Conditions Compliance

Section updated March 2023

Every pipeline company in Canada must meet federal, provincial or territorial, and local requirements. This includes Acts, Regulations, rules, bylaws, and zoning restrictions. Pipelines are also bound by technical, safety, and environmental standards along with company rules, protocols and management systems. In addition to these requirements, the Commission may add conditions to regulatory instruments that each company must meet. Conditions are project-specific and are designed to protect public and the environment by reducing possible risks identified during the application process.

Condition compliance is part of the CER's oversight and enforcement action is taken when required.

Conditions can be related to a specific region, or apply to the pipeline project as a whole. The map below displays the number of in progress and closed conditions mapped to economic regions as defined by Statistics Canada.

Conditions can typically be either in-progress or closed. The CER follows up on in-progress conditions.

In-Progress

This status refers to conditions that continue to be monitored by the CER. This happens when:

• condition filings have not yet been received by the CER; or,
• filings have been received but are under review or do not yet meet requirements; or,
• a project is not completed and it has conditions, which have not been met; or,
• a project has a post-construction condition, but a requirement has not yet been completed; or,
• some conditions may be active indefinitely or refer to the continued operation of a pipeline.

Closed

This status refers to:

• condition requirements that have been satisfied, and no further submissions from the company are required; or
• conditions whose filings or actions apply to a specific phase that have been fulfilled as the phase is completed (i.e. a specific filing during construction phase). Note: comments on the required actions can still be received.

Reported Incidents

Section updated March 2023

The information presented here is based on CER data (2008 to current) for incidents reported under the Onshore Pipeline Regulations and the Processing Plant Regulations. New data is added quarterly. Learn more on how incident data collection has evolved since the NEB (now the CER) was established in 1959.

Companies must report events, such as incidents, to the CER in accordance with the CER Event Reporting Guidelines. Knowing what happened, and why, helps us find ways to prevent them from happening again.

What is an incident? (Onshore Pipeline Regulations (OPR))

As defined in the OPR, “incident” means an occurrence that results in:

1. the death or serious injury to a person;
2. a significant adverse effect on the environment;
3. an unintended fire or explosion;
4. an unintended or uncontained release of low vapour pressure (LVP) hydrocarbons in excess of 1.5 m³
5. an unintended or uncontrolled release of gas or high vapour pressure (HVP) hydrocarbons;
6. the operation of a pipeline beyond its design limits as determined under CSA Z662 or CSA Z276 or any operating limits imposed by the CER.

What is an incident? (Processing Plant Regulations (PPR))

As defined in the PPR, “incident” is defined as an occurrence that results or could result in a significant adverse effect on property, the environment, or the safety of persons. For the purposes of incident reporting in the PPR, events that fall under this definition include, but are not limited to:

1. the death or serious injury to a person;
2. a significant adverse effect on the environment;
3. an unintended fire or explosion that results in or has the potential to result in damage to company, public/crown or personal property;
4. an unintended or uncontained release of low vapour pressure (LVP) hydrocarbons in excess of 1.5 m³
5. an unintended or uncontrolled release of gas, HVP hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide or other poisonous gas; or
6. the operation of a plant beyond its design limits or any limits imposed by the CER.

Incidents and the CER

Companies self-report incidents and are expected to take a precautionary approach in doing so. This means that even when there is doubt as to whether an incident should be reported, the company must report it. The approach is, “When in doubt, report.” This is consistent with CER-regulated companies’ responsibility for anticipating, preventing, mitigating and managing incidents of any size or duration.

The CER reviews all reported incidents to assess whether companies have taken the appropriate corrective actions and to identify potential trends in incidents. Each incident is given a status indicating the current stage of the CER's incident review.

CER Status

• Initially Submitted: The company has notified the CER that an incident has occurred and provided preliminary information. A review has been initiated.
• Submitted: The company has submitted all of the required information and the CER is reviewing the incident.
• Closed: The CER’s incident review has been completed and the file is closed.

Incident type definitions: one incident can have multiple types

• Release of Substance (featured in the dashboard) - Any time a product is unintentionally released. (Releases of non-gas low pressure products in volumes of less than 1.5 m³ are exempt from reporting.)
• Adverse Environmental Effects - When any chemical substance is released at a concentration or volume that has the potential to change the ambient environment in a manner that would cause harm to human life, wildlife or vegetation (e.g., glycol, potassium carbonate, methanol, methanol mix from hydrostatic testing, etc.).
• Explosion - An unintended explosion
• Fatality - Any death involving employees, contractors or members of the public related to the construction, operation, maintenance or abandonment of pipelines
• Fire - An unintended fire

• Operation Beyond Design Limits Includes situations, such as:

  • over-pressures - i.e., pressures that are higher than the maximum the equipment was designed to safely handle;
  • vibration beyond design limits;
  • slope movements causing movement in the pipeline beyond design limits;
  • pipe exposures in rivers or streams; and
  • introduction of an inappropriate product (e.g., sour gas in excess of CSA limits)

  Operation beyond design limit is typically linked to an over-pressure of the product in the pipe; however, if a pipe was exposed to excessive vibration and was not designed for this, this could be considered operation beyond design limits. Operation beyond design limits does not include equipment contacting the pipe, or corrosion pits, etc.

• Serious Injury (CER or Transportation Safety Board) - Any serious injury involving employees, contractors or members of the public related to the construction, operation or maintenance of pipelines.

Have you checked out the CER's interactive incident data visualization? This tool offers a deep dive into the CER's incident data trends, exploring incidents across all CER regulated companies.

