By: Nigel Bankes
PDF Version: The Canadian Energy Regulator Shuts Down the Open Season for Enbridge’s Mainline
Decision Commented On: Canadian Energy Regulator, Letter Decision re Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor), Shell Canada Limited (Shell), The Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC), and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), Complaints regarding Enbridge Pipelines Inc. (Enbridge) Mainline Open Season, 27 September 2019
In what must be one of its first formal decisions, the Commission of the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) (which replaced the National Energy Board (NEB) as of August 28, 2019) has required Enbridge to shut down the open-season that it was conducting for its mainline. The decision is brief (4 pages) and while it contains many references to the decisions and practice of its predecessor, the decision contains not a single reference to any statutory provision that it may be relying upon as authority to make this order. While I think that the conclusion is sound, I hope that the failure to reference statutory authority does not become common practice for the new regulator. Any decision maker claiming to exercise a statutory authority must satisfy itself that it has the authority to act and it should do so in a transparent and reasoned manner. There was perhaps a particular need to do so in this case since the application was filed under the terms of the National Energy Board Act, RSC 1985, c N-7 (NEBA),but resolved by the CER. Continue reading