MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
PUBLIC SAFETY AND SOUR GAS

10 March 2000
9:00am to 4:00pm
West Hall
Energy Resources Building

A T T E N D E E S

M I N U T E S

1. Welcome and Introductory Comments

   The meeting was opened by the Chairman, Gerry DeSorcy. He welcomed the members and asked that everyone introduce themselves for the benefit of those who were not in attendance at the 10 February meeting.

2. Approval of the Minutes of 10 February Meeting

   Minutes of the 10 February meeting were approved (Motion to approve – David Spink, Seconded by Brent Friessen).
   Future Minutes will have a clear title – “Minutes of the Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Sour Gas”.
   The list of attendees will identify the constituency the member is representing.

3. Review and Discussion of Draft Terms of Reference

   A lengthy discussion of the draft terms of reference took place. It was agreed that Marilyn, Maureen and Gerry would re-draft the document to reflect the discussion and circulate to the committee for review and discussion at the 17 March meeting.

4. EUB Staff Presentations

   a) EUB Sour Gas Facilities Application Process

   The Facilities Application Management Team comprising of Stephen Smith, Laurie Wilson-Temple, Ken Sharp and Martin Vandenbeld attended the meeting and provided the committee with an overview of the EUB’s Guide 56 Facilities application and audit process. Committee members asked a number of questions which the staff responded to. One such question was whether the EUB would conduct an audit if requested to do so by a member of the public. Staff responded by indicating that it would consider performing an audit while acknowledging however, that it would not be possible for staff to conduct all audits that may be requested with current staff levels.

   ACTION ITEM: Gerry asked the staff to prepare a report for the committee on the potential impact on staff of performing all application and operational audits that may be requested if public were aware of ability to request an audit.

   b) EUB Inspection and Enforcement Process

   Leo Touchette of the EUB’s Corporate Compliance group provided an overview of the EUB’s field inspection and enforcement processes. Committee members asked a number of questions which staff responded to.

   c) EUB Sour Gas Operations

   John Mayall provided an overview of drilling and servicing requirements, Dave Hill gave a presentation on production and processing requirements, and Dave Grzyb provided information on pipeline requirements. A number of questions were asked which were responded to by the staff.

   d) Inventory of Other Initiatives

   David DeGagne is preparing this information and will provide it to the committee at a later date.

   e) Inventory of All Sour Gas Regulations

   David DeGagne provided the group with a binder containing all sour gas related requirements (IL’s and ID’s).

5. Draft News Release Discussion

   This item was deferred to a future meeting.

6. Status Update of Action Items from 10 February
   • Date of Report to EUB – Gerry advised that the Board Chairman had agreed to extend the date for the committee’s report to the Board to 31 October 2000.
   • Aboriginal Representative – Board staff have contacted an individual however no commitment to the committee has been made to date.

   ACTION ITEM: EUB staff will continue to pursue obtaining an Aboriginal representative.

   • Web Site – an update of this matter will be provided at the next meeting.
   • EUB Staff Education – Staff presentations will continue at the 17 March meeting. David DeGagne indicated that he was working with Frank George to organize a possible rig tour for the committee.
   • External Education – Dr. Sheldon Roth will present information on H2S toxicology at the 17 March meeting and Dr. Bill Leiss will give a presentation on Risk Communication at the 24 March meeting. The presentation on Hazard and Risk assessment by Dr. David Wilson and EUB staff will be deferred until sometime in late April.
   • Possible Outreach Areas – Marilyn Craig is still compiling the information being received from EUB Field Centres and others. This information will be provided at a later date.
   • Constituency Input – Those representing constituencies were reminded to provide Marilyn with information on how they propose to obtain broad input from their constituencies if they hadn’t already done so.

   ACTION ITEM: Committee members are to forward information to Marilyn on how they propose to obtain input from constituents.

   • Field Visit – Frank George indicated that the field visit was a valuable learning opportunity for those who participated.
7. Analysis of 1994 Report and Recommendations

   This item was deferred to a later date.

8. Proposed Agenda for 17 March Meeting

   It was suggested that the committee needed to discuss in greater detail the difference between the health and safety and decide on a definition to be used consistently. It was agreed that this will be discussed as part of the review of the next draft of the terms of reference.

9. Other Matters

   With Alderman Patti Grier’s resignation from the committee, it was agreed that EUB staff would contact the City of Calgary to ask if someone would be interested in sitting on the committee to represent urban municipalities.

   ACTION ITEM: Marilyn will contact the City of Calgary administration to try to ask if they would be interested in appointing a representative to the committee.

   Committee members asked if handouts could be provided on as little paper as possible, eg. double-sided.

10. Next Meeting

    17 March, EUB offices.

All handouts will be available at the 17 March meeting for those not in attendance.