Time to Reform Our ‘Captured’ National Energy Board, Says Ex

[Oscar]

Time to Reform Our ‘Captured’ National Energy Board, Says Expert

[ https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/02/09/Refo ... ign=090217 ]

First up: move the scandal-ridden regulator back to Ottawa, argues Marc Eliesen.

By Andrew Nikiforuk February 9, 2017 TheTyee.ca

Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about the energy industry for two decades and is a contributing editor to The Tyee. Find his previous stories here: [ https://thetyee.ca/Bios/Andrew_Nikiforuk/ ]

Economist Marc Eliesen addresses the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel at hearings in Vancouver on Jan. 16, 2013.

Marc Eliesen, the former chair of Ontario and BC Hydro, says the scandal-ridden National Energy Board has lost touch with what it means to protect the public interest and requires dramatic reforms.

Speaking Wednesday before a five-member “modernization” panel [ http://www.neb-modernization.ca/neb-welcome ] struck by the Trudeau government to review the role and mandate of the federal pipeline regulator, Eliesen recommended that the NEB fire its current board of directors and relocate its headquarters from Calgary to Ottawa.

“Unless these measures are undertaken, no amount of tinkering will restore credibility and public trust in the NEB,” Eliesen said.

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Eliesen has had a distinguished career as CEO of Ontario Hydro, BC Hydro and Manitoba Energy Authority. He has also been on the board of Suncor, a large oil sands company.

He told The Tyee that if the Trudeau government had been serious about democratic reform it would have first stopped both the Kinder Morgan and Energy East pipelines and then struck the modernization panel.

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Welcome to the Expert Panel's website

[ http://www.neb-modernization.ca/neb-welcome ]

The Minister of Natural Resources has established an Expert Panel [ http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mth ... id=1149859 ] to conduct a targeted review of the National Energy Board's (NEB) structure, role and mandate under the National Energy Board Act. This is a key element of the Government of Canada's review of environmental and regulatory processes [ https://www.canada.ca/en/services/envir ... views.html ]. . . . .