The BC Oil and Gas Commission oversees all oil and gas activities in the province. One of their core roles is to ensure industry complies with provincial legislation.

The commission has a range of enforcement options, including orders, tickets and administrative penalties. The team follows up on all enforcement actions to ensure they are complied with and that any necessary remediation has taken place.

Facts:

• The commission’s compliance and enforcement team conducts inspections generated by risk modelling, complaints, incidents, and government agency or public requests. Inspections are done to ensure operators are in compliance with all applicable legislation, standards and permit approval conditions.
• If a concern is found, action is taken immediately to ensure no risk to public or the environment.
• Most incidents are minor. Operators are given 14 or 30 days to correct the situation.
• When a more serious problem is found, operators must fix the situation within 24 hours. If the problem presents a threat to public safety or the environment, operations can be halted until the problem is completely fixed.
  More than 44,000 inspections are carried out annually.
  The commission’s oil and gas operations officers are designated as special conservation officers under the Environmental Management Act. This designation provides the authority to enforce both the Environmental Management Act and the Water Sustainability Act. Oil and gas operations officers are also designated as inspectors under the Environmental Assessment Act and the Agricultural Land Commission Act.
• In addition to the compliance and enforcement team, the commission has engineers, hydrologists, geologists and environmental specialists who review industry applications before work is approved.
• Compliance and enforcement summaries are available on the commission’s website at www.bcogc.ca/