After suspending multiple requirements for industry to monitor air, water and wildlife at 16 different oilsands projects, the Alberta Energy Regulator has decided to expand its suspension of environmental rules to almost all companies operating in the province’s oil and gas industry.
In two new sweeping decisions published on May 20, the provincial regulator said that it was no longer safe for the companies to continue monitoring environmental impacts due to the threat of COVID-19.
The regulator also noted in one of the decisions that the number of affected oil and gas companies was too long to list. “It is not practical to name all of the operators individually that are affected by this decision because of the large number of operators,”