The provincial government is looking for feedback on its plan to develop new land-base spill response requirements for heavy oil and other potentially toxic substances.
The policy, currently under development by the Ministry of the Environment, will set the framework for how new heavy oil pipelines will be able to meet the province's condition of a world-class land spill response system.
"Spill response is an evolving field and it's quite simply time to adopt new requirements to make B.C. world-leading and keep us there for years to come," Environment Minister Mary Polak said in a news release.
The cornerstone of the policy is a requirement to have detailed spill response plans in place before new projects come on line. One of the major criticism the provincial government levied against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline was that the company's spill response plan had yet to be fully developed at the time of the Joint Review Panel hearings.
The world-class land spill response is one of five conditions the province has set out. According to Polak's most recent public comments, Northern Gateway has yet to achieve any of them.
Depending on the project, companies may also be required to be members of a provincially regulated preparedness and response organization.
The government had already developed one draft of the proposal in 2012 and updated it after receiving feedback from stakeholders. The second draft is the one being made available for public comment over the coming months.
"The policies laid out in this paper signal our intent to continue balancing economic development throughout the province with the necessary environmental protection," Polak said.
The province is accepting comments either by mail or through its website. The deadline to comment is June 26. More information on how to comment is available by visiting http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/codes/spr_eep/response.htm
The comment period will close just after the federal government is expected to announce its decision on whether or not to provide Northern Gateway with a certificate to proceed to the next stage of development for pipeline from northern Alberta to Kitimat.