Operations and Maintenance Activities

Section updated March 2023

Oil and gas pipeline companies regularly conduct routine operations and maintenance (O&M) activities on CER regulated pipelines. These activities include things such as pipeline repairs, investigative and integrity digs, and many other activities while promoting safety, security, environmental protection, economic efficiency, and respect for the rights of those that may be affected.

Companies are required to adhere to Canadian Energy Regulator Act’s Onshore Pipeline Regulations and operate their facilities in a manner that is safe and protects the environment. Authorizations for pipelines typically allow companies to construct and operate a facility, and companies are not required to apply for additional approval to undertake most O&M activities. In certain circumstances, companies are required to notify the CER in advance with sufficient information to make a determination as to whether to inspect O&M activities that could result in safety consequences to landowners or the public, environmental consequences, or a negative impact on normal third-party use of the right-of-way (ROW) or adjacent property.

What activities are O&M activities (eligible activities)?

Operations and maintenance activities include:

1. All activities necessary to safely operate an existing pipeline;
2. Maintenance activities, upgrades or repairs to an existing pipeline or part of a pipeline that do not increase the approved maximum operating pressure (MOP), the stress level or diameter of the pipeline; or
3. Physically removing an existing section of pipe up to 5 km in length, and putting a new section of pipe in its place, as long as this replacement does not increase the approved MOP, stress level or diameter of the pipeline.

What O&M Activities require CER approval (restrictions on eligible activities)?

Where any of the following restrictions exist, the company must apply to the Commission in accordance with the CER Act and the related regulations and may not carry out the proposed activity until approval from the Commission has been obtained. The restrictions apply where:

1. The work includes welding on an in-service pipeline by a pipeline company that has not previously performed in-service welding in accordance with the requirements of CSA Z662-15, Clause 7.17, ‘Welding on In-Service Piping’, or the equivalent clause in the most recent edition of CSA Z662; or
2. The work involves the construction of an aerial crossing, excluding work on company owned or leased land relating to facilities (e.g., terminal stations, processing plants, compressor/pump stations).

What kinds of activities are not O&M activities (ineligible activities)?

O&M activities do not include:

1. Upgrades that result in increases above previously approved and specified levels to:
   • the MOP,
   • stress levels,
   • the diameter of the pipeline, and/or
   • airborne emissions or noise levels.
2. "Looping" (i.e., adding pipe parallel or adjacent to, and interconnected with, an existing pipeline for the general purpose of increasing capacity);
3. Construction of a new pipeline; or
4. Deactivation (for longer than 12 months), reactivation (where a pipeline has been deactivated for more than 12 months), decommissioning, or abandonment.

View the requirements and guidance notes (O&M Guidelines) for more information on how these events are regulated while promoting safety, security, environmental protection, economic efficiency, and respect for the rights of those that may be affected.

Contaminated Sites and Remediation

Section updated March 2023

As part of the CER’s environmental protection activities, we require companies to manage and remediate contamination throughout the lifecycle of the facilities. As a first step, regulated companies are required to report contamination to the CER through the online submission of the Notification of Contamination (NOC).

After the NOC is submitted, companies must demonstrate they are actively managing the contamination according to the Remediation Process Guide. The progress and current status of remediation at the contaminated site are captured in the annual update submitted by a company each year for a contaminated site.

Third party contamination is on-site contamination that is shown to not be emanating or migrating from the company’s facilities or company-owned or leased lands or Right-of-Way. While third-party contamination is not the result of company activities, the CER still requires that this contamination is reported to the CER through the submission of the NOC.

The dashboard below contains information that is contained in the NOC's and annual updates found in REGDOCS. The CER publishes NOCs that have been submitted to the CER since August 2018, when the CER started collecting this information electronically and annual updates that have been submitted since 2021. For information on contaminated sites for which NOCs were submitted prior to August 2018, email remediation@cer-rec.gc.ca.

There are many different methods and approaches to remediate contamination. Thus, when a company submits a plan for remediation (i.e., remedial action plan) for CER review, they are required to include an options analysis to support the remedial method chosen, select appropriate remediation criteria and demonstrate engagement with potentially affected persons, among other requirements. CER analysts also review closure reports submitted by the company once the remediation is completed to ensure remediation has been completed appropriately.

Damage Prevention Regulations Contravention Reports

Section updated March 2023

Damage prevention is where people and pipelines meet; it is the proactive process that keeps people, the environment, and pipelines safe.

The CER takes action to protect Canadians and the environment. Some of these actions include having safety requirements for activities near the pipelines that we regulate. Unauthorized activities on or around pipelines are unsafe and illegal. If pipelines are contacted or damaged, the result could be very serious.

The CER Damage Prevention Regulations (DPRs) outline the obligations of the pipeline companies to have robust damage prevention and public awareness programs that provide people living and working near pipelines the information to ensure those activities near their pipelines are done safely with respect to the pipeline. The DPRs also outline the requirements for people living and working near pipelines to communicate with pipeline companies when they are planning any construction activity (digging, building, driving on the right-of-way) and to follow the instructions that the pipeline company gives them.

Damage prevention is a shared responsibility, and we all play a part in making sure that everyone stays safe when working near a pipeline.

Pipeline companies must immediately report to the CER any activity near their pipelines that does not follow the rules and specifications set out in the DPRs. These violations are called contravention reports. The CER provides an Open Government dataset containing information on each reported contravention. Some summary statistics and a dashboard displaying this data is available below.