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This investigation is a collaboration between The Narwhal and Investigative Journalism Foundation.
Between 2017 and 2023, BC Energy Regulator officials documented thousands of apparent environmental infractions at oil and gas facilities only to conclude the sites were compliant, according to internal government documents.
In more than 1,000 instances, inspectors documented a series of apparent environmental infractions, yet the sites were marked as compliant with regulations designed to protect public health and the environment, according to more than 40,000 records released through freedom of information legislation. The numbers suggest a widespread pattern: the regulator is failing to hold oil and gas companies accountable when they potentially violate regulations.
The Narwhal and Investigative Journalism Foundation spent several months reviewing the records to reveal how BC Energy Regulator officials have frequently given companies the benefit of the doubt after inspectors identified potential infractions. The apparent leniency of the provincial regulator, an industry-funded government agency that manages oil and gas activities across the province, related in many cases to infractions that could damage ecosystems or threaten public health and safety.
The BC Energy Regulator declined an interview request and said it is “confident in the processes and systems in place to manage compliance of industry in ensuring the protection of the environment and public safety.”
“Our role is to provide sound regulatory oversight of the energy industry and ensure companies comply with their permit conditions and provincial legislation,” the regulator said in an unsigned emailed response. “We do not advocate for industry or solicit economic development.”
Out of all of the apparent infractions described in the records, hundreds appear to relate to potential contraventions of provincial regulations, including emissions leaks, fuel and chemical spills, high levels of explosive gases present at industrial sites, strong odours emanating from well sites onto public and private land and more.
Dozens of the records marked compliant with oil and gas regulations included apparent infractions noted as “serious,” or were described by inspectors in terms that indicated significant non-compliances. In some cases, the records reveal inspectors concluded sites were out of compliance but noted they would give the inspection a pass in the regulator’s official records.
Asked why inspection reports and field notes by inspectors are not routinely made public, the BC Energy Regulator said inspection reports “can contain personal and/or confidential information and are subject to [freedom of information] review to allow for proper redaction of such information.”
The Narwhal has previously reported on inspection records released through freedom of information legislation that did not include significant personal information apart from names of compliance and enforcement officers — information publicly available through an online government directory.
When asked why the provincial regulator does not simply remove personal information and publish the reports — a method used by the Canada Energy Regulator — the regulator said B.C. conducts about 4,000 inspections annually and doesn’t have the resources to publish all of them. The regulator noted it publishes summary information about infractions on its website. This means any potential infractions inspectors identify but do not mark as non-compliant are only included in their notes — which are not routinely made public.
B.C. Energy Minister, Adrian Dix recently boasted about the energy regulator during a press conference, telling reporters: “The BC Energy Regulator is known for its transparency.”
Dix declined an interview request and referred questions to the regulator.
Deborah Curran, executive director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, said the glimpse into the regulator records reveals a “systemic pattern showing that the approach of the [BC Energy Regulator] is just to work hand in hand with the oil and gas industry, not to protect the environment.”
“There’s nothing that mandates enforcement,” she explained. “Basically the regime of the [regulator] is permitting systematic pollution of the entire northeast. There’s an undercurrent of, well, there’s no one out there, so who cares. That’s a very problematic kind of thing to get over. If it was adjacent to Vancouver, there would be tons of complaints going on. In the northeast, there’s the impression it’s just this vast wasteland.”
Several inspection records noted complaints from landowners living near oil and gas development about numerous issues, including odours emanating from nearby wells, soil contamination, spread of weeds and invasive species to private fields, crude oil “spray on close by crops” and, in one case, a “dead cow” found near an old well site.
None of these findings were marked as non-compliant in the inspection reports.
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