Gas Exports from BC Seen as Key to Reviving Pipeline
Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod says the key to reviving dormant plans for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline will be to transport natural gas from the Arctic into British Columbia instead of Alberta. Private-sector proponents of the Mackenzie line consider the NWT project to be currently uneconomic, based on market conditions of plentiful gas supplies in North America. But the prospect of liquefied natural gas exports from British Columbia to Asia has given a new lease on life to the much-delayed Arctic venture, Mr. McLeod said. “We’ve never given up on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline,” he said in an interview during a visit to Vancouver, just days after leading a NWT trade mission to China. “After coming back from China, I’m convinced that the Chinese are going to need Canadian natural gas.” In 1974, Justice Thomas Berger, a Supreme Court of British Columbia justice at the time, headed a commission into plans for the Mackenzie route. He concluded his lengthy inquiry in 1977, recommending a 10-year moratorium on construction because of unsettled First Nations land claims. A series of political and economic delays then dogged the venture. Read the Globe and Mail article. 

New Institute Promotes Sustainable Mining
in Developing Countries
From Vancouver, academics in a new $25-million resource-sector research institute can see how training artisanal miners in Ecuador to use more sustainable practices can lead to better government policies and a more prosperous mining sector. A pilot project to train small-scale miners in better techniques is one of the initial efforts of the just-launched Canadian International Institute for Resource Extraction and Development, but it is already gaining traction, and in a nutshell sums up what the institute’s job will be. "Trying to formalize artisanal mining hasn’t worked well," said Bern Klein, acting executive director of the institute. "You just give someone a piece of paper to do what they’ve always done. But education is transformational." Klein said the pilot project capitalizes on research done in the mining school at the University of BC, which is one of three academic partners in the institute along with Simon Fraser University and Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. The institute’s mission, Klein added, is to help national, regional and local governments to leverage mining and resource extraction into long-term, sustainable livelihoods. Read the Vancouver Sun article. 

BC Won't Mandate Electric-Powered LNG Plants,
Says Energy Minister
BC Energy Minister Bill Bennett says the government won't force oil and gas companies that plan to develop liquefied natural gas plants in the province to use electricity in their operations. Bennett says the companies will have the choice to run the LNG plants that cool the gas to a liquid state with natural gas or electricity despite pollution and efficiency concerns about natural gas by environmental groups. The minister says a report by Clean Energy Canada calling on the government to mandate electric-drive power at LNG plants is naive and could result in LNG companies deciding to locate outside of the province. Read the full article in the Province. 

Canadian Mining Industry Calls for Mandatory Disclosure
of Payments to Governments
Canada’s two largest mining industry groups, the Mining Association of Canada ("MAC") and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada ("PDAC"), joined by two civil society transparency groups (together, the "Working Group") released their final report (the "Report") yesterday calling for mandatory disclosure by mining companies that are reporting issuers of their payments to host governments for developing mineral resources. Support for this disclosure among the mining industry in Canada began shortly after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States, which requires similar disclosure for mining and oil and gas companies listed on a stock exchange in the United States. Last June, Prime Minister Harper publicly endorsed these efforts and pledged that Canada would adopt comparable mandatory reporting rules for all extractive companies (mining, oil and gas) in the near future. Read the full article posted by on the Davis LLP website. 

Administrative Penalties Regulation under the Environmental Management Act
and the Integrated Pest Management Act
The Ministry of Environment is intending to introduce a new Administrative Penalties Regulation under both the Environmental Management Act (EMA) and the Integrated Pest Management Act (IPMA). Although new to the Ministry, administrative penalties are an enforcement tool widely used by government agencies within BC and across Canada as a means of encouraging compliance with regulatory requirements. Specifically, administrative penalties are financial penalties that can be imposed on those who fail to comply with a provision of a statute or regulation, with an order issued by a Ministry official or with the terms of an authorization issued under a statutory scheme. For minor to moderate violations, administrative penalties are a cost-effective, timelier, and more certain response to non-compliance than court imposed penalties. The enabling statutory provisions for administrative penalties already exist in the EMA and the IPMA. The Ministry is preparing detailed regulations to bring these provisions into force. Read the full government news release. 

WorkSafeBC Revises Rules, Cracks Down on Sawmills
BC forest companies face new, prescriptive regulations that define how much sawdust can settle in a wood-products plant before it is considered a hazard, almost 2 years after the deaths of four workers in sawmill explosions. The new regime has been rolled out in the midst of a safety crackdown by WorkSafeBC inspectors on BC sawmills. Sawdust has been identified as the key fuel that fed a massive fireball that flattened the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake in January 2012, leaving 2 workers dead and another 20 seriously injured. A report on the April 2012 explosion at the Lakeland Mills plant in Prince George has not yet been made public, but that mill was also processing the super-dry, pine beetle-killed timber that was a major source of dust at Babine. Read The Globe and Mail article. 

Professional Reliance in Timber Pricing
Timber Pricing Branch, along with other members of Government, the Forest Industry and the Association of BC Forest Professionals has developed a framework to advance professional reliance in appraisals and cruising. The objective of this framework is to utilize the opportunities offered by professional service to achieve greater efficiency in timber pricing for both industry and government, while protecting the public interest. For more information visit the Ministry website.