Regulator’s board chair announces resignation for ‘some new challenges’

The board chair of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) on Tuesday announced his resignation from the role, saying he’s “moving on to new challenges.”

David Goldie’s decision to leave Alberta’s energy watchdog ends his nearly five-year tenure.

“As I approach the five-year mark with the AER Board, I’m very pleased with where the AER is today, particularly as it relates to the organization’s professionalism, culture and engagement of staff, and its efficiency,” Goldie wrote in a news release.

“And this is why I’ve decided it would be a good time to move on to some new challenges.”

The veteran of the oil and gas industry did not say what’s next for his career.

Goldie will remain on the board until Sept. 1 and will help the AER transition the new leadership. The recruitment of Goldie’s successor is forthcoming, the regulator wrote.

Laurie Pushor, president and CEO of the AER, said Goldie provided “capable and strong support.”

Goldie has spent more than three decades in the energy industry. He currently leads his own energy consulting company and has previously served as vice-president with Encana and with Cenovus in a variety of roles.

Goldie was appointed to the board in 2019 after the newly elected UCP government removed the entire AER board and launched a full review into its mandate and governance structure.

At the time, then-energy minister Sonya Savage said the overhaul was partly due to the AER’S approval process, which she said was slow and inefficient.

Shortly after the sweeping shakeup, a series of reports found former CEO Jim Ellis had breached the regulator’s conflict of interest policies and had “grossly mismanaged” public funds.

Goldie wrote in his resignation announcement that the AER has since successfully reformed its governance and streamlined the organization to make it more efficient.

In recent years, the AER has been criticized for how it informed the public and local First Nations about the release of millions of litres of wastewater from Imperial Oil’s Kearl oilsands mine in northern Alberta in 2022.

A third-party report the agency commissioned determined the regulator followed its rules, but that those rules were significantly

As I approach the five-year mark with the AER Board,

I’m very pleased with where the AER is today.

lacking.

After that report was released in September, Goldie said the Kearl situation was unusual because it wasn’t an emergency like a sudden pipeline break, but a seepage that happened over time.

He promised the regulator would be more proactive in the future about communicating with area residents.

“The bar has to move here,” he said. “A much larger range of incidents need to be reported. It’s not good enough anymore to say the operator is responsible and assume they’ve fulfilled their duty.”