to be appointed, rather than the Environmental Appeal Board.
Current ERCB vice-chair Brad McManus will perform the chair’s functions and oversee the ERCB until the new regulator is operational, the government said.
According to the ERCB website, McFadyen is a profes- sional engineer who served as the deputy minister of Alberta Energy.
He had a similar role before that in Nova Scotia.
He is a former vice-president with the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, was chairman of the Saskatchewan Research Council and was a top civil servant in the Saskatchewan provincial government.