B.C. has robust hydraulic fracturing regulations in place: EY report

An independent report by Ernst & Young  found that British Columbia has a “robust” regulatory framework in place to oversee hydraulic fracturing, the province’s Ministry of Natural Gas Development said in a press release on Thursday.

The report, Review of British Columbia’s hydraulic fracturing regulatory framework, found that “the issues presented by hydraulic fracturing are being effectively managed” by the BC Oil and Gas Commission, the provincial regulator.

The report, which reviewed issues related to water lifecycle, induced seismicity and quality of life disturbances found that while the overall framework was robust, there are a number of opportunities for improvement. “These opportunities largely consist of instances where regulation currently exist, but could be enhanced through the Commission’s continuous improvement activities,” the report said. “None of the opportunities that we identified in the three categories constitute major failings of the regulatory framework, nor do we believe that there are any significant sources of risk that remain untouched by regulation.”

Opportunities for improvement involved three major themes:

• Data collection and monitoring (seven opportunities): instances in which the collection of additional data would enable the “Commission to better establish baselines, perform outgoing environmental monitoring and make more informed regulatory decisions”;

• Regulatory authority and oversight (three opportunities): instances in which “no regulatory instrument directly within the control of the Commission provides the necessary authority to mitigate a risk or respond to an issue”; and

• Regulatory instrument coverage (13 opportunities): instances in which “existing regulatory instruments could be enhanced to more comprehensively regulate specific issues.”

“This independent report confirms what we’ve been saying for years – British Columbia has a robust regulatory framework governing hydraulic fracturing,” said Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman in the press release. “In fact, this is the second recent impartial review to find B.C. has a strong regulatory framework. British Columbians can have confidence they are benefitting from a clean, well-regulated natural gas industry.”

Hydraulic fracturing is a process used to free natural gas contained within shale formations, the most commonly occurring type of sedimentary rock in northeast B.C., the press release explained. In shale formations, the natural gas molecules are held in the reservoir rock and hydraulic fracturing – also known as “fracking” is used to create small cracks in the rock that stimulates the flow of gas into the wellbore.

The ministry said that “there has never been a reported incident of groundwater contamination as a result of hydraulic fracturing operations in B.C.” and that B.C. was the first province in Canada to regulate the mandatory disclosure of ingredients used in the fracking process. The online registry, found at FracFocus.ca, provides a transparent accounting of each well drilled and includes water data.