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Bulletin 2006-35

October 16, 2006

EUB Forms Public Safety Group

The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) announces an internal structural change with the formation of a Public Safety Group and the renaming of the EUB’s Field Surveillance Branch to the Public Safety/Field Surveillance Branch. The EUB’s ongoing Field Surveillance functions remain in place and are unchanged with the addition of the new group.
The new Public Safety Group consists of two sections and an advisory team:

• Emergency Planning and Assessment (EPA) Section—primarily focused on emergency response plan (ERP) reviews, approvals, and assessment and setback requirements.
• Community and Aboriginal Relations (CAR) Section—primarily focused on informing stakeholders and customers about key public safety services, rules, regulations, and processes of the EUB in order to build trust and ongoing relationships. By early 2007, CAR team members will be located at EUB Field Centres in St. Albert, Midnapore, Drayton Valley, Red Deer and Grande Prairie.
• Public Safety Advisory Team—primarily focused on developing, implementing, managing, and coordinating a systemic continuous improvement approach to the EUB’s public safety mandate.

A key responsibility of the Public Safety Group is to provide clear, timely information about the EUB and its public safety responsibilities, with the goal of increasing public confidence in the EUB’s regulatory system.
The group’s overall role is to

• ensure that the 87 recommendations in the December 2000 report from the Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Sour Gas are fully addressed and a final report is prepared, affirming the EUB’s commitment to enhancing and continuously improving public safety during the exploration, development, and production of sour gas in Alberta;
• enhance community and aboriginal relations throughout the province via improving working relationships, addressing issues, and ensuring better communications with the public, synergy groups, aboriginal communities, local governments, regional health authorities, and other stakeholders;
• ensure industry compliance with EUB Directive 071: Emergency Preparedness and Response Requirements for the Upstream Petroleum Industry; and
• augment the EUB’s public safety responsibilities on an ongoing basis by working cooperatively with all EUB branches to analyze the EUB’s regulatory system with the goal of continuous improvement.

The mission of the EUB’s Public Safety/Field Surveillance Branch states: “We work with stakeholders to protect the public, the environment, and the resource through inspections, community education, and incident response.”
Comments and questions from the public and industry are welcomed and should be forwarded to Marilyn Craig, Manager, Public Safety Group, Public Safety/Field Surveillance Branch, telephone (403) 297-3194 or e-mail marilyn.craig@gov.ab.ca.

<Original signed by>

Dwayne Waisman
Executive Manager
Public Safety/Field Surveillance Branch